The South's recent rapid growth has not erased its widespread poverty and low levels of human capital. The rural South remains the nation's low-income and high-poverty region, and low education levels may limit the rural South's prospects for development. Underlying social and economic conditions that depend on and reinforce a low-skill population…

James B. Duke established the Duke Endowment in 1924. This document examines what the Carolinas have accomplished since that time--both through the endowment's investments and otherwise--and what remains to be achieved. The first chapter describes the Carolinas' of the 1920s. While the rest of the nation enjoyed economic prosperity, the rural…

Rural work-education councils are free-standing voluntary associations of community leaders averaging around 21 to 25 voting members who are organized by task-specific action committees working to improve and expand educational and economic development options and thus ease the education-to-work transition in rural America. There are currently…