California's 4-H Youth Development Program has adopted an asset-based community development approach to extending programming with Latino youths and families. This approach entails learning and relationship building with local Latino communities and building on untapped existing resources, such as Latino-serving organizations and networks. Here we…

Understanding resources available in a community is essential before any 4-H youth development professional can begin addressing local needs. Conducting a community assessment generates valuable information about the unique components and resources of a specific community. This information then provides a foundation for identifying specific…

Many communities are searching for ways to help youth identify successful career options and strengthen the local economy. Based in a rural community that reflects Maine's decline in jobs in manufacturing and natural resource-based industries, the project described here provided youth with an opportunity to increase their aspirations by…

Personal food system mapping is a practical means to engage community participants and educators in individualized and shared learning about food systems, decisions, and behaviors. Moreover, it is a useful approach for introducing the food system concept, which is somewhat abstract. We developed the approach to capture diversity of personal food…

In March 2006, Premier Wen Jiabao acknowledged that the situation in the Chinese countryside is desperate and claimed new resources would be devoted to healthcare and education. This announcement should have pleased architects of the Chinese "learning initiative" who are building learning cities and villages. The authors describe why…

Describes the SOS (Sharing Our Selves) learning Network, which is a made-for-extension system of community learning. Elements of the network are discussed: (1) community learning and development activities, (2) community resource index, and (3) cost effectiveness. (CT)

DARE (Developing Adult Resources through Education) is an educational program for the rural aged that provides courses ranging from those of a serious, academic orientation to the hobby/recreational to the practical. College and community resources can be used for the educational advantage of the older person. (Author)

The 4-H/Community Resource Development workshop was designed to help people conducting Extension 4-H programs on sensitive and complex community issues improve their ability to create a better climate for discussion of alternatives and development of community projects. Topics of the presentations included the role of the 4-H administrator,…

Since South Carolina's Title V Community and Resource Development (CRD) project is limited to one small rural county (Williamsburg) affording careful documentation, this paper explicates South Carolina's CRD process via a social action model. This project, then, is described in terms of the following model components: (1) community initiative…

Communities Alive For Living and Learning (Project CALL), designed at Kishwaukee College to help three local, rural communities develop educational, recreational, and cultural programs, is described in this report. The first sections of the report consider the need for and purposes of the project. The Project Coordinator's report presents an…

This report provides training activities for teachers, counselors, and other elementary-secondary staff members who are involved in the delivery of career education to students. Training activities are based on the practical training experience of sixteen school districts and two universities which comprise the Wisconsin Career Education…

Since 1974 the Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) has provided support staff for capacity building and innovative programming for the experiment stations and extension services of 28 land-grant universities in 13 southern states and Puerto Rico. The Center exists to provide the best possible information and assistance to extension and…

Describes adult educational program by University College Galway in rural West Ireland, following significant out-migration of young people. Aim is to encourage development initiatives, community participation, and self help. Program includes lectures, seminars, and class projects. Program's successes noted. (Author/TES)

Cooperative extension service faculty at New Mexico State University started the Steps to Employment and Personal Success (STEPS) program to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) clients qualify for and maintain full-time employment and strengthen their families for long-term success. Clients are referred to STEPS by New Mexico…