This dissertation examines the county-level impacts on college attainment and enrollment, and student-level impacts on success outcomes, from the Garrett County (Maryland) Scholarship Program, an early adopter in the promise scholarship movement since 2006. I conduct a comprehensive review of prior literature on promise programs, which have been…

Reports results of a six-month pilot program conducted in a rural southeastern county to identify and exploit any benefits from a county alcohol abuse evaluation and referral service formed in response to requests from the local judicial system. Indicated that most courts in the county were using the system and that 168 clients had been processed…

Individual papers on quality life in the countryside were presented at the American Country Life Association, (ACLA) Inc., conference. The presidential address, "Quality Life in the Countryside--How Can It Be Achieved? described significant trends which are developing in rural areas. Other major topics covered in the papers included conflicts in…

In Wise County, Virginia, the If I Had a Hammer Housing Construction and Rehabilitation Program teaches the construction trades to local men and women receiving county housing assistance, while rehabilitating local housing. Trainees work for minimum wage, attend classes eight hours per week without pay, and receive support services and high school…

This report examines program integration as a way to improve the delivery of rural human services in Pennsylvania. A panel of policymakers, human services providers, and representatives of state agencies identified barriers to effective rural human services delivery and generated policy recommendations. Most county-based human services in…

A pilot project investigating the feasibility of year-round recreational programs in rural counties of populations of less than 10,000 is described in this report. (Sheridan County, Kansas, was chosen as the project site.) Part I, the introductory section, briefly defines recreation and its relation to human needs. Part II provides a geographic…

Studies of the amount of money spent by rural counties on General Assistance Programs identified three factors that contributed to the level of county support: the size of the population, local history of response to human needs, and the role of local public welfare and social service administrators. (JHZ)

Maine's State Division of Adult Education began setting up a regionalized Adult Basic Education (ABE) program in rural Franklin county in 1974 to serve the area's functional illiterates. Located in the building housing the Franklin County Community Action Program (CAP), linkages were developed with a large number of agencies; initially the 10 CAP…

An exploratory study was made of county workshops designed to plan programs for the poor to see if there would be an increase in verbal participation and later program participation, and if expressed needs would be different when representatives of the poor spoke of their needs before agency personnel discussed programs. The workshops were part of…

The 3 principal objectives of this study were (1) to determine leader characteristics and attitudes toward resource development programs and development organizations in the Roosevelt County and Fort Peck Reservation area; (2) to measure understanding of concepts and attitudes about area development, Federal programs, and other factors associated…

Describes services, programs, and funding for the various senior centers in Frankin County, New York, which has a predominately rural, low-income population. Services include bus transportation, nutrition programs, health and financial assistance, and social events. (MF)

This handbook provides instructions to help communities form county rural development (CRD) committees. Guidelines are applicable to committee work in general and to community involvement in identifying and discussing local problems, determining community needs, setting goals, identifying available resources, securing adequate leadership, and…

To recapture the spirit of Thoreau's "uncommon schools," a South Carolina county Department of Social Services (DSS) sought to create a "university" of the community which would provide experiences in the field for students, feed-back to DSS workers from the community and to the local college, and would utilize the resources of…

The study was undertaken at the suggestion of the Commission on Religion in Appalachia, a private development agency in Central Appalachia. Given limited resources and the difficulty of obtaining firsthand knowledge of the circumstances in the area, the commission wanted to measure socioeconomic status in the 60 Central Appalachian counties to…

This federally-funded developmental comprehensive career education program for the elementary and secondary grades in a West Virginia county is intended to provide a model for career education in rural economically depressed areas. Developed by 34 teachers and principals, a guidance coordinator, and an administrator at a 1-week workshop, the…