Child care has been in a downward spiral for twenty years and is a main factor exacerbating the growing worker shortage. New attention before and financial aid during the pandemic perhaps slowed the spiral, but it hasn't reversed it. The primary cause of the shortage in Greater Minnesota is simple: family child care providers, who supply the bulk…

Located in Redding, California, Shasta College is an inspiring example of why serving students with "some college, but no degree" is critical to supporting the local community. Most residents in the area, which is one of the state's northernmost counties, live and work in the immediate area and serve the community through local…

What works to help rural students succeed in higher education? In fall 2020, MDRC partnered with Rural Matters and Ascendium Education Group to produce a four-part podcast series called "Rural Higher Education: Challenges & Opportunities." The series gathered experts from across the country to examine the realities of rural life and…

About 60% of Nigerians live in rural areas with poor access roads and health facilities, near-absent communication media, unemployment, alienation and disempowerment by the political leadership. This scenario has excluded the rural Nigerian from meaningful participation in development action. A bottom-up participatory approach to…

The Mid-South Region of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi as a long history of pervasive poverty and educational underachievement. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2008), the poverty level of residents in the Mid-South Region is higher than the national average. Consequently, many of the region's best and brightest students of all…

This paper identifies key factors which promote participation of the poor (resident participation) through group action and community decision making processes, programs, and activities; and describes techniques which Community Action Program (CAP) grantees have used successfully to enhance such participation. Kinds of CAP grantee and community…

A product of the Kansas Planning and Community Development (CD) Division within the Kansas Department of Economic Division, the Kansas CD Assistance Pilot Project was created to meet the more technical needs of small and principally rural communities (up to 20,000 in population). Funded from July 1, 1974 through October 31, 1975, the Project…

This study examines the unique experiences of low-income rural participants in an asset building program--the Individual Development Account. Using data from the American Dream Demonstration, this study addresses three main questions: (1) What are the individual characteristics associated with saving outcomes among rural IDA participants? (2) What…

This annual report of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD) highlights the Center's activities, programs, projects, and publications for fiscal year 1998. NERCRD receives modest funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other funds from private foundations. Funds are used to link rural development efforts of the 15…

Some states use subsidies, grants, and other public monies to rejuvenate lagging rural economies, but without sound economic analysis to guide these efforts money may go to projects that do not achieve economic development goals. Minnesota's Iron Range programs illustrate what happens when economic analysis is sacrificed in political tugs-of-war.…

Nineteen Wisconsin counties were the site of the four-year Rural Development Demonstration Project, one of five such projects in the nation. Among the project's objectives were to accelerate sound economic, social, cultural and environmental development and to provide alternatives for living in non-metropolitan areas while providing greater…

The Professional Agricultural Workers Conference (PAWC) provides a forum for participants to articulate strategies to improve the quality of life for rural people. The PAWC is designed to provide a forum for people involved with university programs to exchange ideas and information; encourage development of action-oriented activities directed at…

The Facilitator's Role in Collaborative Rural Development Project began in 1979 as a study of 12 rural development efforts which comprised the North Carolina Rural Employment Laboratory and was expanded in 1980-81 to include rural development in 6 other states (California, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Vermont). A wide range of…

During 1970, the Appalachian Regional Development Program completed its 5th year of operations. Authorized under the 1965 Appalachian Regional Development Act, the program tries to cooperatively promote Appalachia's future economic and social development through a phased series of public investments to improve education, health, transportation,…

A study was done of the public service programs of the colleges and universities of the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) region and how they contribute to the regional development of northern New York State. The study asked the 21 institutions of the ANCA area to respond to a survey seeking information on various aspects of each…