This article reports on a technology stewardship training program to promote ICT leadership development with agricultural extension practitioners in Sri Lanka. Researchers used a multi-method approach with a single embedded case study. Data were collected using a pre-course survey, formal course evaluation, classroom observation, and…

This study examined community leadership education programs employed in rural communities and organizations of several states to empower both local leaders and residents. In particular, the study investigated the relationships between community leadership education program design and structure (contact hours and content) and six outcome indices of…

Since its establishment in 2003, the Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J) has paid close attention to informal learning processes in community-based efforts to promote local sustainable development. ESD-J carried out two projects to collect information on and visualise community-based ESD practice: the…

Effective leadership is critical for communities as they work to maintain their vitality and sustainability for years to come. The purpose of the study reported here was to assess confidence levels and community engagement of community leadership program participants in North Dakota State University Extension programs. Through a survey…

Many rural communities across America face several obstacles in the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) initiatives and struggle with the best approaches for leveraging these elements into an economic development strategy. These obstacles include: lack of quality local ICTs infrastructure, funding, inability to…

In 1994 the Ford Foundation launched the Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) as a "national demonstration project to help community colleges in distressed regions move their people and communities toward prosperity. It challenged community colleges to become catalysts for economic development and supported aggressive efforts to increase…

This article presents the findings of a study that explored the role and impact of continuing education on rural revitalization. A community development approach, academic expertise, and a university's resources were used to assist the citizens of Montmartre, Saskatchewan, to establish Centre 48, an arts and continuing education centre. Courses…

Posits that increased communication of community leaders involving relatively short communications paths should lead to program success. However, measures of connectivity and average distance in the communications structure reveal no significant relationships. Suggests other factors which may be more important to rural community development…

The Rural Education Bureau of the New Mexico Public Education Department has established a program to address the special needs of schools and communities in the extensive rural areas of the state. High poverty rates, depopulation and a general lack of viable economic opportunity have marked rural New Mexico for decades. The program underway aims…

Business incubators can help fledgling firms get off the ground by providing business services and rental space, at below-market costs, for a business's first few years. The payoff for the community is more jobs. Concentrated until recently in urban areas, incubators are now succeeding in rural areas too. (JHZ)

Describes study of rural or small town community development programs funded by the Small Town Emphasis Program. Outlines program factors including competition, innovation, needs assessment, low income involvement, networks, technical assistance, efficiency, strategy, and timing. Provides examples of six programs and recommends future development…

Rural areas in both developed and developing countries are being increasingly marginalized through structural changes. Furthermore, the disinvestment in state-provided supports and services means that rural people are left to their own devices to cope with these changes. Numerous authors argue that the most effective way of dealing with these…

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…

From 1966 through 1977, 700 men and women were selected, primarily because they had demonstrated some capacity for personal initiative, to be fellows in the $11 million Leadership Development Program (LDP) supported by the Ford Foundation to develop new leadership in rural America. To operate LDP a decentralized organization with offices in Maine,…

Estimates impact of community resource development (CRD) programs on a variety of quality of life indicators for 73 Arkansas counties that were nonmetropolitan in 1960. Results indicate that few quality of life indicators were affected in the direction intended by CRD programs. Examines substantive and methodological implications of the findings.…