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…

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…

As rural communities experience rapid economic, demographic, and political change, program interventions that focus on the development of community leadership capacity could be valuable. Community leadership development programs have been deployed in rural U.S. communities for the past 30 years by university extension units, chambers of commerce,…

Background: Escalation of youth violence within a large geographic school-complex area in southeastern rural Hawaii became a major problem in 2006. How cultural forces impact the problem was an impetus to examine youth violence from perspectives of adults and children in rural communities. Gathering these data was an essential first step toward…

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…

Agricultural leadership program graduates from 1982-2001 (n=290) and eight were interviewed. Survey results showed self-reported changes in knowledge and behavior. However, although they were aware of the importance of rural community development, they were not serving as community leaders nor actively improving their communities. (Contains 25…

Arkansas adult leaders (N=95) were surveyed to test the hypothesis that a cooperative extension service educational program would increase participants' knowledge of land use planning over that of a control group and would also affect attitudinal changes toward land use problems and policies. Nineteen respondents were selected from each of 5…

Internal and external evaluation reports of community education-work councils established by Asnuntuck Community College (Connecticut), Bayamon Regional College (Puerto Rico), and De Kalb Community College (Georgia) are included in this document. Under sponsorship of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges and the Department of…

Internal and external evaluation reports of community education-work councils established at Southeast Community College (Nebraska), Motlow State Community College (Tennessee), Tanana Valley Community College (Alaska), and the Community College of Vermont are included in this document. Under sponsorship of the American Association of Community and…

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,…

This study compared the effectiveness of Georgia community leadership programs based on leadership skill development to that of programs based on issue discussion and networking. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI-Self) was adapted for community leaders and mailed to a stratified sample of 376 alumni of community leadership programs based on…