The familiar advertising slogan, "Up here it's different," used to attract visitors to the rugged beauty of County Donegal, was correct in highlighting that things are different in Donegal, although not for the reasons one might connect with tourism. For many, Donegal evokes nostalgic images of old, rural Ireland such as close community…

A national sample of 305 rural development administrators was used to define "green" rural development officials (GRDOs). GRDOs were found to possess strong environmental attitudes in three areas: (1) rural environmental problems; (2) environmental policy options; and (3) environmental policy considerations. (JOW)

MDC, Inc. is a private nonprofit whose mission is to expand opportunities, reduce poverty, and build inclusive communities in the South. The Rural Community College Initiative (RCCI) is a national project that supports community colleges in distressed rural areas in moving their people and communities toward prosperity. MDC and the Ford Foundation…

Virginia's Southeastern Community College (SCC) examined its service area and performance in the late 1980s and found that its enrollments had dropped while area unemployment rates were rising. Local officials estimated that nearly 2,000 manufacturing jobs had been lost in the service area--Columbus County--since the passage of the North American…

Western Iowa Tech Community College (WITCC) is a public, comprehensive community college serving a six-county district in Northwest Iowa. The College offers more than 60 occupational programs and a wide variety of liberal arts transfer options, in addition to participating in community enhancement initiatives. The total population of the 6…

This paper discusses the use of gender analysis to ensure that economic development policy has equitable consequences for women and men, and describes the role of nonprofit community organizations in promoting such analysis. Gender analysis assumes that role differences between men and women are socially defined and therefore open to change.…

Rural community colleges are faced with issues similar to their urban counterparts, but many challenges for rural schools are further exacerbated by limited resources, geographic isolation, and a static economy. This paper argues that the difference between success and failure can be the ability to create strong partnerships. Of the 15 colleges in…

Madisonville Community College (MCC) is in Madisonville, Kentucky, a small town with a strong coal industry presence. Mine closings and layoffs in the 1980s prompted the region to reorient itself toward light industry and manufacturing, but the recession of the early 1990s and globalization led to closings of several of the largest employers. In…

According to this paper, rural community colleges face new challenges, which require openness to institutional partnerships that in the past may have been unthinkable due to traditional institutional competitiveness. These challenges include enrollment fluctuation, increased legislative scrutiny, calls for accountability, inadequate and…

After struggling through the recession of the 1980s, Powell, Wyoming, like many other small towns in rural America, has bounced back and experienced economic and population growth during the past five years. Fueling this growth is the town's attractive location for urban refugees, economic development efforts aimed at attracting small businesses,…

This paper addresses the need to sustain rural towns in Australia through private and public investments. Rural and remote areas of Australia have provided the national economy with crucial export earnings and provided governments with royalties and taxes collected on regional resources. However, government funding for upgrading infrastructures…

Bordering on North Carolina, the Dan River region of Southside Virginia is a largely rural area south of the state capitol, Richmond, and 135 miles east of Virginia Tech's main residential campus in Blacksburg. The structural problems evident today in this expanse of wooded areas, fields, small cities, and towns were born, in large measure, of the…

This book reports on a study of rural community development policies and practices in the United States, Europe, and Canada in relation to multicommunity collaboration as a rural restructuring strategy. The study focused on multicommunity collaboration involving two or more small rural communities working together to attain social or economic…