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New Policy Brief Series on Rural Development
New Policy Brief Series by the Rural Sociological Society and the Regional Rural Development Centers Stresses Importance of Community Collective Action and Developing the capacity of People and Organizations to Meet Community's Needs
The Rural Sociological Society and the Regional Rural Development Centers creates new Public Policy Issue Brief series based on its recent book, Challenges for Rural America in the Twenty-First Century.
The briefs synthesize the context and substance of important issues raised in the book and address alternative policy options, with the goal of bringing important research to the policy community.
The six briefs address:
The Changing Face of Rural America
The Challenges of Rural Poverty
Tourism and Amenity-Based Development in Rural Communities
Competition, Cooperation, and Local Government
Improving Rural Educational Attainment
Catalytic Community Development
Five themes integrate the chapters of the book and the policy briefs.
- Communities are important and relevant to the people that live in them.
- The needs of the people in these communities are served by local organizations and the political organization that is the community.
- It is critical to strengthen the social capital of the community.
- The politics of place also builds local capacity through informed collective action and decision making in the community, with an emphasis on regional, multi-place cooperation.
- A locality-based economic development strategy that would strengthen the entrepreneurship skills and capacity of the people in the locale is a central focus for development policy and action.
Updated: January 12, 2009
