MULTICOMMUNITY NETWORKS - A RURAL TRANSITION

Rural America is in a difficult transition due not just to the economy but to the changing relations between cities and towns in the rural-urban continuum. Small-scale places are no longer isolated and simple but are part of a global interdependence that redefines cities and suburbs and creates rural regions. In the new rural region, traditional rural problems of poverty and lagging social services persist, but in addition a whole new set of problems and opportunities that originate outside the community affect a whole rural region. Rural development efforts, in response to the new small-community interdependence, are harder and more complex. Instead of the trend toward narrower, single-purpose programs, the rural development paradigm for the 1990s should be one of multijurisdictional networks for the development of rural regions. Coalitions of small communities can solve many problems that individual communities working alone cannot tackle. Solutions come from leadership, strategic planning, and mobilizing local resources.