query: rural CED

[colist-admin at comm-org.utoledo.edu]

[ed:  folks doing rural community economic development may be able to help
with this one.]

From: "Anne Miller" <possnet at radiant.net>

I'm an adult educator following a graduate program in Community Economic
Development at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC.  I'm hoping to hear
some thoughts on good literature to help me address a question I'm posing.
My question is grounded in rural communities in transition.  The economies
of small rural communities are often based upon single industries, which of
late, have been collapsing in record numbers.  These communities, struggling
for survival, are eager to change their traditional livelihoods to something
that promises to be more viable.  CED interventions demonstrate that this
transition from one economy to another [or others] has had varied success.
CED strategies and models in themselves are not enough to ensure that an
intervention will be successful.  My question then is:

What critical issues, factors and questions must be considered at this time
of transition to enable a small rural community to make a successful
transition to a new economy?

If anyone has any ideas about particular resources- books, journals,
articles, and resource people - I would appreciate hearing about them.

Anne Miller