From the Grassroots: Case Studies of Eight Rural Self-Development Efforts

In the 1980s, rural localities struggled to recover from the farm crisis and the national recession. Because of Federal and State cuts in social spending, rural communities had to rely more heavily on their own financial and organizational resources to initiate projects generating local jobs and income. Such grassroots efforts, called "self-development," were examined through a survey of 103 self-development projects across the United States, enriched by indepth study of eight successful and unsuccessful cases. The case studies suggest that the success of self-development efforts is in part related to contextual factors that the community cannot control. More importantly, however, community success in self-development is heavily dependent on its ability to overcome organizational problems. Communities enjoying the most success in their self-development efforts demonstrated leadership flexibility and adopted inclusive or group-focused approaches to community development.