Vitality Of Rural Communities Research Articles

Doing well and doing good? Small rural businesses’ performance and responsibility towards local communities

Small businesses play a significant role in the vitality of rural communities. Due to the locally embedded nature of many small rural businesses, owner-managers consider taking care of the well-being and success of the local community as an important business responsibility. We examine whether responsibility towards the local community is also reflected in the positive business performance of small rural businesses. Our study is based on a survey with 258 small rural businesses. The results show that exceptional financial (objective or subjective) business performance is neither a prerequisite nor a direct result of local-level responsible business behavior. Instead, the results demonstrate a positive association between small businesses' perceptions of support and community's appreciation for the businesses and businesses' responsibility towards the community. We thus contribute to the discussion on small business social responsibilities by highlighting the role of reciprocity in the relationships between businesses and local communities.

A Guide to the American Community Survey (ACS) for the Rural Researcher: Unpacking the Conceptual and Technical Aspects of Using Secondary Data for Rural Research☆

AbstractSparsely populated rural areas are susceptible to high levels of error in their data, making it difficult to examine patterns and trends across geographies. This article aims to advance research methods for rural researchers by offering guidelines for navigating high levels of error associated with the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS presents a useful source of U.S. community level data for rural researchers to utilize in school–community research but not without its difficulties. The small population sizes of rural communities often translate to large margins of error in the data, presenting a degree of uncertainty in the actual measure. To illustrate challenges and best practice, the author conducts a case study of the relationship between the presence of schools and economic vitality of rural communities in Indiana using ACS data. The author demonstrates how to examine the error in the data, introduces options to reduce uncertainty, and ultimately, explains how to move forward with the data, working with the margin of error and acknowledging its presence in the analysis and results. This article offers suggestions and techniques to assist rural researchers in navigating ACS obstacles so that they might produce transparent results with as little uncertainty as possible.

Population Sustainability in Rural Great Plains Towns

As researchers look to define a narrative of population decline throughout the region, the rural Great Plains towns that have been able to sustain their populations and attract new residents have seemingly gone unnoticed. This article features case studies from six rural Nebraska towns that address key questions regarding the population sustainability of rural Great Plains towns. Along with a discussion on the significance of geographic location in population growth or decline, this study includes several examples of how rural towns have used their locations to their advantage, created more job opportunities, enticed new residents to move in, and/or dealt with an influx of immigrants in recent decades. The findings included in this study will benefit individuals and groups who are concerned about the vitality of rural communities, as its findings can be applied to efforts not only to sustain current populations but also to attract new residents to rural towns.

Examining migration factors among generative college graduates: Strategic implications for people attraction, retention, and leadership transfer efforts

ABSTRACT Out-migration of college-educated young adults – a phenomenon that continues to plague rural community vitality – affects not just population size, but also has larger implications for leadership transfer due to impending Baby Boomer retirements. To help community leaders and policy makers simultaneously address forthcoming local leadership transfers as well as young adult attraction and retention efforts, community development scholars and practitioners will benefit from understanding young adults who think and act as “community builders” when choosing their living community after college – the focus of the current descriptive study. Both economic (i.e. available job opportunities) and non-economic (i.e. leadership opportunities) factors were identified as most important to migration decisions with “opportunities to make a difference” and “obtain work-life balance” emerging as highly important community choice factors. These results highlight strategic implications for people attraction, retention, and leadership transfer efforts.

Invisible Agents of Rural Development. Russian Immigrant Women in the Finnish Border Region.

The rural region of North Karelia is located close to the Finnish-Russian border, and faces challenges due to population decline and labor shortage. However, it has a unique strength which is its proximity to Russia. This paper analyses the perceived role of immigration in enhancing the vitality of North Karelia. It investigates how the impact of immigration is presented in the regional media, and how Russian-speaking immigrant women’s roles as “agents of development” can be interpreted on the basis of their interviews. The analysis is based on text material obtained from the regional newspaper, and ethnographic interviews conducted among Russian-speaking immigrant women. Findings based on the newspaper material indicate that immigrants are valued primarily for their contribution to regional economic development. However, in some of the texts, immigrants are presented as an integral part of the region’s population, who diversify the skills of communities and thus create potential for promoting local resilience. The analysis of the interview data indicates that the proximity of the border, transnational connections, and ethno-cultural capital which is based on immigrants’ national background are important factors that impact on the attractiveness of North Karelia for Russian immigrant women. Everyday transnational multiculturalism encompasses women’s precarious employment which impacts on the well-being of broader communities on both sides of the border. Although Russian immigrant women are a vital part of these communities, they do not themselves participate in the newspaper discussions about the vitality of rural communities. This indicates that Russian women are “invisible” agents of rural development, who are not fully recognized as contributors of resilience in North Karelia.

Social Capital of Farmers in the Rural Communities of Vojvodina

Summary The development of rural areas is a complex social, economic, political and cultural issue of immense importance to the development of society as a whole. The vitality of rural communities, which represent a specific socio-spatial phenomenon, affects the development of global society and is inextricably linked to the development and issues of urban areas of each society. Both in theory and development practice, rural development as a complex and enduring process has long been unjustifiably reduced to the economic-agrarian matrix, often reflected in the modernization of agriculture and the centralized and sectoral management of and influence on rural development. The primary focus of this paper is on the social capital of rural communities, i.e. social relations and connections within local rural communities which, alongside other important development factors, are one of the prerequisites to maintaining their vitality. The paper presents the results of a survey on social capital conducted on 281 farms in the region of Vojvodina (Serbia), indicating the characteristics of the social capital on the farms considered and the farmers’ attitudes towards the development and life of their local communities. The social capital of the surveyed farmers was found to be only relatively good, suggesting that the overall social capital in Serbia is underdeveloped because all the farms considered are located in Vojvodina, i.e. the most developed agricultural area in Serbia characterized by rural settlements with the most favorable infrastructural, demographic and economic conditions.

Adolescents' Future Aspirations and Expectations in the Context of a Shifting Rural Economy.

Adolescents' future aspirations and expectations influence the decisions they make as they transition into adulthood. However, less is known about how specific sociocultural factors interact with the formation of future aspirations and expectations and their association with goal attainment in emerging adulthood. The present study begins to fill this gap by using person-centered analysis with high school students (N = 517; 53% female; 92% white) from a rural county undergoing significant economic transition. Its aim was to identify future orientation profiles based on adolescent-reported future aspirations and expectations for success in both education and career. Four latent profiles were identified and labeled: universally high aspirations and expectations; low college aspirations and expectations; lower aspirations than expectations; and universally low aspirations and expectations. Significant gender differences were found. High school males were less likely to be in the universally high profile and more likely to be in the universally low and low college aspirations and expectations profiles. Future orientation profile placement was associated with differences in adolescent experiences in family, school, and community contexts as well as their work and education status and future residential aspirations in emerging adulthood. The findings inform future research and applied efforts focused on rural youth's preparation for adult roles, and on retaining rural youth, a necessity for the vitality of rural communities.

Exploring the gradient: The economic benefits of ‘nearby’ schools on rural communities

Little is known about the socioeconomic impacts of the presence or absence of schools on local communities. In other words, are communities better off with or without a local school in or near its community center? In one of the few studies on this, Lyson (2002) argued that the presence of schools provides significant social and economic benefits to rural communities including higher property values and incomes. The main goal if this paper is to interrogate the area outside villages – what we measure as a 5 mile gradient or boundary. The data for this study are drawn from US Census TIGER files, American Community Survey data, and the NY State Department of Education including public school finance, demographic, enrollment, and performance data. In short, we are modeling the gradient around villages to see if village economic indicators vary with the concentration of public schools and the distance schools are from the center of the village. We find strong support for the assumption that schools are important to the economic vitality of rural communities and support for our method of geo-locating community institutions and measuring distance and concentration - what we term School proximity Index (SPI). We find that housing values, per-capita income, and household income significantly and positively vary with our SPI above and beyond the effects of age-structure, proportion of households with children, proportion of population that is white, self-employment rates. It is important to note, however, that the causal direction of these effects remains uncertain. While the relationship is indeed positive, whether the presence of a school promotes enhance community vitality or enhance community vitality promotes the presence of a school must be further examined.

Cross-cultural understanding: The role of rural school–community music education partnerships

The inclusion of local Indigenous knowledge, pedagogy, and worldview in music education is increasingly relevant to music educators globally. This article contributes to the extensive body of knowledge already written on the subject by focusing on the contribution of such inclusion to localized societal change. My doctoral study examined the growth and contributions of bridging social capital to rural community vitality in British Columbia (BC), Canada via three school–community music education partnerships. I found that the members of one of those partnerships, the International Choral Kathaumixw Festival in Powell River, BC, engaged in ongoing cultural dialogue with local Tla’amin First Nation members over a 30-year period in order to foster meaningful inclusion of local cultural practices in that festival. This cultural dialogue ultimately contributed to more harmonious social, cultural, political, and economic relationships between settler and Tla’amin First Nation populations. The mandate of the festival, the ongoing music making activities that featured Tla’amin themes and cultural participation, the large contingent of local community volunteers and performers, and the physical commons created by music making all contributed to a shift in relations between the community of Powell River and the Tla’amin First Nation. I offer that the bridging social capital fostered by this partnership may provide insight and direction for music educators globally who wish to promote Indigenous cultural practices in their schools. A bridging social capital or relational approach based on long-term reciprocity with local Indigenous culture bearers may help music educators work towards more culturally appropriate/responsive curriculum and pedagogy in their practice.

Opportunities of Different Generations Participation in Rural Community Activities

The success of rural community vitality and development is based on communication, participation and collaboration among different generations. Theoretical and empirical findings disclose that there is a lack of systematic approach characterising different generations (in this article young and elderly social groups) participation in local activities, not much attention is given to activities which join young and elderly groups whether to maintain young people in rural area or actively include elderly to common activities. Accordingly this article aims to explore participation forms and methods of different generations (youth and elderly) participation in rural community activities. The methodological background of this research is based on theoretical research methods, statistical data analysis and analysis of case of different generations’ participation in Šiauliai district municipality rural community activities. The research results disclose that different generations participation in rural community activities are various, but depends on rural areas and rural community‘s specific features. The suggested scheme based on evaluation of different generations’ participation in rural community activities can be adopted to any rural area and rural community, but being aware about the current situation of youth and elderly, also activities which are possible to be implemented in particular rural community.

Exploring the Link between Rural Schools and Community Vitality

This project focused on the connection between a community and its schools, and the role that schools play in rural community vitality. It investigated both community members and former student experience with small schools in one rural area of Ontario, Canada. Community responses indicate that rural schools play a considerable role in the well-being of community members; former student responses indicate similar themes. Results indicated a strong link between local schools and components of the Canadian Index of Well-being. Discussion focuses on the gap between the role of schools in rural communities and the provincial policies on school closures, and how the findings suggest that new approaches to the challenges of small rural schools are in the best interests of both students and communities.

Toward a rural community vitality measurement practice

Despite the increased interest among community development practitioners and the public in indicators of concepts like community vitality, resilience, or wellbeing, little research has been done to identify indicators that truly measure those concepts. In addition, there has been increased use of indices to describe social and economic conditions. This article uses a case to illuminate the methodological challenges of developing an index of community vitality and presents a possible practice solution. Factor analysis was piloted as a method that could be used to determine if a suite of 29 variables covering community capacity, social, economic, and environmental outcomes could be used as indicators of an underlying latent construct of community vitality. Use of this method in the case of Oregon counties and Siskiyou County, California, suggested that the variables capture a variety of community outcome dimensions, but do not correspond to a unitary concept of community vitality.

Gaming can be sustainable too! Using Social Representation Theory to examine the moderating effects of tourism diversification on residents' tax paying behavior

Tourism authorities in the Las Vegas region have suggested the diversification of the tourism industry as a strategy to improve the vitality of rural communities outside of the metropolitan area. The present study uses Social Representation Theory as the conceptual basis to test the moderating effects of the various types of proposed tourism development on residents' willingness to pay higher taxes to support such development. A survey of 301 residents in Las Vegas rural communities examined how the factors of economic dependence on tourism, community attachment, and ecocentric attitude towards tourism influence residents' perceptions of tourism's impacts. A higher economic dependence on tourism and higher levels of community attachment led to more favorable perceptions of tourism's economic and social impacts. The economic impacts, in turn, resulted in a willingness to pay higher taxes, irrespective of the type of tourism development proposed by the Las Vegas authorities. The results suggest that rural communities reinforce a hegemonic social representation of tourism in order to characterize the ethos of capitalist urbanism that pervades the economic development discourse. The residents' social construction of tourism has important implications for tourism planners in the region and suggests the adoption of an inclusive tourism diversification strategy that leverages both gaming and alternative tourism.

Enhancing agroecosystem performance and resilience through increased diversification of landscapes and cropping systems

Over the past two decades, ecologists have gained a considerable amount of insight concerning the effects of biological diversity on how ecosystems function. Greater productivity, greater carbon sequestration, greater retention of nutrients, and greater ability to resist and recover from various forms of stress, including herbivorous pests, diseases, droughts, and floods, are among the effects of increased biological diversity noted in a recent review by Cardinale et al. (2012). The latter effect, often called resilience, is particularly important in managed social-ecological systems, including agroecosystems (Walker and Salt, 2006). In addition to being better able to withstand and recover from disturbances due to pests, weather, and other biophysical factors, resilient agroecosystems can be less susceptible to fluctuations in production costs and market prices (National Research Council, 2010; Kremen and Miles, 2012). In general, the relationship between biological diversity and ecosystem function resembles an asymptotic hyperbola (Cardinale et al., 2012). That is, increases in the number of species present in an ecosystem from a very low level to some intermediate level engender large changes in ecosystem function, whereas increases in species richness above some intermediate, and undetermined, value engender smaller effects. Another way to look at biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships is through the lens of losing species diversity. Professor Shahid Naeem of Columbia University uses the following analogy to examine how many species might be lost from an ecosystem before critical functions are no longer available: Imagine you have a computer on your desk that works well. Now open it, reach in with a needle nose pliers and randomly remove five of the many parts of the motherboard. Do you expect the computer to continue to function well after the loss of those parts? The development of modern, industrial agriculture has been characterized by large reductions in biological diversity, both across landscapes and within farming systems (DeFries et al., 2004; Vandermeer et al., 2005). This loss of biodiversity is particularly evident in the U.S. Corn Belt. Where species-rich prairie grasslands, wetlands, and oak savannas once grew, corn and soybean now dominate (Klopatek et al., 1979). Farming systems that once contained small grains, hay, and pasture in addition to corn and soybean now contain almost exclusively the latter two crops (Hatfield et al., 2009; Brown and Schulte, 2011; Johnston, 2013). In Iowa, which has lost proportionally more area of its native vegetation than any other U.S. state (Klopatek et al., 1979), corn and soybean now occupy 63% of the state’s total land area and 82% of its cropland (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2014). Simplification of crop and non-crop vegetation in the Corn Belt has been a strategy pursued through decisions and actions of individual farmers and through federal and state policies, with a goal of producing huge amounts of corn, soybean, chickens, cattle, hogs, ethanol, and farm revenue (Durrenberger and Thu, 1996; Secchi et al., 2009; Nassauer, 2010; McGranahan et al., 2013). It has also been concomitant with simplification of management strategies and increases in scale ( Johnston, 2013; McGranahan, 2014). Nonetheless, despite impressive gains in farm productivity and revenue, Corn Belt agricultural systems and the region’s residents are threatened by a number of emerging and continuing challenges, including soil erosion, water quality degradation by nutrient and pesticide emissions, greater prevalence of herbicide-resistant weeds, volatility in production costs and crop prices, loss of knowledge and infrastructure to support diverse markets, and declines in rural community vitality (Tegtmeier and Duffy, 2004; Alexander et al., 2008; Sullivan et al., 2009; Brown and Schulte, 2011; Sprague et al., 2011; Mortensen et al., 2012; Heathcote et al., 2013). Perhaps most Domain Editor-in-Chief Anne R. Kapuscinski, Dartmouth

Evidence of a Housing Decision Chain in Rural Community Vitality*

Abstract The purpose of this research was to explore and explain the role housing plays in rural community vitality. Community vitality refers to economic strength and social well‐being. In spring 2002 we collected primary interview data from informants in 134 small rural communities in nine north‐central states and identified related secondary data from the U.S. census. We developed a structural‐equation‐path model, which supported a “housing decision chain” that influenced community vitality. Based on this research, local housing decisions do play an important role in community vitality. Strong local leaders use housing planning to secure funding to produce a change in the quantity of housing, which in turn positively influences community vitality. Housing inventory also mediated the effects of total population and percentage population change on community vitality, indicating that housing supply is a fundamental ingredient in community growth strategies. These findings support the conclusion that a combination of housing plans and strategies orchestrated by skilled, committed leadership strengthens rural communities. Heretofore the ling between housing and community vitality has not been investigated; evidence‐based data has been missing from the debate on viable rural community‐development strategies.

CAP and Kyoto Conference: Taxation or Environmental Standards to Improve Carbon Sinks

The improvement of air good quality is a worldwide priority. The Kyoto Protocol, and the agreements achieved in the following process negotiation, have defined the LULUCF activities (land use, land use change, forestry) the industrialized countries have at disposal to reach the engagements of reduction of the climate emissions-changing. The CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) reform affirmed that the content of the policy will secure a multifunctional, sustainable and competitive agriculture throughout Europe. It will also be able to maintain the landscape and the countryside, make a key contribution to the vitality of rural communities and respond to consumer concerns and demands regarding food quality and safety, environmental protection and maintaining animal welfare standards. In regulation absence firms pollute into air CO2 without being held to pay a price of the service of assimilation of the greenhouse gases supplied from the agroforestry sector. The greater social efficiency of taxes than adopting reduction standard (as signed in the Kyoto Protocol) is demonstrated. In spite of that, the society has no general agreement on supporting farmers and the overcoming of practical problems following this policy remain as a narrow road. Despite the uncertainty of public policies, a practical purpose is then needed in sustainable forestry, considering the social advantage of financing afforestation, giving clear goals of being CO2 sinks.

Rural Telephone Company Adoption of Service Innovations: A Community Field Theory Approach*

Abstract Recent telecommunications innovations have the potential to improve the economic vitality of rural communities, but many rural telephone companies have not adopted them to provide needed advanced services. To explain the differences in adoption by rural telephone companies we distinguish between service innovations, adopted primarily to improve direct services to clients, and operations innovations, adopted primarily to improve the operation of the business. Using community interaction field theory we develop and test a conceptual framework for the adoption of innovative service telecommunications technologies by Iowa rural telephone companies. As field theory predicts, involvement in local economic development activities has a strong, direct effect on innovativeness. Results suggest that the service and operations innovations distinction has theoretical utility in explaining organizational innovativeness.

THE APEC FOOD SYSTEM: IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY

HE APEC Food System (AFS) is an ambitious proposal originating from the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC 1998a). Its objective is to create a regional food system where “consumers have access to the food they desire at affordable prices; the productivity of the food sector is enhanced through regionwide availability of food-related technological advances and through efficient resource use; supply security is improved through co-operation and interdependence; [and] the vitality of rural communities is enhanced through improved infrastructural development and through access to viable non-farm employment and industry” (ABAC 1998b). The concept evolved from earlier calls for an open food system (U.S. National Center for APEC 1996). To achieve this objective, the proposal calls for a comprehensive approach to food and agriculture policy, in which four main elements can be distinguished: rural infrastructure development; dissemination of technological advances in food production; trade and investment liberalization in the food sector; and achieving food security. Within the first two elements, extensive scope is seen for capacitybuilding initiatives among APEC economies to complement the efforts of individual economy governments and multilateral agencies. The common purpose of these initiatives is to build capacity to ensure that the food sector develops in ways that contribute to the achievement of overall development objectives in APEC economies, and to ensure that liberalization contributes to those objectives through a wider spread of benefits both between and within economies. In the APEC context

Increasing Older Populations and Rural Community Vitality: The Role of Housing

Many rural communities are experiencing an increasing proportion of older residents. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between theproportion of older and younger residents to county and rural community vitality; and toproject implications for housing policy. Dataffom the non-metropolitan counties in the 12 North Central states were analyzed using the USA Counties 1996 CD-ROM. The findings indicate that counties with larger proportions of older residents do well on some measures of community vitality (i.e., higher per capita income; higher percent of people above poverty level) and poorly on other measures (i.e., have fewer human capital resources). Rural communities would appear to benefit from having a combination of residents in different age groups. To accommodate both older persons and younger families, rural communities will need to find creative solutions to provide appropriate affoordaable housing stock.

Developing Vitality Indices with Housing Variables: Comparing Non-Metropolitan Utah and Idaho Counties

The focus of this exploratory study was to develop and test rural community vitality indices that incorporate measures of housing. Specifically, its purposes were (I) to examine the relationships between housing, employment, and demographics with community vitality indices for non-metropolitan counties in Idaho and Utah, and (2) to develop and compare two rural community vitality indices. The two indices were (I) a three-variable index and (2) a five-variable index. For each index, regression analyses were perjionned on the Idaho and Utah non-metropolitan counties, using 1980 and 1990 U. S. Census Data. Significant predictors for one or both rural vitality indices included: Total labor force, the proportion of vacant housing units (a negative predictor), and the median value of owner-occupied housing (the most signzjicant predictor).