Anne,
These communities, like my home community, were not
originally single industry communities but were made so
by the loss of the children to the cities and the tendency
for companies like Phillips Petroleum (in my case) to
eliminate the competition to reduce costs.
I would suggest your studying the farm communities of the
19th century before the rise of the mass production models
that lured the children away.
What does it take to make a community. Economics are often
the by product of a deeper motivation to band together.
If that deeper motivation is missing, the economics won't work,
in my opinion.
I believe you must first know the history of something before you
can understand how it must work in the present or project a plan
for the future. That is just my opinion.
Ray Evans Harrell
Anne Miller wrote:
> Hello
> 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
