Remembering the Other 46: Community Organizing, Planning and Development in Rural Areas

Although demographic trends point to ongoing urbanization across the globe, approximately 46% of the world’s population still lived in rural areas in 2015 (The World Bank, 2016). In the United States, an estimated 46 million or 15% of all residents live in nonmetropolitan counties (United States Department of Agriculture, 2016). Despite the sheer size and geographic dispersion of rural populations both globally and nationally, social work practice, generally, and community practice, specifically, have evolved over the past century as predominantly urban phenomena. The literature on rural community practice remains relatively invisible with few exemplars from rural settings (for exceptions see Scales and Streeter, 2003; Ginsburg, 2005; Lohmann & Lohmann, 2008) and limited research from which to draw upon in the development of programs and policies (Annenberg Institute for Social Reform, 2011; Slovak, Sparks & Hall, 2011; Carlton-Laney, Burwell, & White, 2013; and Frank & Reiss, 2014).

Yet, scholars and practitioners alike underscore how rural communities worldwide (see for example, Lynn, 2004; Derounian, 2014; Frank & Reiss, 2014; International Rural Network, 2016; and United States Department of Agriculture, 2016) have been beleaguered by issues such as global economic restructuring and the mechanization of agriculture; environmental degradation; social, political, institutional and demographic upheaval; and the lack of affordable housing as well as the lingering effects of the Global Recession of 2008 on rural poverty, wages and unemployment rates. More recently, the concerns facing rural communities have been exacerbated by issues related to immigration and social justice, health disparities, and the accessibility of technology and innovation (Battista-Frazee, 2015; Rural Social Work Caucus, 2016). While these problems are not unique to rural areas, rural communities face specific challenges in addressing them including social and spatial isolation, the lack of resources and trained practitioners. The development of organizational or communal responses to rural problems are juxtaposed alongside traditional attitudes that emphasize self-reliance and self-sufficiency; nurture distrust of outsiders and outside assistance; and foster concerns about government intervention and interference (Carlton-Laney, Burwell & White, 2013). Yet, the vitality, resilience and long-term sustainability of rural communities rest on their ability to acquire and maintain adequate infrastructure; secure access to needed services; enhance economic opportunities; and create policies and programs that address local needs – activities that all require collective action (see Cavaje, 2001; Carlton-Laney, Burwell & White, 2013; Battista-Frazee, 2015).

Additionally, practitioners recognize that to be effective in these rural settings requires specialized training across micro, mezzo and macro areas of practice (Battista-Frazee, 2015). Paraphrasing from Caldwell (2012, xvi), rural community practice reflects an organizing, planning and development process that provides “a focus on rural issues and from a rural perspective.” This need for specialized training led to the development of workshops aimed at increasing citizen participation in rural communities offered by the Highlander Research and Education Center since the 1930s (2016). Since the 1970s, groups such as the Rural Social Work Caucus (2015) in the United States have sponsored annual conferences devoted to social work and human service delivery in rural areas. For the past two decades, forums on community development have been offered through the Canada’s International Rural Network (2016). Yet, much remains to be learned and to be done.

This issue of the Journal of Community Practice contributes to our knowledge about rural community practice with studies from Africa, China, Israel, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The six articles highlight different approaches to organizing, planning and community development in rural communities as well as illustrate the range of underserved populations served. Moving beyond the delivery of needed services, emphasis in these studies is given to empowerment, the identification and use of local assets, community engagement and capacity building – activities which present unique opportunities and challenges in rural settings.

Our first article, “Assessing the Effectiveness of a Capacity Building Intervention in Empowering Hard-to-Reach Communities,” by Artur Steiner assesses how human factors, such as individual empowerment and resilience, influence community resilience which he defines as the “adaptive capacity … which enables a community to thrive despite ongoing change in a dynamic socio-economic environment.” Using data from a mixed methods study of six, hard to reach rural communities in southwest Scotland, Steiner evaluates the impact of participation in the LEADER Program, a rural development initiative aimed at supporting capacity building and sustainable community development in the European Union. He found that participation in LEADER and the successful completion of local projects led to the development of new community resources and social capital which, in turn, helped to build community confidence and the willingness to engage in future community projects. At the same time, however, community participants noted a number of challenges including communication problems, insufficient depth and longevity of community engagement, internal disputes and conflicts, resistance to change, and long-term sustainability.

In our second article, “Assessment of China’s Poor County Program,” by Jin Fan, Xiumei Guo, Dora Marinova, Dingtao Zhao and Minxian Zhang evaluate the impact of the County Level Poverty Alleviation Program in China. Using data from 592 nationally designated poor counties, the paper assesses the extent to which the sizable reduction in rural poverty experienced in China during the period between 1986 and 2010 was driven primarily by the Poverty Alleviation Program or the country’s economic growth. They underscore the challenges that are inherent in targeting community interventions in specific places. Their findings suggest that while economic growth was more impactful, programs and policies aimed at enhancing social wellbeing and empowerment are also needed in order to see significant and sustainable reductions in county-level poverty in China.

Zeev Greenberg, Ayala Cohen and Atalia Mosek’s “Creating Community Partnership as Foundation for Community Building: The Case of the Renewed Kibbutz” describes the lessons learned in community building from a qualitative case study of 10 kibbutzim located in the northern periphery of Israel that experienced rural renewal through the development of new residential neighborhoods built adjacent to pre-existing kibbutz neighborhoods. The article evaluates the process of building community partnerships, describes the frictions that emerged between residents of the expansion neighborhoods and kibbutz members, and articulates the challenges that need to be overcome, particularly those revolving around participation, inclusion and full representation in order to build an integrated community with shared vision, ownership and trust within the renewed kibbutz.

Our next article, “Zanzibari Social Entrepreneurs and Poverty Alleviation Strategies: Understanding Efforts to Build Local Community Sustainability,” by Ronya Foy Connor and Tricia B. Bent-Goodley examines an important topic for community practitioners, namely how to foster entrepreneurship as a mechanism for both individual advancement and the advancement of the larger community through human capital development, asset building and the promotion of economic sustainability. Their qualitative study of 15 women entrepreneurs in Zanzibar, Tanzania found that social entrepreneurs actively built educational opportunities for girls and women, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable populations within the community in order to provide skills training as well as to enhance community engagement. They further noted that entrepreneurs were constantly evolving their businesses in order to respond to change and advance community economic growth. The authors underscore the importance of local knowledge and inclusion in solving local development problems.

In “Navigating the ‘Sea of Goodwill’: Lessons from Regional Veterans Collaboratives,” Patrick Clifford and Nathan Graeser underscore how both rural and urban communities in the United States are ill-prepared to meet the multiple needs and challenges experienced by returning veterans and their families during the transition back to civilian life. Their comparative case study of the Los Angeles Veterans Collaborative and Tristate Veterans Community Alliance focuses on identifying best practices for building coordinated community approaches to facilitate veteran reentry. Clifford and Graeser argue that the most effective community collaborative responses employ the principles of a neutral and natural convening organization; the presence of credibility, respect and trust; sufficient resources to administer and facilitate services; and the use of data for planning and implementation.

Our final article, “The Impact of Women’s Work on Gendered Health Inequities,” by Tam Lynne Kelley examines the impact on health of the dual roles that women play as paid laborers in the formal economy and as the unpaid caretakers of children and households. Employing a global social determinants of health model, Kelley identifies nine factors most closely linked to gender disparities in health applicable to women residing in rural and urban communities: cultural norms, the imbalance of power between men and women, globalization of the economy, the feminization of work within the formal economy, the gender pay gap, unequal responsibilities in the caring economy, the lack of recognition of the value of caring work, stress, and poverty.

This issue concludes with a review essay and book review. In his essay, “Enforcing Penance: Women’s Experience of Incarceration in an Age of Punishment,” David P. Moxley reviews the Levi and Waldman’s (2001) edited volume, Inside this Place, Not of It: Narratives from Women’s Prison and McCorkel’s (2013) Breaking Women: Gender, Race, and the New Politics of Imprisonment. Moxley argues that the soaring incarceration rates in the United States reflect the rise in drug convictions and failed drug enforcement policy as well as adherence to a paradigm of exacting both punitive imprisonment and penance disproportionately affecting poor people, people of color, people coping with serious mental illness, and women. Both volumes focus on the plight of women in the criminal justice system and underscore how the system works to degrade them and break them down – a process that Moxley argues occurs before, during and after incarceration.

Getu Ambaye Teshale provides a review of the Borgatti, Everett and Johnson (2013) book Analyzing Social Networks. Teshale describes the volume as a “practical handbook on how to design, collect, visualize, analyze and interpret social network-based research.” While Teshale commends the authors for providing a comprehensive overview of social network analysis and methodology, he notes several areas of weakness revolving around issues of measurement and mapping social networks; ethical concerns such as privacy; and the need to more fully explore the deleterious consequences associated with social networks.

In closing, we hope that this issue provides additional insights into contemporary rural community practice. We thank the following reviewers whose thoughtful critiques and suggestions strengthened the manuscripts in this issue, especially Mimi Abramovitz, Robert Atkins, Elizabeth Beck, Amy Blank Wilson, Fred Brooks, Alice Butterfield, Charlotte Chang, Barry Checkoway, Rebecca Cheezum, Julian Chow, Brian Christens, Ed Collom, Jim Cook, Michelle Edwards, Robin Ersing, Qin Gao, Sarah Garlington, Andrew Germak, Donna Hardina, William E. Hartmann, Jan Ivery, Suzan Kucukarslan, Judith Lasker, Virginia Majewski, Robin Mama, Julie P. Martin, Steve McDonald, Terry Mizrahi, Susan Murty, Douglas Perkins, N. Andrew Peterson, Sheryl Pimlott Kubiak, Rogério Pinto, Irene Queiro-Tajalli, Susan Roll, Bradley Schaffer, Jon-Hakon Schultz, Robert Silverman, Tomer Simon, Richard Smith, Joanne Sobeck, Steven Soifer, Paul Speer, Yolanda M. van Heezik, Laurie Walker, Danielle Wallace, and Jennifer Willett.