This article appeared in Volume 3, No. 3 June 2002 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Learning and Living with Diversity in Schleicher County, Texas Resource Center: Diversity in Education Rural Datebook News Briefs Field Reports: Students from Small, Northern California Town Create a Usable Work of Art Youth Council: LUPE Lends a Hand to the Mexican-Americans of the Ojai Valley Publications of Note About Rural Roots Roots Archives

New Study Finds that Needs of Children in Impoverished Rural Communities are Not Being Met

America's Forgotten Children: Child Poverty in Rural America, a new report from Save the Children, confirms that children in rural America are more likely to live in poverty than are children in urban and suburban areas. Approximately 2.5 million children live in poverty in rural America. The study says that strategies to help persistently poor rural communities have not been as effective as possible, because they fail to build community infrastructure -- an element that urban and suburban communities already have. However, the report also finds that the prospects for a poor rural community's children become brighter where there are effective child- and youth-focused organizations, strong local leaders, skilled service providers and well-targeted public and private sector programs focused on improving the lives of children.

The report presents four recommendations to improve rural child poverty:

• Build human capital. Provide incentives to reverse the "brain drain," train the people who are in the community, and attract people with the skills needed to help serve children.
• Build community institutions. Create and strengthen comprehensive community centers and other places that serve children and youth.
• Build the economic self-sufficiency of families. Ensure that welfare-to-work policies make the needs of children a priority.
• Build and refocus support for pockets of poverty. Target and increase public and private support to reach children in the poorest rural areas.

James Cook University Offers Online Master's of Education Degree in Rural Studies

James Cook University (Australia), in partnership with Malaspina University College (British Columbia) offers a web-based Masters of Education in Rural Studies. Subjects covered include: "teachers, schools and rural community development," "introduction to educational research," and "teaching and learning on the WWW." Courses cover the particular concerns experienced by people living in rural areas, as well as models of community education and connections with community development. The degree program's international nature provides U.S. teachers a wonderful and convenient context for collaboration with colleagues from around the world. To learn more about the program, go to www.tld.jcu.edu.au/ruraled/.

Quilts Matter: The Alliance for American Quilts Resource

The Alliance for American Quilts believes that quilts tell stories that are worth capturing and that they are an important piece of America's heritage. At www.centerforthequilt.org, there is a wealth of information on the organization's oral history and preservation projects, such as, "Quilters' S.O.S.--Save our Stories," a grassroots oral history project that includes a downloadable how-to manual for capturing the stories and culture of today's quilt makers, and "The Quilt Index," an online resource providing access to documentation on American quilts and quilt making.

Center for Environmental Education Showcases Student Environmental Preservation Projects

A new initiative from the Center for Environmental Education, part of the Antioch New England Institute, is spreading the word about exciting projects kids and schools are doing for environmental preservation, hoping to spark ideas for other great programs. Recent featured projects include environmental art sculptures in Tacoma, Washington (http://greenschools.SchoolsGoGreen.org/grants/grants_comed/%2349626) and a pond laboratory project in Loachapoka, Alabama (http://greenschools.SchoolsGoGreen.org/grants/grants_intcurr/%2349451).

Schools in New England are eligible to receive funding from the Center for Environmental Education's "Schools Go Green" grant program. Go to www.SchoolsGoGreen.org and click on "Funding for Your School."