Mobilization and Adaptation of a Rural Cradle-to-Career Network

Abstract

This case study explored the development of a rural cradle-to-career network with a dual focus on the initial mobilization of network members and subsequent adaptations made to maintain mobilization, while meeting local needs. Data sources included interviews with network members, observations of meetings, and documentary evidence. Network-based social capital facilitated mobilization. Where networks were absent and where distrust and different values were evident, mobilization faltered. Three network adaptations were discovered: Special rural community organizing strategies, district-level action planning, and a theory of action focused on out-of-school factors. All three were attributable to the composition of mobilized stakeholders and this network's rural social geography. These findings illuminate the importance of social geography in the development and advancement of rural cradle-to-career networks.

Participatory Action Planning to Address the Opioid Crisis in a Rural Virginia Community Using the SEED Method

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“…Thus, findings should be applied cautiously. Second, the sampling strategy focused on active members of NPC, which like other cross sector partnerships in rural areas (Zuckerman, 2016b), consisted largely of middle-class professionals. As a result, the voices of those who received services provided by NPC are missing, as are those of community elites.…”

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“…innovative policies, which are grounded in new social realities [13]. They include macro-level models and strategies, especially ones that strengthen relationships among schools, families, community agencies, and businesses [14][15][16]. These new designs also necessitate meso-level, innovative programs and services, especially multi-faceted ones that address co-occurring and interlocking barriers to children's learning, healthy development and school success (e.g., [17,18]) Last, but not least, place-based, micro-level models and strategies are needed to facilitate student engagement, academic learning and achievement, social-emotional development, school completion, and, in a growing number of nations, postsecondary education readiness (e.g., [19][20][21]).…”