This report provides an understanding of the challenges confronting economic and community development
efforts in rural Appalachian communities and explains the ways local governments, agencies, and
community organizations plan and respond to challenging issues. The authors of this report examined ten representative case study counties, which were selected using a number of criteria, including economic performance, location, infrastructure investment, and demographic factors.

On November 27, 2012, researchers from the University of Tennessee held a webinar to review this research study. The webinar presentation is available in PDF format (2.7 MB).