Last Updated: 03/09/2004

• Best Practices, 1999--Best practices taken from the 1999 annual reports of rural EZ/ECs, Champions, and REAP Zones.  (pdf file, 425 K)
• By-Laws for Champion Communities, generic bylaws that communities can modify for local use (Word 97/2000 document, 34 K)
• Community Development Benchmark Management System--Instruction Manual, Version 4 (pdf file, 398 K)
• "Community Empowerment--A New Approach to Rural Development" An article by Norman Reid in the May 1999 issue of Rural Development Perspectives that reviews the history and progress of the rural Community Empowerment Initiative (pdf file, 393 K)
• Community Empowerment--Your Guide to Participation (brochure) (pdf file, 54 K)
• Community Participation: How People Power Brings Sustainable Benefits to Communities.  (pdf file, 162 K)
• Current U.S.-Mexico Border Programs (pdf file, 140 K) This information was gathered from federal agency websites as of July 2002 and may not reflect current agency activities.
• Empowering Rural Communities:  A Perspective at the Five-Year Point (pdf file, 240 K)
• The EZ/EC Administrative Handbook - Volume 1: Intro and Rio Grande Valley EZ example (pdf file 1,359 K) 
• The EZ/EC Administrative Handbook - Volume 2: Kentucky Highlands EZ example (pdf file 3,200 K) 
• The EZ/EC Administrative Handbook - Volume 3: Accomack and Northampton EC example (pdf file 3,743 K) 
• The EZ/EC Administrative Handbook - Volume 4: North Delta EC example (pdf file 5,542 K) 
• The EZ/EC Administrative Handbook - Volume 5: McDowell County EC example (pdf file 3,528 K) 
• Federal Funding Sources for Rural Areas: FY'03--A publication compiled by USDA's Rural Information Center that includes information from both government and private sources on funding opportunities.
• A Guide to Rural Resources--A link to USDA's Rural Information Center (RIC). RIC provides information and referral services to local, tribal, state, and federal government officials; community organizations; rural electric and telephone cooperatives; libraries; businesses; and, citizens working to maintain the vitality of America's rural areas. The RIC Website contains over 2,500 links to current and reliable information on a wide variety of rural resources and funding sources.
• A Guide to Strategic Planning for Rural Communities (pdf file, 49 K)
• A Guide to Implementation and Benchmarking for Rural Communities (pdf file, 59 K)
• IRS Publication 954: Tax Incentives for Empowerment Zones and Other Distressed Communities, Revised June 2001 (pdf file, 147 K)
• Poverty, Race and Community in Rural Places: The Empowerment Approach (pdf file,122 K) A paper written by Norman Reid presented at the 2002 Community Development Society (CDS) Conference.
• The Premise and Promise of Citizenship and Civil Society for Renewing Democracies and Empowering Sustainable Communities. (pdf file, 515 K)
• Progress Report of Round I Rural Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (pdf file, K)
• Rural Information Publications--These publications cover a broad range of topics and are divided into two categories in this menu: rural publications, and rural health publications. General rural publications include those on education, transportation, general funding for rural areas, historic preservation, tourism, leadership, natural resources, financial management for local governments and more. Health publications cover funding resources, health personnel issues and specific health topics.
• Strategies for Providing Rural Transit (pdf file, 157 K)
• Tax Incentives + Business = Jobs: A Marketing Primer on How to Entice Businesses to Renewal Communities, Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities  
• Tax Incentive Guide for Businesses in the Renewal Communities, Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (pdf file, 868 K)
• Templates to Create and Update Benchmarks Outside of the BMS:
  Benchmarks (.doc, 35K)
  Annual Narrative Report (.doc, 24.5K)
• What Works! II in the Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities, Volume II (pdf file, 4,767 K)
• What Works! IV in the Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities, Volume IV (pdf file)

Guides in Spanish

• Una guia para de implementacion y hitos para comunidades rural
(pdf file, 58 K)
• Una guia para planificacion de estrategias para comunidades rural (pdf file, 49 K)

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