"The People Left Behind"--Fours Years Later. A Report on the Effectiveness of Implementation of the Recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Rural Poverty

In 1967 the National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty made a comprehensive study and appraisal of the economic situations and trends in American rural life; evaluated the means by which existing programs, policies, and activities relating to rural people might be coordinated or redirected; and developed recommendations for action by government at the local, state, or Federal level or by private enterprise as to the means of providing opportunities for the rural population. This report, 4 years later, describes the extent to which those recommendations have been implemented. The Economic Research Service of the U. S. Department of Agriculture conducted an investigation to determine what action, if any, had been taken to carry out the Commission’s recommendations in the areas of creating a favorable economic environment; establishing national manpower policies and programs; improving rural education, health and medical care, family planning programs, welfare services, and rural housing; establishing area and regional development districts; fostering community organization; conserving and developing natural resources; adjusting production in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and mining; and assisting in developing more effective government for rural opportunity.