Building Intercommunity Cooperation

Abstract

The long-term viability of many rural communities depends on the adoption of innovative institutional arrangements. This paper focuses specifically on the development of multicommunity clusters as an institutional innovation whereby neighboring communities cooperate–rather than compete–with each other. Principles for promoting the growth of cooperation are integrated into the curriculum of a multicommunity leadership program. A combination action-learning/action-research framework is recommended so that community developers can implement multicommunity programs while simultaneously contributing to the knowledge base needed to guide such programs.