This report examines the provision of workforce development services in rural areas and the challenges rural One-Stop systems face in providing those services.  Key research questions included understanding: rural One-Stop service networks of access points and their challenges, other means of providing workforce development services to rural residents, rural One-Stop partnerships and the role of different partners, cost and support for One-Stop centers, competition for workforce development services and availability of workforce development providers, and changes over time to workforce service delivery systems and services.

To explore the key research topics, Social Policy Research Associates designed a mixed-methods study that involved the following four principal tasks that were carried out from August 2004 to May 2005: (1) study design and literature review, (2) a quantitative and geospatial analysis of local office and One-Stop center distribution, (3) qualitative site visits to five rural local workforce investment areas in five states, and (4) analysis and reporting. 

The findings of this report are primarily based on the five qualitative site visits conducted in five states and rural areas.  These states and the local areas were chosen in consultation with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), and were aimed at including a diverse group of sites in terms of degree of rurality, ETA regions, and number of workforce development access points.  Site visitors spent four days at each of these sites, interviewing a variety of local respondents and visiting different types of access points.