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Site SelectionKentucky is a rural state. Most policy decisions, however, are made in the metropolitan
region of central Kentucky. In
contrast, our research was conducted in seven non-metropolitan, rural counties.
At the request of the DAEL, we also included a metropolitan county as an
example of a “commuter” area, but were unable to collect interviews in that
site. Our data, therefore, includes the perspectives of individuals
living in rural areas and may be different from the experiences and observations
of practitioners who serve urban and suburban populations.
The US Department of Agriculture designates 98 of Kentucky’s 120
counties as rural; therefore, we believe that this study has much to add to our
understanding of the state’s needs outside of metropolitan areas.
Table One identifies the regional and economic characteristics of
Kentucky’s counties. Table
One: Site Selection Matrix
The seven rural sites were chosen based on economic
profiles defined by the USDA. Our
goal was to choose sites with diverse economic bases.
Three of the counties studied were identified as mining counties, two
were manufacturing, and two were non-specialized (indicating a variety of
economic influences or, in the case of economically distressed counties, a lack
of a strong economic influence). Both
of the non-specialized counties are located in eastern Kentucky.
The Appalachian Regional Commission defines one of these counties as
distressed and the other as in transition out of economic distress. Economic distress is defined as falling below national
averages in income, educational achievement, and employment. As stated above, an eighth metropolitan site located adjacent
to an urban center was also studied. The
eight sites were chosen to represent geographic diversity across the state
including three western counties (west of Louisville), two central counties, and
three counties in eastern Kentucky.
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