In Rural Community and Career Connected Learning: Impacts of High School Internships Prioritizing People and Place, Allison L. Ricket (SROI and Impact Measurement, Ohio University), Jacqueline Yahn (College of Education, Ohio University), and Emily Bentley (Education Engagement Specialist, Building Bridges to Careers) examines the outcomes of non-school internships hosted by two Appalachian Ohio organizations: Rural Action and Building Bridges to Careers. This qualitative study, guided by the conceptual framework of community and career connected learning, seeks to fill a gap in the literature where existing studies favor a distinctly urban-centric vantage point or focus on optimizing social mobility and developing skills needed to maintain a globalized, unrooted workforce.

In The Achilles heel of the U.S. food industries: Exposure to labor and upstream industries in the supply chain, authors Ahmad Zia Wahdat and Jayson L. Lusk (both of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University) analyze the impact labor issues can have on downstream industries.

In “Sustainable development and sacrifice in the rural North,” author Arvid Stiernström (Department of Urban and Rural Development, Division of Rural Development, Institutionen för stad och land, Uppsala, Sweden) examines the narratives and concepts used surrounding mining in rural communities.

In Young Farmers in “The New World of Work”: The Contribution of New Media to the Work Engagement and Professional Identities, Ilkay Unay-Gailhard and Mark A. Brennan (both of UNESCO Community, Leadership, and Youth Development, Penn State University) examine work engagement and identity among young farmers in Crete and Cyprus.