From 1966 through 1977, 700 men and women were selected, primarily because they had demonstrated some capacity for personal initiative, to be fellows in the $11 million Leadership Development Program (LDP) supported by the Ford Foundation to develop new leadership in rural America. To operate LDP a decentralized organization with offices in Maine, Georgia, New Mexico, and Colorado was created and staffed by regional agents who recruited fellows and planned individually tailored programs usually involving extensive travel, new experiences, personal stresses, and some rethinking of career directions. Fellowship experiences included: teaching paralegal techniques in Tennessee; establishing an Atlanta street academy for dropouts; working in agencies such as the Mexican-American Community Services Agency in San Jose, the Southwestern Indian Development in Phoenix, and the Economic Development Administration in Washington, D.C.; touring rural Headstart programs and studying Headstart techniques at Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee; examining alternative education methods in California, London, and North Dakota; and studying mountain music in Tennessee. LDP experiences expanded fellows' understanding of society, reduced their insularity, and gave some of them new tools with which to work. LDP created bridges between unaware communities and the largely urbanized nation that surrounds them. (NEC)