This book describes how the authors and other progressive-minded citizens in Floodwood, Minnesota, started a community school which literally lifted the community "by its bootstraps" from poverty and economic deprivation into one which became economically self-supporting and culturally enriched. A strong case is presented for community-based education as a promising alternative approach to public schooling. There are five chapters. Chapter I, "A Wilderness Community," describes the early history of Floodwood. A large number of people in the village of Floodwood, located 45 miles northwest of Duluth, Minnesota, were Finnish. Other settlers were French, Scotch, English, Polish, Russian, and Czech. Living mostly on small farms, the residents earned a meager living from working the woods and from dairy cattle. They built an elementary school and a high school. It was a community ripe for cooperative effort toward the improvement of living. Chapter II describes how the community's needs were identified and met. Chapter III contains summaries of some of the many projects and activities through which the school and the community joined forces to improve the standard of living. Examples include the Dairy Improvement Project, the Cooperative Feed Mill, and the Poultry Project. This chapter will be especially valuable to administrators and teachers who are searching for ways to generate greater community interest and participation in the public schools. In chapters IV and V, the authors analyze the administration of the community school program. (RM)