Acknowledgements

This book is the product of two networks that share a common commitment to community engagement and rigorous scholarship.The first is the Canadian Rural Revitalization Foundation (CRRF), which has, for over 20 years, brought together rural Canadians and national and international rural policy and development practitioners and scholars in rural locations all over Canada.We are indebted to the CRRF Board of Directors for their support in committing to a conference in Twillingate, Newfoundland, in October 2005 on these themes, and to their financial support in making this book possible.The second association is the North Atlantic Forum, which emerged as a biannual conference from the network established by the North Atlantic Islands Program at the University of Prince Edward Island in the early 1990s.This network of small-island and other coastal and peripheral jurisdictions shares much with CRRF in its commitment to building capacity and enhancing democracy in small and peripheral communities and jurisdictions.We are grateful to the North Atlantic Forum for partnering with CRRF in the 2005 Twillingate conference.Titled "Big Lessons from Small Places: A Forum on Governance in Rural North America and the North Atlantic Rim," this conference brought together community development practitioners, public policy-makers, and scholars in a spirit of open debate; they shared lessons from their work and ideas about new opportunities and key challenges for small jurisdictions working to maximize their prosperity and sustainability.Thanks to the reinvigoration provoked by this event, an international network of scholars and practitioners has been brought together as contributors to this book.The authors who contributed chapters to this book have been a very patient lot.Most participated in the conference four years ago, although a few were solicited to write chapters to fill gaps we felt needed to be addressed.The first draft of this book arrived at ISER Books as its long-time managing editor was retiring.We are grateful to Dr. Wayne Fife who, while serving as acting academic editor, got the proverbial wheels in motion and, as newly installed academic editor, completed the journey.We also thank the peer reviewers for their constructive and generous suggestions to improve this volume.Finally, we thank the people and organizations of Twillingate-New World Islands, who offered their hospitality and countless volunteer hours to make the 2005 conference both a memorable experience as well as a wonderful learning event.It is this commitment to place, and the identity and social relationships that go with it, that make rural communities and small, often island, jurisdictions desirable and viable places for long-term sustainable development.We hope that the lessons shared in this book contribute to policy and practice that empower people, communities, and regions to make the most of their opportunities,

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