Abstract:

A report on government agents' responses regarding the availability, accessibility, utilization, & clients' satisfaction of services they provide to families living in low income rural areas. The nine agencies included for study were: Employment Security Commission, Food Stamps, Farmers Home Administration, Social Security Administration, Commission on Aging, Mental Health, Health Services, Veterans Administration, & Vocational Rehabilitation. The number of full-time & part-time staff members, average number of clients per month, availability of transportation for clients, clients' satisfaction, agencies' pressing needs, & modes of publicity were examined. A structured, open-ended questionnaire was mailed to the agents in each of the ten contiguous southern states; compared & contrasted were responses of agents in Arkansas & the region as a whole. Findings indicated that Arkansaa & the region had almost identical response distributions for questions pertaining to clients' satisfaction, modes of publicity, & provision of transportation services. Staffing & inadequate capital were the most pressing needs of the agencies. Newspapers were cited as the most frequent mode of publicity. Most of the agencies did not provide transportation services for their clients.