Rural-urban differences in the structure of services for the elderly in upstate New York counties

This research examines the impact of federal intervention and local community effort on the development of programs for the elderly. The study was designed, first, to gather longitudinal data on the structure of services for the elderly in 53 upstate New York counties for comparison with a study conducted in 1967 and, second, to measure the effectiveness of 43 counties with a County Office for the Aging (COFA) in mobilizing resources to increase services for the elderly. The findings reveal: (1) federal intervention has had the effect of an overall increase in services while at the same time decreasing rural-urban differences; (2) urban COFAs score consistently higher on the measures of community effectiveness; (3) the educational attainment of COFA directors is not a good predictor of success in mobilizing outside resources in both urban and rural counties; (4) in urban but not in rural counties, directors with administrator/planner experience have greater success in mobilizing outside resources.