Sense of community represents the strength of bonding among community members. It is a valuable component of community life, and has been linked to positive mental health outcomes, citizen participation, and community connectedness (Townley et al., 2011). 
 

A sense of community and belonging are both major factors that impact attachment, retention, and in some cases, migration and investment into a rural community (0000). Those who have an existing familial or generational tie to an area are more likely to buy a home, seek employment, and participate in community development. However, what of those who have migrated to rural towns without traditional links to the community? How can a sense of belonging be established?
 

A meta-analysis of the literature describing the contact hypothesis (that social contact between diverse groups can reduce prejudice) demonstrated that intergroup contact typically reduced preconceptions and bias (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006).
 

A more concrete example of how interventions might be designed to increase sense of community and respect for diversity simultaneously is a music therapy project described by Gilboa, Yehuda and Amir (2009) in which a multicultural group met in weekly sessions, over an extended period, for musical presentations and discussion under the supervision of a music therapist. It was found that, following the sessions, participants expressed more acceptance and openness toward the “other,” and collective self-esteem was higher regarding both adopted (Israeli) culture and the immigrants’ culture of origin. It seems clear that this project successfully increased respect for diversity in the group. Further, qualitative results indicate that the project helped people to develop relations outside the classroom, make new acquaintances, and improve the group atmosphere (Gilboa et al., 2009, p. 18), hopeful signs for an improved sense of community, although no quantitative measure was made of this concept. Musical taste is an almost canonical example of the kind of mutable cultural attribute we have been considering, so the results of this study are highly relevant. Intriguingly, it was found that there was no significant change in participants’ attitudes toward quality, likeability, or perceived familiarity with the music of various cultures presented following the study; however, there was a significant increase in the number of musical excerpts that participants classified as “music” in comparison to the attitudes prior to the study (Gilboa et al., 2009, p. 21). We can interpret this as a process of social influence that has resulted in a set of cultural attributes as to what (for each type of music) is, or is not, perceived as “music,” becoming more similar among the participants (despite other cultural attributes such as likability and quality of each musical type not changing significantly) (Stivala, et al., 2016).
 

It is expensive to try to create large job opportunities in rural communities, but it is within that community’s ability to engage members in projects and efforts happening within that community. Higher quality of life is determined more by community involvement than by income differences (Peters, David, 2017). 
 

The Wild Center did a study for a community group in the Adironacks of New York called, “Connecting Millenials to the Adirondacks.” The adirondacks was having a very limited influx of young professionals moving there, and they hired the Wild Center to help current residents understand what they need to do in order to change this. They learned that millennials strongly crave a sense of connection and adventure. Interestingly, adventure meant a lot of things, and 71% surveyed said to them, that meant becoming involved with the history, local culture, and attractions - they really just want to understand where they live and how it came to be (“Connecting Millenials to the Adirondacks”, 2016).