Creative economy thrives in rural clusters in Miss.

The Blues Trail is part of the creative industry.
(Photo by Regional Technology Strategies)

In an attempt to find out how important "creative jobs" are to a state's economy and rural communities, the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Mississippi Development Authority commissioned a study about the state's creative industry. Regional Technology Strategies founder Stuart Rosenfeld, who helped conduct the study, reports for the Daily Yonder that the state's creative industries employ about 45,000 people. That might seem small when compared to metropolitan areas, he writes, but Mississippi's creative industry cluster is larger than many of the state's other clusters, including information technology and defense. The study and what's happening in Mississippi could be examples for other rural states.

Rosenfeld reports the creative economy "depends on non-profit organizations, cultural and entertainment events and venues, and places where creative enterprises can be started, housed, and displayed." The Arts Commission supports the Mississippi Whole School Initiative, which "maintains an emphasis on the arts in the public schools even as so many other states are de-emphasizing these areas." Rosenfeld reports the creative economy "is a home grown industry," because it's "embedded in the culture, traditions, and history" of the state. He profiles a selection of creative industry success stories, including stories from the state's Gulf Coast, the Delta region and the Mississippi School for the Arts, a residential arts school for high school juniors and seniors. (Read more)

Creativity can be a big part of rural economies, but you might have to look a bit harder for it

Reports by the Regional Technology Strategies and its partner in the Alliance for Creative Advantage, Mt. Auburn Associates, have found that rural areas in at least some states boast a booming creative economy, contrary to many urbanites' expectations.

Dan Broun reports for the Daily Yonder that “creativity” is defined as “a select group of businesses that produce and distribute goods and services and for which the aesthetic, intellectual and emotional engagement of the consumer adds value to products in the marketplace.” The study in Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming and North Carolina indicated that creative enterprises are vital to helping rural regions develop effective economies.

Creative economies are often under-reported since they can be difficult to quantify and analyze. “Much of the wealth that the creative economy produces falls just under the radar screen of conventional economy analyses,” Broun writes. Microenterprises, proprietorships without employees, part-time businesses and supplementary sources of income are often the structures that house creative economies in rural areas.

When someone goes to the trouble and expense to count them, though, creative enterprises such as arts and crafts take on more significance than many observers might expect. In Arkansas, the study found that without artists and design workers, the estimated employment would have increased by only 15 percent between 1990 and 2000 instead of the 24 percent growth that actually occurred.

The research may refute or at least downplay notion that the “creative class” exists only metropolitan areas, with high concentrations of advanced-degree holders. To stimulate creative growth, RTS wants rural areas to recognize arts and creativity as an economic-development engine. Broun says chambers of commerce, tourism promotion agencies and city officials are in positions to publicize the success of rural creativity and its contribution to the economy. (Read more)

Study finds that 217 rural counties are among top 25 percent of counties with most creative workers

Some of the most creative people in the U.S. are living and working in rural America. A report by the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that 217 rural counties are in the top 25 percent of nation's most creative class counties "when measured by the percentage of workers who are employed in creative-class professions," such as arts, architecture and engineering, Tim Marema reports for the Daily Yonder. Many have a college or a university. (USDA map; CLICK HERE for an interactive map with county data)

"The creative-class thesis holds that communities that attract and retain more workers who are in creative occupations will fare better in today’s economy," Marema writes. "ERS researchers identified creative occupations listed in the 2000 census and refined their selection criteria (the fine print of the study’s methodology and the data itself are here). Then they identified the top quarter of U.S. counties that had the largest percentage of creative-class workers." (Read more)

Perhaps contrary to the belief of some, the creative class thrives in most rural counties; map shows details

Creative class share in U.S. counties (CityLab map by David Montgomery)

In the sixth part of a series that explores the myths and realities of America's urban-rural divide, CityLab examines the rural creative class: people who work within the arts, design and media, and/or people who draw on complex knowledge of topics to solve problems. About 10 percent (2.6 million) of them live in rural areas, Richard Florida reports. The population as a whole is about 15 percent rural.

When counties are broken down into large, medium and small categories of urban counties, rural counties adjacent to a metro county, and rural counties not adjacent to a metro county, and workforce patterns are analyzed, some interesting patterns emerge, reports Florida, an economist and social scientist who heads the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto.

"The most striking thing to jump out from the data is that there is not as much variation in the share of the creative class across urban and rural places as you might think. The creative class makes up roughly 30 percent of the workforce across all counties. Indeed, the creative class makes up almost the same share of the workforce in small rural counties that are not adjacent to metro areas as it does in urban counties in medium-sized metros. This may reflect the fact that certain professions like doctors and teachers are over-represented in small, isolated rural counties."

Compared to other rural areas, the most remote rural areas have an outsized share of creative class workers, most likely because they tend to be home to knowledge institutions or labs, like Los Alamos County, New Mexico, which is home to Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Study of broadband, entrepreneurs and creative class in rural areas gets surprising results

Access to broadband might not be as important to rural, non-farming entrepreneurs and the creative class as people think, says a study by researchers at Oklahoma State University, published in The Review of Regional Studies. Researchers Brian Whitacre, a professor and extension economist at OSU, and Ph.D. student Kelsey Conley found that high levels of broadband access could actually "serve to reduce the numbers of entrepreneurs and creative class employees in rural America."

The study used federal data "to compare the relationship between broadband adoption/availability and creative class and entrepreneurs both over a period of time (2000 through 2011-12) and during a specific period of time (2011-12)," Whitacre and Conley write for the Daily Yonder. The study centers on two maps, one of rural counties that have the highest levels of entrepreneurs and creative class workers (above) and one of rural counties that have the highest levels of broadband availability and adoption (below). Researchers say the maps don't overlap in the way one might expect.

"Characteristics that were controlled in the study included factors such as age, race, education levels, unemployment rates, the existence of natural amenities that can effect development patterns, and the percentage of workers who were engaged in agriculture or manufacturing," Whitacre and Conley write. "The study also used a spatial technique that helps eliminate the impact that neighboring counties might have on broadband deployment and adoption."

"Even after all these other factors were considered, we typically found negative relationships between broadband and entrepreneurship," Whitacre and Conley write. "When it comes to broadband adoption, we found that high levels of broadband adoption in non-metropolitan counties are associated with lower levels of creative-class employees. Similar negative relationships were found between broadband adoption and entrepreneurs in non-metropolitan counties." The same negative findings existed for broadband availability.

"One explanation could be that increases in rural broadband adoption led to discoveries of job opportunities in non-entrepreneurial sectors," Whitacre and Conley write. "For example, an entrepreneur in a rural area might use their new broadband connection to find a better employment opportunity (either locally or perhaps in a more urban area). Therefore, this increased broadband adoption led to a decrease in entrepreneurship in rural area." (Read more)

Arts industry can boost rural economies, but industry advocates say artists need more stimulus funding

As Congress mulls a new economic stimulus package, arts industry leaders say creative professionals need more funding. During the pandemic, "nearly 3 million jobs in creative industries are projected to have been lost, representing more than a third of all creative-industry jobs in the United States, according to a Brookings Institution analysis this summer of the coronavirus impact on the creative economy," Andrea Noble reports for Route Fifty. "About $150 billion in sales of goods and services from creative industries is estimated to have been lost as well."

That matters in rural America because arts and cultural organizations can boost local economies, make towns more attractive to tourists and prospective businesses and residents, and increase civic pride among residents. "Artists turn around economies and rural and distressed communities. They stimulate jobs in other sectors that depend on a vibrant arts economy," Kelly Barsdate, chief program and planning officer for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, told Noble.

Some state and local governments have earmarked direct financial aid for artists, but "going forward there may be less public grant funding available for artists as state and local governments coping with tax revenue declines end up slashing their budgets," Noble reports.

Arts leaders say federal support for the creative economy has been lacking. "It’s not just about the arts wanting special treatment," Barsdate told Noble. "Across the board, the arts have lost four times more jobs and revenue than other industries."

Rural areas can invite innovation by welcoming diverse 'creative class' talent, groundbreaking study says

Though rural America has still not regained the jobs it lost in the Great Recession, rural places can be hubs of talent and innovation too thanks to the rural creative class, a new study shows.

"The study by researchers at Oklahoma State University and Purdue University uses detailed data from the Rural Establishment Innovation Survey, conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service." Richard Florida reports for CityLab. "It is the first nationally representative survey of innovation in rural businesses and communities, covering more than 10,000 businesses in some 2,200 counties, with nearly three-quarters of the responses coming from businesses in rural areas (defined as non-metropolitan counties)."

The study creates an Innovation Index from factors like the presence of intellectual property (patents, copyrights and trademarks), accomplishments like new services and products, and customer feedback. It also assesses how innovation affects rural businesses' performance and other related factors like income levels, unemployment rates, and presence of creative workers, Florida reports.

Then, the study applied the Innovation Index to the nine types of rural and urban counties (as measured by the USDA's rural-urban continuum codes). Businesses in the six rural types of counties indexed below the national average for innovation, but this is mostly because rural areas simply have a lower share of innovative firms, Florida reports.

Innovation correlates with low unemployment rates and higher pay, and it has an outsized effect on the surrounding community, the study found: "places that are adjacent to areas with high levels of innovation appear to experience higher levels of creative class employees than would be expected." In other words, Florida reports, "Innovation invigorates talent and the creative class which in turn spills over to nearby places."

The key takeaway for lawmakers is that policy should focus on growing, attracting and keeping talent, which can be done by "adding to amenities and ensuring that communities are open to, and inclusive of, talent across the lines of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, and sexual orientation," Florida reports. "These policies and approaches, which have typically been viewed as more appropriate for larger cities and urban areas, may have even more to offer smaller rural communities."

Family behind Columbia Sportswear expands philanthropic efforts to help rural and tribal communities in Oregon

Columbia Sportswear, based in Portland, Oregon, is a $5.5 billion outdoor-clothing juggernaut, and the family that owns it is passionate about philanthropy. The extended family's Roundhouse Foundation, launched in 2002, initially focused on supporting arts projects with grants, but in the past few years has become more involved in creative problem-solving in the state's rural and tribal communities, Ade Adeniji reports for Inside Philanthropy.

When Gert Boyle, the daughter and heir of founder Paul Lamfrom, passed away in 2019, she left a large sum to the foundation that her daughter Kathy Deggendorfer says triggered "an explosion of growth," Adeniji reports. Deggendorfer, husband Frank and daughter Erin Borla now run the foundation; they sat down with Adeniji to talk about "how Gert envisioned the family’s philanthropy, how grantmaking has grown to tackle creative placemaking in underfunded rural communities, and now, on the heels of a huge bequest, where the family plans on taking their philanthropy next." 

Wikipedia locator map, adapted

The family began thinking about ways to support rural economies in the early 2000s. It was only natural, since they live in Sisters, a community of about 2,600 near Bend in central Oregon. And it's more important than ever, since 14% of Americans are rural, but only about 7% of all grants go to rural areas. When Deggendorfer received a portion of her inheritance, she decided to formalize her support by creating the Roundhouse Foundation. At first she was distributing about $12,000 in grants each year and working from her home office, but the foundation continued growing. "Just a few years ago, Roundhouse Foundation was giving away six figures annually and held around $22.5 million in assets (fiscal year 2018)," Adeniji reports. "Two years later, the foundation held nearly $142 million in assets and gave away more than $1 million. And in 2021, the foundation granted around $11 million." These days the foundation has 17 staffers and trustees.

One of them is Deggendorfer's daughter. Borla worked for local non-profits and events after college and joined the foundation's board of trustees in 2014. "I came back from school and knew I wanted to live in this rural space and work in economic development and creative space," Borla told Adeniji. She advocated for using public-school libraries as mental-health spaces for students.

The foundation now "focuses its work on four areas that it believes are fundamental to thriving rural communities — arts and culture, environmental stewardship, social services, and education," Adeniji reports. "Creative placemaking, a popular concept in the philanthrosphere these days, is central to the foundation’s work. Its flagship program, Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture, is an artist residency on a 260-acre working ranch, which also engages in agricultural and ecological projects. Roundhouse purchased and retooled the property in 2017, driven by [Deggendorfer's] vision." Some of those projects include regenerative agriculture and the development and conservation of watersheds.

Until 2019, the foundation focused mainly on communities in the Deschutes River Basin in Central Oregon, but the recent flood of new funds allowed its focus to expand to rural areas across the state. "This led to a deluge of calls. But it also forced Roundhouse to get out on the road and grow relationships in every corner of the state," Adeniji reports. "While 'trust-based philanthropy' is a buzzword these days, [Borla] describes part of that trust as simply showing up, meeting people in their own communities and trying to foster an authentic connection. Sometimes these conversations don’t even result in Roundhouse Foundation giving a grant. But rather, the foundation serves as a catalyst, where a vital connection allows an organization to move forward with a project without direct funds from Roundhouse."

The world is full of lonely people -- part of the antidote is changing how people react to this universal emotion

Loneliness is a human experience and an internal
message. (Photo by Kristina Tripkovic, Unsplash)

Being lonely has become so widespread that globally, one in four adults report feeling sad and alone. Medically, continued loneliness can take a severe toll on people's health, yet "pangs of loneliness aren't catastrophic. In fact, they're nearly universal. What's critical is how people respond to these feelings when they arise," reports Allison Aubrey of NPR. Commenting on the best way to respond to feeling lonely, Dr. Jeremy Nobel, a primary care physician and author of the new book Project UnLonely, told Aubrey, "Just like thirst is a signal you need hydration, loneliness is a signal that you need human connection."

Nobel's book creates a path to "using creative expression as a means to communicate," Aubrey writes. "When there's not a prescribed way to 'belong,' finding connection can be tough. Many people are hesitant to put themselves out there, or they have a hard time communicating what's on their minds. 'This is where the arts can be very powerful because they act as a catalyst to make it easier,' Nobel says. . . . Drawing a picture may seem like a solitary act, but it can be a bridge to connection, a way to express what's on your mind."

Viewing or creating art can improve mood.
(Photo by Jill Dimond, Unsplash)

Nobel has long believed in creative expression as a natural partner to medicinal treatment. "Some of his earliest work was with active-duty service members and veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress," Aubrey explains. "They gathered in small groups to engage in artistic expression and mindfulness activities." Nobel told her, "People began telling us that not only were they less stressed out, but they felt more connected to each other, something I later realized was addressing a certain kind of loneliness."

From culinary arts to poetry to gardening, there are ways humans can use curiosity and creative discovery as a way to connect. "Project UnLonely now partners with community-based organizations to develop evidence-based creative expression programs, which can include music, painting, drawing and beyond," Aubrey adds. "Research shows making art or even viewing the work of other people reduces levels of the stress hormone cortisol. It also increases levels of the feel-good hormones, including dopamine, endorphins and oxytocin."

While it's hard for loneliness to prevail in the face of curiosity and encouragement, people may struggle to get started. Click here for five ideas that will help overcome those fears.

Rural arts and culture summit in Morris, Minn., June 2-4

From June 2 to 4, a rural arts and culture summit called "From the Group Up: Cultivating Creative People and Places" will be held at at the University of Minnesota campus in Morris, Minn.

The summit will "gather artists, art organizations, rural-centric organizations and community and economic development leaders to learn about creative people and places that have built their stories 'from the ground up,'" according to the event website. "People from across the state and country will gather to celebrate the imaginative and creative thinking that has helped to create vibrant small town cultures." Registration is open until May 28. (Read more)

E&P's '10 Newspapers That Do It Right' include 5 with large rural audiences; smallest has augmented reality apps

Editor and Publisher has released its annual list of "10 Newspapers That Do It Right", which honors "innovative revenue strategies, impactful journalism, and creative audience growth." Here are the smaller or rural papers mentioned:

The Ledger Dispatch in Jackson, Calif., the smallest paper on the list, at 5,000 circulation, made the cut because of Publisher Jack Mitchell's efforts to help papers make more money with augmented reality. "Partnering with Strata, a developer of AR platforms, he created Interactive News (interactivenews.live), software that works with newspapers to create their own AR app and publish augmented reality content over any article or advertisement," E&P reports. "So far, Interactive News has been successful for not only the Ledger Dispatch, which has increased its revenue by 30 percent, but for several other newspapers using the app as well," 30 apps "with 50 to 60 products."

The Cape Cod Times in Hyannis, Mass., is on the list for its creative multimedia projects. Those include "Life With Gwen, a lifestyle Facebook program and podcast hybrid; CCT Live, also a hybrid and weekly news roundup; Cape League Corner, a podcast that highlights the summer basketball league in the country; Cape Cod Fun Show, a lighthearted show that highlights activities in town; and Curious Cape Cod, a reader engagement program that allows readers to submit questions and topics online for journalists to investigate and report on." Executive editor Paul Pronovost told E&P that such programs help reach new audiences or existing audiences in a new way.

The Herald & Review in Decatur, Ill., was honored for its dogged investigation of local officials by digging through public documents. "In a time of shrinking resources and limited bodies to attend meetings, these documents are gold mines of material that, with the right mindset and patience, can spark meaningful watchdog journalism," said Central Illinois Editor Chris Coates.

The Idaho Press in Nampa, which changed its name from the Idaho Press-Tribune last June, was recognized for overcoming hardship. After it lost its biggest printing customer in early 2018, the paper could have reduced its footprint through cutting circulation, reducing coverage and laying off staff. Instead, it expanded coverage, offered home delivery, and hired a slew of reporters and editors to make the paper more valuable to readers. It also acquired an alternative weekly in Boise and transformed it into a Boise bureau. Since March 2018, circulation increased 22 percent daily and 31 percent Sunday.

The Sumter Item in South Carolina made the list for creative money-making after it created a video production company run by newsroom videographers. "Launched in February 2018, Studio Sumter produces local commercials and handles video contracts with the city, county, chamber, economic development board, school system and various other regional groups and businesses. It also produces a daily news show called 'Sumter Today,' hosted by Kayla Robins, the paper’s executive editor. The show comes out Monday through Friday, with an occasional video on the weekend." The venture has been profitable since day one and Sumter Today is popular with locals.

Rural Oklahoma residents get creative to put food on the table without making long trek to the store

Residents in some communities either have a grocery store that must charge high prices but offers limited options or have no grocery store at all. These people are finding creative ways to get the foods they need without having to overpay or travel long distances. One such example is Leedey, Okla., couple Donita and Lee Blackketter, who raise or grow most of the foods they eat, Jaclyn Cosgrove reports for The Oklahoman. (Wikipedia map: Leedey is in Dewey County. The northwestern corner of the county is considered a food desert; see map below)

"For beef, they slaughter one of the cows they raised on their 360 acres. For vegetables during the summer, they grow a garden," Cosgrove writes. They make the 30-mile trip to the grocery store for any other items they might need, including purchasing frozen vegetables during the winter.

Donita has also learned to get creative in the kitchen, Cosgrove writes. If she lacks an ingredient, she doesn't make the long journey to the store for just one item. Instead, she told Cosgrove, "You go online, and you Google, and you find a substitute.” (Read more)

Rural health-care experts suggest five creative ways the Biden administration can improve rural health care

The pandemic has pushed many rural hospitals and clinics to the brink of bankruptcy, or into it. To reverse the trend, say two doctors who study rural policy, the Biden administration must include rural advocates in policymaking and think more deeply about the root causes of rural health-care disparities.

"The solutions rural America needs aren’t just about expanding broadband or insurance coverage, both of which are critical to extend telehealth and health care access. Rural health care will have to transform to survive and then thrive," Lauren Hughes and Sameer Vohra write for The Conversation. Hughes is the state policy director at the Farley Health Policy Center and an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Vohra is a pediatrician and the chair of the Department of Population Science and Policy at Southern Illinois University.

Hughes and Vohra suggest five creative ways the Biden administration can improve rural health care:

1. Rethink how providers are paid. Normally hospitals bill patients per service, but a la carte billing encourages hospitals to focus on elective procedures and services that bring in more paying patients (and therefore profit). Pennsylvania launched a program in 2019 that pays participating hospitals a fixed annual fee that covers inpatient and outpatient service. "With a predictable budget, enrolled hospitals can focus on the care their communities need, such as treating addiction, increasing cancer screenings and improving the management of patients’ chronic diseases like diabetes to reduce the need for more expensive acute care. The goal is to reduce costs while improving care," Hughes and Vohra write. 

The Biden administration could help transform rural health care by encouraging creative solutions such as Pennsylvania's, they write. Specifically, the administration could create a division within the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation dedicated to designing and testing solutions to rural problems.

2. Expand mental health and addiction services. Rural residents often have difficulty getting mental-health care. "Expanding mental health and addiction services for Medicare and Medicaid recipients and integrating those services with primary care could improve access and reduce stigma. And that could avoid wasteful spending on preventable hospitalizations and medical transfers to larger facilities," they  write. "One way to do that is to change Medicare’s lopsided billing rules for mental health care."

Clinics designated as Federally Qualified Health Centers or Rural Health Clinics already get higher payments for primary care services to Medicare and Medicaid patients, but FQHCs can bill for a wider array of mental-health and substance-use treatment services than RHCs. "Rural clinics could better address higher rates of behavioral illness and substance misuse if they could fully bill for these services," Hughes and Vohra write. "Changing how telemedicine visits are billed by making them equal to in-person visits would also help rural patients access needed services."

3. Build transformational leadership. Rural hospitals already train and recruit physicians through various incentive programs; such pipeline programs should be created or expanded to bring in innovative health-care administrators. Hughes and Vohra suggest employer-supported master's degree programs and expansion of the National Health Service Corps.

4. Bring back pregnancy and childbirth services and improve them. Fewer than half of rural counties in the U.S. have hospitals that deliver babies. Obstetrics, which has high malpractice-insurance costs, is among the first to be cut when hospitals tighten their belts. But the lack of such services has made it more difficult for rural women to access prenatal care or give birth and increased poor outcomes. 

"The new administration could offset costs necessary for critical access hospitals – small, 25-bed hospitals that exist only in rural areas – to deliver babies through special maternity care payments tied to quality outcomes such as increasing breastfeeding rates," Hughes and Vohra write. "These payments would prevent the temptation for small hospitals to grow expensive surgical service lines to cover financial losses commonly associated with offering maternity care. Such payments would also allow rural hospitals to hire dedicated obstetrics nurses." They also write that more grants through the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute could encourage university hospitals to partner with rural health-care providers.

5. Invest in health-promoting rural infrastructure. Crumbling rural infrastructure makes it harder for patients to get health care, and health-care workers to get to work. Though the Trump and Obama administrations improved transportation and telecommunication, "these investments were often viewed as solutions rather than tools for innovation. Rural towns would benefit from infrastructure investments that also encourage healthy behaviors," Hughes and Vohra write. They cite examples of communities that have expanded bike paths and built accessible playgrounds.

As budgets keep shrinking, some states are getting creative to increase parks' revenue and traffic

Memorial Day weekend will probably find many state parks busy, but plunging state budgets are forcing many states to get creative to attract tourists, Sandy Johnson reports for Stateline. "State general revenue for parks has plunged from a nationwide average of 59 percent of park funding in fiscal 1990 to 33 percent in fiscal 2012." (Stateline graphic)

That has led many parks to look for ways to make up the difference, often at the expense of visitors through new or increased prices and fees, such as non-refundable transaction fees on credit cards, Johnson reports. 

A model created by Michigan in 2010 has proven to not only be successful, but is saving visitors park fees while increasing the number of visitors, Johnson writes. When residents renew their vehicle registration, the state offers them an opportunity to pay an $11 fee for a passport, which allows them access to 102 state parks and 75 boat launches for the next year. The passport, which costs significantly lower than the regular season pass, has been popular, with 24.7 percent of people buying one in 2011 and 27.3 percent in 2012. The state needed only 17 percent of people to purchase a pass to break even.

Other states have followed suit, Johnson reports. Idaho replaced its $40 season pass with a $10 passport available with yearly license plate renewal. Last year 95,800 people bought the passport, compared to the 15,000 people who usually buy the pass at $40. The move has generated more than $1 million.

Kansas offers a pass with vehicle registration for $15,50, much less than the $25 if someone buys a pass at a park or a government office, Johnson writes. Washington sells a pass for $30, and lets participants make a donation to several causes, including state parks. "Texas added a line to its vehicle registration form asking people to donate $5 (or more) for upkeep of state parks; the state comptroller projects $1.6 million in revenue a year from the small donation," Stateline reports.

Oxford American's list of 'The Most Creative Teachers in the South' has strong rural flavor

The South is the nation's most rural region, in terms of population, so it shouldn't be surprising that the Oxford American's list of "The Most Creative Teachers in the South" is heavy with those at rural colleges, rural backgrounds or rural projects. Here are five examples:

David Haskell, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn., "conducts biology courses structured around on-site or hands-on lessons. In his ornithology course, he distributes bird carcasses that he's collected around campus. Each student is given a different bird, ranging from owls to hummingbirds, and becomes responsible for cleaning and rebuilding the skeleton." He says, "It's like a little term paper of bone." He raises goats and rabbits and takes students to his farm.

Frank X. Walker, University of Kentucky, Lexington: A poet, he invented the word "Affrilachia" to describe the relatively little known culture of African Americans in Appalachia. It's now in Webster's. He "adopted the totemic initial 'X' in college, following the influence of leaders like Malcolm X whose quest to discover their pre-slavery heritage led them to remain 'nameless'." His teaching inspired a rally by students to protest racist expressions aimed at President Obama on campus.

Beth Glazier-McDonald of Centre College in Danville, Ky.: "A willfully lecture-based instructor in a time of low-key seminar-style pedagogy," she teaches "Biblical History and Ideas" and a course she founded, "Biblical Hebrew." The latter course challenges some Christians. "People often think that questioning the text, and questioning the deity, is anathema," she says. "So I say, 'Let's go to the text, let's see what it says about faith, about belief.'"

Sarah Hardy, Hampden-Sydney College, in the town of like name in south-central Virginia's Prince Edward County, "has the rare privilege of being the female professor of a course titled 'American Masculinity' at the all-male institution." The South Carolina native "uses her female perspective for the secondary purpose of furnishing an objective voice in the discussions of preconceived notions about traditional masculinity."

Andrew Freear, Auburn University, runs the land-grant institution's "low-income development architecture program, the Rural Studio," in which students design projects "ranging from individual houses to farmers' markets and 40-acre parks." He says, I'm there as a kind of psychiatrist, confidante, mother, father, psychoanalyst, friend, drinking buddy." (Read more)

NEA survey has state-level data of creativity; North more likely than South to create or perform art

How creative are people in your state? The National Endowment for the Arts conducted a pair of surveys, in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, asking adults if they attended events, read literature, personally performed or created art, or consumed art via electronic media at least once during a 12-month period. Overall, 66 percent of respondents said they attended visual or performing arts events or went to the movies in 2015, 43 percent read literature in 2015, 45 percent performed or created art in 2014 and 61 percent said they consumed art via electronic media in 2012.

Numbers were much higher in the northern half of the U.S. when it came to creating or performing art, Christopher Ingraham reports for The Washington Post. In no state to the south of the dividing line at parallel 36°30' (by chance, the line that delineated the boundary between new slave and free states in the Missouri Compromise) "do a majority of people say they personally create or perform art. Conversely, in only three states above that line—Kentucky, Delaware and West Virginia—do fewer than 40 percent of residents create or perform art." All those were slave territory before the Civil War. (Post map: Percent of adults who personally performed or created art in 2014)

NEA analysis credits this to attained levels of higher education, Ingraham writes. "The percent of state residents with a bachelor's degree or higher is positively correlated with creating artwork: in other words, more education, more art. Conversely, poverty rates are a strong negative driver of arts participation. If you're working three minimum wage jobs, you're probably not going to have a lot of time to indulge in crochet or creative writing."

"Of course, education and poverty are big drivers of each other, too," Ingraham writes. "States with more money can spend more on better education, which leads to higher wages, which leads to more education, in an ongoing virtuous cycle. Unfortunately, the reverse holds true as well."

Schools in Washington state get creative to help homeless students find a ride to school

With class back in session, school districts across the nation struggle to make sure homeless students -- many of them rural -- can get to class. In suburban and rural Washington state, the number of homeless students doubled between 2012 and 2017, and school districts are tackling the problem.

Rural districts worry they don't have enough resources to ensure all students have a ride. They have cause to worry: "Last year, barely more than half the state’s homeless students graduated from high school on time, compared to 81 percent of their peers," Neal Morton and Scott Greenstone report for The Seattle Times.

Higher rental prices are part of the problem; in Washington, they're fueled by people priced out of Seattle and moving to ever-smaller cities and towns. As a consequence, the cheapest rents have gone up the most. That can push people into homelessness if their finances are dealt a sudden shock, Morton and Greenstone report.

Serving homeless students starts with identifying which families qualify for limited quantities of state and federal support. Some parents don't want to identify children as homeless, which is required to get the aid, some "as a matter of personal pride. Others fear their tenuous living situation might risk their children being taken away. And, more common now, immigrant families with mixed legal status hesitate to submit any official government forms," Morton and Greenstone report.

Some Washington schools have gotten creative to address the problem, offering funds to help pay for homeless parents' car repairs, or credit repair to help families qualify for an apartment rental. One county offers to send students to a host family to house the student. Jim Theofelis, who has worked with homeless Washington youth for more than 40 years, told the Times, "It's not schools' problem . . . It's all of our problem. But schools, given the resources, can be part of the solution."

Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette-Mail wins a MacArthur Foundation 'genius grant' of $625,000

Ken Ward Jr.

Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette-Mail, for years the leading reporter on extractive industries in Appalachia, is among this year's 25 winners of fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The fellowship, generally known as “the genius grant,” carries a stipend of $625,000 over five years, with no strings attached, to give fellows "maximum freedom ... to follow their creative vision, whether it is moving forward with their current activities, expanding the scope of their work, or embarking in entirely new directions," the foundation says.

MacArthur looks for exceptional creativity; promise for important future advances based on a record of significant accomplishments; and potential that the fellowship will spur further creative work. It said Ward was chosen because he excels at “revealing the human and environmental toll of natural-resource extraction in West Virginia and spurring greater accountability among public and private stakeholders.”

Ward sees the fellowship as "an indication that the reporting done here is valuable," the Gazette-Mail reports, quoting him: “This shows the importance and value of the kind of journalism I believe in, and that most of us have been trying to do for decades here. This incredible honor from the MacArthur Foundation is a strong vote of confidence in local journalism, and more to the point in local journalism that doesn’t just parrot the official line, but questions and holds accountable powerful people, industries, governments and other institutions that might not be acting in the public interest.”

"Ward, 50, is the only journalist in the group of 25 fellows announced today, a group that includes scientists, artists, authors, scholars and advocates," the paper notes. "Ward is the first person to be living in West Virginia at the time he received his MacArthur grant; the previous three had moved away." One was Henry Louis Gates Jr. of Harvard University, who was in the first class of fellows, in 1981. "He and Gates share a hometown, the small town of Piedmont in Mineral County. As a boy, Ward and his family moved to nearby Keyser." He graduated from West Virginia University in 1990 and joined The Charleston Gazette in 1991. For the past year, he's been in ProPublica's new Local Reporting Network, "working on longer-term stories on the natural-gas industry," the paper reports.

Ward told the Gazette-Mail that he plans to continue working there, "but that the MacArthur fellowship gives his family a safety net -- and challenges him to perhaps explore some new ways to ensure local news reporting remains strong." He said, “It's great to have some financial security. It's great to have this recognition, but … it seems very clear that this is not a lifetime achievement award. This is supposed to help you do more to realize some potential. I feel a lot of responsibility and pressure to figure out things to do to live up to that. What is it that these people saw in me that they think I can somehow go and do to make life better for people in West Virginia? I gotta figure out what that is and go do it.”

Rural school districts share creative solutions for lack of broadband, but they need more support, funding

Lack of broadband access was a big challenge for rural school districts this past spring, and it remains so for many districts that are continuing distance learning this fall, according to education policy analysts at the Brookings Institution, who worked with rural districts during the pandemic. But some rural school districts were able to come up with innovative strategies for getting around it, according to a National Center for Rural Education Research Networks study cited by the Brookings analysts; such examples might inspire other rural school districts.

Some solutions that urban and suburban school districts tried, like distributing hotspots, don't always work in rural areas; there may not be enough infrastructure to support broadband at all. Also, the Brookings analysts found that fewer rural districts expected teachers to provide distance instruction and monitor student progress.

Some creative solutions from schools cited in the NCRERN study include: mapping locations in the community that offer free internet access, buying cell phone data for students, connecting families with companies that offer free or inexpensive internet, and setting up hotspots and outdoor work areas on school grounds so students could work and remain socially distant.

States get creative to attract doctors to rural areas

"People who live in rural areas are more likely to die from heart disease, stroke, cancer, injuries, drug overdoses, car crashes and suicide. Women are more likely to die in childbirth. Children are more likely to die as infants," John Ingold reports for The Denver Post. And though many factors are behind those statistics, a big problem is that there aren't enough doctors and medical providers in rural America. Ingold reports that fewer than 10 percent of the nation's doctors practice in the rural areas where 20 percent of the U.S. population lives.

And they're getting older, too. According to a 2009 report, "27.5 percent of primary care physicians in non-metropolitan areas were age 56 or older, compared with 25.5 percent in urban locations. In remote rural areas, the percentage is 28.9 percent," the Rural Health Information Hub reports.

Dr. Sheleatha Taylor-Bristow

States are getting creative to come up with solutions to the rural doctor shortage. In Colorado, for example, the state runs a program called the Colorado Health Service Corps that helps doctors repay medical school loans if they work in a rural or underserved area, Ingold reports in a story in the "Colorado Divide" series, which examines the differences between rural and urban Colorado.

Hospitals in urban Colorado have struck up partnerships with struggling rural hospitals, beefed up their tele-health programs, and established locum tenens services, which act as medical-temp agencies when rural doctors need a break, Ingold reports. And the University of Colorado School of Medicine has a Rural Track program to prepare select students to work in rural settings.

Oklahoma has two similar programs for recruiting rural doctors through Oklahoma State University, Michaela Wheatley reports for The Oklahoman. Students agree to establish a practice in a medically underserved area of the state for a minimum of two years, after which the physician will become eligibile for student loan repayments for up to four years if they maintain their practice.

One of those physicians is Sheleatha Taylor-Bristow, who told Wheatley that she never imagined herself as a small-town doctor. Though she is from Oklahoma City, she says she loves her new home in Spencer, which has a population of about 4,000 and is one of the few historically black towns in Oklahoma. Running into her patients at the grocery store doesn't bother her because, as she told Wheatley, "I am a physician 24 hours a day . . . It is not something you go home and stop doing. You cannot vacation from it. It is part of who you are as a person."