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Friday, April 17, 2020

Pandemic shows need for new rural policy, analysts write

The rapid economic crash during the covid-19 pandemic shows how vulnerable many parts of the nation are, and highlights the need to change federal policy in rural and tribal areas, Katharine Ferguson, Anthony Pipa, and Natalie Geismar write for the Brookings Institution.

Ferguson is the associated director of the Aspen Institute's Community Strategies Group, Pipe is a Brookings senior fellow in global economy and development, and Geismar is a global economy and development project coordinator at the Center for Universal Education.

"The virus is now reaching into rural communities and Native American nations where, in many places, the compounding forces of race, poverty, and geographic isolation hits hard," they write. "When the nation turns to the work of recovery, our goal must be to expand the number and breadth of healthy communities, jump-starting a more equitable and diverse landscape of resilient local and regional economies. The relief funds already allocated and being contemplated by Congress must be designed to enable every community to thrive."

The pandemic will likely cast a long shadow in rural America, where many areas have barely recovered from the 2008 recession. Hospitals and the recreation economy in particular are already being hit hard, they write.

The analysts suggest five broad principles the federal government should follow to best help rural and tribal communities: support local ownership and strategies; invest in people and institutions; increase flexibility and align federal and state funds to meet local needs; measure and reward outcomes; and embrace a regional mindset.

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