New 'On the Front Porch' conversation features author who has written about the resilience of small towns

Elizabeth Currid-Halkett

Tony Pipa from "Reimagine Rural" and Brent Orrell of the American Enterprise Institute will host a discussion with Elizabeth Currid-Halkett author of The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country on Thursday, April 4, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., E.T. The discussion is part of the "On the Front Porch" series about research on issues involving rural America. 

Despite a common narrative that rural America is poor and detached, Currid-Halkett uses data and interview research to trace how small towns are doing as well as — or better than — cities using homeownership, income and employment benchmarks.

She also shows how rural and urban Americans share core values — even on issues such as racism and environmental sustainability — revealing that the nation is less fractured by geography than many people believe. This session is available online here.

To learn more about struggles and triumphs in rural America, Brookings' offers a podcast called Reimagine Rural. It features Pipa traveling through rural America and explores small-town challenges for residents who live in it.