Opinion: Answers to rural community struggles can be found in rural America, and solutions need to be shared.

If solutions were broadly shared, more rural places
would flourish. (Photo by Aaron Burden, Unsplash)

Stagnant economic growth and overall decline can plague small-town America, but it doesn't have to be that way, writes Donald W. Macke in his opinion for The Daily Yonder. "Somewhere in rural America, there are answers and solutions to the challenges."

After spending five decades working with "remote, smaller, and distressed rural communities," Macke writes. "I believe the greatest asset for rural prosperity can be found in rural America. . . . Unfortunately, we do a horrible job exchanging this knowledge between innovators and solution creators with those in search of answers to their development questions."

Tiny Ord, Nebraska, has some solutions to share. Macke writes, "In 1999, a small group of leaders in Ord began something special. This small and agriculturally dependent community ravaged by the 1980s Agricultural Crisis, came back rooted in empowering leadership, a commitment to invest, and entrepreneur-focused development. During the following quarter of a century, Ord and its Valley County Region diversified from a two to an eight-sector economy and prosperity." The ways and means Ord deployed to build success could help other communities.

A platform should be built where those in need can connect with rural innovators who have answers. To form that base, the USDA's yearly $5 billion budget for rural development could be leveraged. Macke writes, "What if just 0.1% of this annual funding stream or $20 million was dedicated to supporting learning exchange strategies among rural states and territories, and their communities? A very modest amount that could be leveraged with another $20 million from corporate America, and another $20 million from major foundations creating a $60 million fund."

Macke adds, "Employing the Western Australian model, a government-funded networking and exchange program designed to encourage learning and exchange between communities, could capture innovation and solution learning, create regional and national resource libraries, support video-based exchange programs, and provide grants allowing rural community delegations to actually visit solutions communities. "