'On the Front Porch' discussions return on Aug. 21. Pipa and Orrell begin with big change in northern Appalachia.

Tony Pipa (left) and Brent Orrell return on Aug. 21

After a summer of traveling to rural destinations, Tony Pipa from Reimagine Rural and Brent Orrell of the American Enterprise Institute are back 'on the front porch,' discussing the trials, successes and ongoing challenges of rural communities across the United States.

The new season dives in with Pennsylvania activist and author Tataboline Enos, who discusses her latest book, “Proudly Made: A Story of Reinvention in the Big Woods and Small Towns of the Pennsylvania Wilds.”

Set in northern Appalachia, Enos' memoir recounts the story of a region rich in public lands that was struggling to survive decades of depopulation and business decline. Through hard work, planning and collaboration, the community forged a new and brighter path forward by harnessing the spirit of the land and the people.

Enos will share details of how this community created change.

The group will share a blueprint for other rural communities looking to leverage outdoor recreation opportunities for economic development. Virtual participants can submit questions before the event via email to events@brookings.edu

Register here for the online event on Thursday, Aug. 21, at 3 p.m. E.T.

For more rural inspiration, Pipa's Reimagine Rural podcast returns for its third season beginning on Aug. 19. The podcast's first two stops are in western North Carolina, where residents and businesses are navigating post-Hurricane Helene recovery.

Season 3, Episode 1 focuses on a community working to restore outdoor recreation in Old Fort, N.C. Episode 2 explores how Canton, N.C., is maintaining its identity and resilience after multiple disasters.

New Reimagine Rural podcast episodes are released every three weeks throughout the fall and can be accessed on platforms such as Spotify and Apple.

Why U.S. rural policy matters: An essayist's response to readers, and thoughts on 'rural rage' and anti-rural rage

By Anthony F. Pipa
Brookings Institution

On Dec. 27, 2022, the New York Times published an essay I wrote calling for a renaissance in federal rural policy. My motivation for writing the article was borne from a frustration of the media’s obsession with rural politics—that is, who in rural America is voting for whom, and why—with little regard or attention to rural policy, or how federal, state, and local governments could do things differently to help rural places to thrive.

Federal policy has historically played an important role in helping rural places contribute to American economic and social life, but it is no longer fit for purpose. This is leaving rural places starved for investment as they navigate 21st century shifts in the economy and seek to become more vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable. The essay included a call for a national rural policy to help “put local assets to creative use, unleash entrepreneurial activity, share the benefits widely and retain the value locally.”

Tony Pipa

It resulted in almost 1,700 comments from readers and a flood of reactions in my inbox. “Don’t read the comments,” counseled colleagues, warning against the rabbit hole of negativity. Yet many comments surfaced thoughtful questions and gaps, and in the spirit of advancing a policy discourse, I offer responses to several of the themes that emerged:

1. “Ask rural places what they want.”

Some commenters read my call for a more active and effective federal role as a recommendation to overtake and usurp local agency and authority. To the contrary: Sustainable development frameworks are most successful when local people design, direct, own, and execute the solutions to the problems they are facing.

So I wholeheartedly agree with asking rural people, and ensuring that the federal government invests much more directly in local leaders and their innovation. But the federal government should also provide incentives or boundaries to ensure maximum public benefit in line with national policy priorities. This might mean incentivizing cleaner energy sources or ensuring that minority populations who have been politically marginalized in the past are included in the design or decision making of new development efforts, so the benefits are widely shared.

2. “What about the role of state and local governments?”

Several commenters rightly surfaced questions about the importance of state and local governments to the well-being of rural communities. State governments set the parameters of their local jurisdictions’ taxing and legal authorities, provide revenue, and are often the decision makers on how federal funds are spent. For example, about 45 percent of the resources in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) will be decided by state and local governments.

States are increasingly limiting the flexibility of local jurisdictions and sharing less of their resources, moves generally attributed to political differences between state leaders and large metros. Yet such shifts can have negative consequences for local rural governments, as evidenced by the impact of the tax cuts enacted in Kansas. Some rural leaders are recognizing that state policies driven primarily by culture wars could have negative consequences for their communities. The impact on local rural governments of state policy changes driven by tensions with metropolitan governments is an area ripe for further research.

In general, the capacity of local rural governments is significantly constrained, especially compared to their suburban and urban counterparts. In a recent survey of rural county officials, fifty-two percent reported that their governments experience “moderate” or “significant” levels of fiscal stress. Rural governments are often led by volunteer, part-time elected officials and thinly staffed town halls, struggling to provide basic services and possessing limited ability to respond to major economic or social shocks. For more rural places to succeed, we must strengthen the ability of local governments to govern.

3. “Big business is killing rural.”

Readers pointed to the impact of big-box chains and national franchises on locally owned businesses. Yet national retail and restaurant chains are simply emblematic of larger trends toward financialization and corporate consolidation that have challenged many local institutions that traditionally create a sense of security and self-sufficiency.

Sixty-eight percent of counties without a daily or weekly newspaper are non-metro. Forty percent of rural counties lost bank branches between 2012-2017, and 190 rural hospitals have closed or converted since 2005. Local leaders in rural communities now try to attract stores such as Walmart and Dollar General, not only to improve access to groceries, but because it provides jobs and a signal to the market that their community is worthy of investment.

4. “It’s not just rural: What about other places that are lagging?”

Many small and mid-sized cities in former industrial centers are also facing challenges, leading some to suggest less focus on rural and more on lagging places overall. Indeed, the future of many rural places will be linked to their nearest metros. But rural places are often minimized in regional efforts, resulting in distrust and approaches that fail to meet their unique challenges related to governance, distance, workforce, and access to capital. Perhaps a national rural strategy would ultimately be a subset of a national economic strategy—but leveling the playing field depends upon articulating one.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the comments expressed negative views dismissive of rural America, with many opposed to any targeted policy.

One set asked “Why should we care about those people and places?” This ignores the important inter-dependencies between non-metros and the rest of the country. As the country seeks to address climate change, for example, and shift to a clean energy economy, rural places will be where the solar and wind farms are sited, the minerals for batteries are mined and the batteries themselves produced, and where agricultural practices evolve to reduce methane gases.

Indeed, rural places are implicated in many dimensions of the 21st-century economy, from data processing to fabrication plants to cryptocurrency mining to online retail distribution. How these economies evolve, who benefits, and how well communities manage them—these are clear and present policy issues that are receiving little attention, leaving rural places to their own devices and offering few guardrails to prevent a modern version of the extractive arrangements prevalent throughout history.

Even more heated were the comments suggesting “it’s their own fault:” i.e., that rural people are getting what they deserve, their votes the primary cause of what they are experiencing. This has odd echoes of the arguments wielded against single mothers during welfare reform debates—ascribing all bad outcomes to bad choices—an argument that was dehumanizing then, and is dehumanizing now.

Several weeks after my essay, the Times published an editorial by Paul Krugman asking what could assuage “rural rage”? While the essay made a tentative foray into exploring the implications of, and offering support for, newly enacted policy, the image that rural residents go through their daily lives filled with fury left even local Democratic leaders in so-called Trump country shaking their heads. Such a broad brush conveniently thwarts consideration that policy decisions associated with trade agreements, the movement of capital, enforcement of anti-trust legislation, and regulation of transportation may have played major roles in abetting the challenges rural places now face -- p olicy decisions, I might add, that many rural people didn’t control or necessarily vote for.

Getting past the “anti-rural rage” and the vitriol reflected in the reactions to my essay will be as important as addressing whatever resentment rural people are harboring. When I listen to the stories of real people in rural places working to provide the best for their families and communities, I find commonalities that cut across the divisions defined and deepened by the obsession with rural politics. So my final response to readers is where I began: We urgently need a constructive bipartisan dialogue to consider policy solutions that can enable thriving, sustainable economic and social structures and create opportunity in all sizes of places across America—and specifically rural ones.

Opinion: Rural America is listening for leadership to support its economic and social renewal, but hears mostly silence

America needs a coherent rural policy, writes Tony Pipa, a senior fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution, leader of the Reimagining Rural Policy Initiative and host of its Reimagining Rural podcast.

"Despite widespread acknowledgment since 2008 that rural places have generally been left behind, our nation still lacks a coherent federal rural policy," Pipa writes for The New York Times. "The Rural Electrification Act, Title V of the Housing Act and other national-scale development programs helped bring rural America into the modern era, and its contributions helped make the American economy the envy of the world. But today’s federal programs were built for a different era. We need a renaissance of rural policy to enable a renaissance of rural America.

"What we have are lots of programs — over 400 available for community and economic development spread across every nook and cranny of the federal government. But navigating that maze and the peculiarities of their applications, reporting and matching requirements is a high bar for anybody, let alone the part-time volunteer elected officials and the bare-bones staffs that make up many local rural governments. That leaves most rural communities starved for investment. Very few can get the type and level of resources necessary to reinvent their economy or unleash the full potential of their human, intellectual and natural capital as they face rapid change."

Agricultural policy is often mistaken for rural policy, Pipa writes: "Farming now accounts for just 7 percent of rural employment. Service jobs, retailing, manufacturing and government employment all outweigh agriculture." And contrary to prevailing belief, rural America is ethnically and racially diverse: "People of color make up 24 percent of the rural population. Close to half of rural Native Americans and more than half of rural Black Americans live in a distressed county. That’s compared with 18 percent of rural white residents." The image of rural America as an overwhelmingly white place may have cooled some Democrats' interest in it, but elements of the Biden administration remain interested.

"While the Biden administration has started the Rural Partners Network to embed federal staff members in rural communities to help them identify and secure federal resources, the program is limited to select communities in just 10 states and Puerto Rico," Pipa notes. "The country needs a national rural prosperity strategy that offers a coherent vision for rural America in the 21st century. Someone at the highest levels of the White House should be responsible for its execution and cutting through the bureaucratic entanglements. Canada and Ireland, among other countries, have completed such policies and created cabinet-level positions to carry them out. Governors in Wisconsin and Michigan have created rural prosperity offices."

What about Congress? "Rural policy is one issue where Republicans and Democrats should be able to find common ground to work together," on such things as the new Farm Bill, Pipa writes. "Yet early indications signal high-profile fights over food stamps, agricultural subsidies and conservation investments — and limited attention to rural development. . . . Rural America is listening for how public leadership and resources can better support the economic and social renewal of rural communities, but it hears mostly silence."

Bipartisan Rural Prosperity Act aims to cut red tape, establish 'one-stop-shop' for federal funding for rural areas

On Thursday, Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y,), and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) "introduced The Rural Prosperity Act, bipartisan legislation that would cut bureaucratic red tape by establishing the Office of Rural Prosperity, a permanent office in the White House tasked with coordinating federal efforts to support and connect America’s rural communities to federal programs and resources in order to improve outcomes for rural families and economies.," Sean Golightly reports for the Arizona Daily Sun. "Currently, there are more than 400 federal programs dedicated to helping rural communities, spread across 13 departments, and over 50 offices and sub-agencies, which can create duplicative and ineffective bureaucracy."

The bill would establish a Rural Prosperity Council with members from the heads of all executive branch departments, agencies and offices with programs that serve rural areas. The council would help resolve interagency disputes and coordinate cross-agency efforts, Golightly reports.

Kelly told Golightly that the proposed office would be a "one-stop-shop" for rural communities to get federal support. A companion House bill will be introduced by Reps. Ange Craig (D-Minn.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), Cindy Axne (D-Iowa), Tom O'Halleran (D-Ariz.), and Adrian Smith (R-Neb.).

Matt Hildreth, executive director of Rural Organizing, applauded the bill, saying he liked that the proposed office would try to coordinate rural economic development but not override local authorities. "The last thing we want is the strategies to be developed at the federal government," Hildreth told Golightly. "Local people know how to solve local problems. That’s the point." Hildreth said he believes the new office would make it easier for rural communities to access federal funding.

Friday, Feb. 25 webinar on rural broadband policy features author of book about failure to bridge the rural digital divide

A free webinar at 1 p.m. ET on Friday, Feb. 25, will discuss rural broadband laws and policy. It's part of the Rural Reconciliation Project, a University of Nebraska College of Law initiative that seeks to cut through popular narratives on both sides of the rural-urban divide and assess the past, present and future of big structural issues in rural America. Previous sessions have addressed rural jobs, power and infrastructure policy. An upcoming session in March will address water.

During the webinar, Dr. Christopher Ali will share his research on rural broadband policy. Ali, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Virginia, recently published a book examining how U.S. policy has failed to bridge the rural digital divide. Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity analyzes broadband providers and policies, and has case studies from the rural Midwest. Click here for more information or to register.

Thursday webinar will discuss rural infrastructure policy

A free webinar at 1 p.m. CT Thursday, Jan. 27, will discuss rural infrastructure laws and policy. It's part of the Rural Reconciliation Project, a University of Nebraska College of Law initiative that seeks to cut through popular narratives on both sides of the rural/urban divide and assess the past, present and future of big structural issues in rural America. Previous sessions have addressed rural jobs and power. Upcoming sessions will address broadband and water.

In Thursday's webinar, University of Iowa law professor Greg Shill will examine questions about rural infrastructure policy including:

• What were original infrastructure goals and choices?
• Who benefited and who did not?
• Were those goals met and why?
• Where should we invest now?

Click here for more information or to register.

Former U.S. Rep. Xochitl Torres Small of New Mexico nominated for USDA undersecretary of rural development

Xochitl Torres Small

Xochitl Torres Small of New Mexico has been nominated as the Agriculture Department's undersecretary of rural development.

When President Biden announced her nomination on Friday, he cited her previous work in economic development in rural communities New Mexico, Algernon D'Ammassa reports for the Las Cruces Sun News.

"Throughout her career, Torres Small has employed her experience organizing in vulnerable, rural communities to achieve lasting investments that combat persistent poverty," said a White House statement.

The granddaughter of migrant farmworkers, she eventually became an attorney focused on water issues before winning a seat in Congress on her first run for public office. She served on the agriculture committee during her single term from 2019 to 2021.

"If confirmed, Torres Small would be in charge of a mission area with wide-ranging responsibilities, including rural electric cooperative loans, broadband expansion, community development and infrastructure funding, value-added producer grants, and funding for renewable energy and biofuel projects," Jacqui Fatka reports for National Hog Farmer. "The rural development undersecretary position was previously eliminated under a restructuring of USDA when establishing the trade undersecretary but re-established under authority in the 2018 Farm Bill."

Podcasts explore how federal rural policy could improve

A new podcast series explores rural policy and how it can be changed for the better. The series is produced by Rural Matters with underwriting and editorial leadership from the Brookings Institution.

Anthony Pipa and Natalie Geismar of the Center for Sustainable Development write: "Through conversations with influential thinkers, practitioners, and policymakers, the series provides a road map for the Biden-Harris administration to reimagine federal policy so that it meets the diverse realities of today’s rural people and places: investing in their leadership and institutions, building on their assets and innovation, and providing their communities an on-ramp for sustained prosperity.

In the first episode, "Reimagining Rural Policy," Brookings Senior Fellow Tony Pipa and Janet Topolsky, executive director of the Aspen Institute's Community Strategies Group, draw from Brookings' "Reimagining Rural Policy" report to provide an overview of federal rural policy, which they describe as fragmented and incoherent, and suggest reforms policymakers should consider.

Episode 2, "Federal Policy to Meet the Diversity of Today's Rural America and Tribal Nations," features rural-development experts discussing how policy can be sensitive to diverse rural and tribal communities. Participants are Gbenga Ajilore, a senior advisor in the Agriculture Department's Rural Development section; Kennedy O'Dell, a senior research and policy associate at the Economic Innovation Group; and Erik Stegman, executive director of Native Americans in Philanthropy.

Episode 3, "Capacity Building as Key to Successful Rural Development," explores how the federal government can jump-start equitable rural prosperity by investing in workforce development and encouraging regional collaboration, as well as how it can better leverage development programs through pandemic relief funding. Speakers are Cheryal Hills, executive director of Region 5 Development Commission in Minnesota, and Rob Riley, president of the Northern Forest Center in New England.

University, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce sponsoring series of discussions to bridge state's rural-urban divide

The political divide between rural Republicans and urban Democrats is seen in many states. In Kentucky, the last three legislative elections have relegated Democratic legislators to almost entirely urban enclaves and made them a largely inconsequential minority. But Republicans represent several urban areas, and there are still substantial numbers of Democratic voters in rural areas.

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the public-policy school at the University of Kentucky say they will try to "find new ways to bridge Kentucky’s urban-rural divide" with a series of webinars called the Kentucky Public Policy Roundtable Series.

The first one will be a panel discussion about the health disparities between rural and urban Kentucky, and differences in health-care access and delivery, at noon ET June 8. Future programs will address the rural-urban divides in education (July 15) and economic development (Aug. 10).

“We are very excited to partner with the Chamber on this important initiative,” said Ron Zimmer, director of the university's Martin School of Public Policy & Administration. “We have an outstanding faculty and a network of distinguished alumni across the state and nation with expertise in important public policy areas affecting urban and rural issues.”

Kate Shanks, vice president of public affairs at the Chamber, said “We look forward to not only engaging in these roundtable discussions but also serving as a resource for policy-makers and other interested parties. Our goal is that these sessions will lead to better understanding of these important issues and help develop Kentucky-specific solutions.”

Panelists for the first event will be:

• Mark Birdwhistell, UK Health Care chief of staff and vice president for health services administration
• Larry Gray, president of Baptist Health Louisville and former president of Baptist Health Corbin
• State Sen. Ralph Alvarado of Winchester, chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and a physician
• State Rep. Kim Moser of Taylor Mill, chair of the House Health and Family Services Committee and a former nurse

Both legislators are Republicans. Chamber Senior Policy Analyst Charles Aull will moderate the discussion. He said it will include the opportunity for questions from participants. The webinar is free; to register, click here.

At Rural Assembly Everywhere, Biden's domestic-policy chief calls for 'historic' levels of rural investment

A top Biden administration official speaking at the virtual Rural Assembly Everywhere conference on Tuesday said rural America's success is critical for the nation's economic recovery and expansion, but it needs "historic" levels of public investment to do that, Tim Marema reports for The Daily Yonder.

"The road to [a] more prosperous future runs through rural America ... And the Biden administration stands ready to ensure we all reach it," said Susan Rice, head of the Domestic Policy Council, in a pre-recorded speech. "The president understands that rural communities have missed out on economic growth and government investment for years ... And he is determined to change that reality."

Rural America's economic issues are long-standing and will require "generational investment," Marema reports. Read more here.

Rural Assembly Everywhere coming up April 20-21; White House Domestic Policy Council director is among speakers

Rural Assembly Everywhere returns April 20-21 with a diverse slate of national and local leaders, rural experts, artists, and civic organizers, including White House Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice.

 The free, two-day virtual conference will focus on how to repair a divisive and hurting nation," Tracy Staley reports for The Daily Yonder. "The theme — 'Road to Repair' — is a response to questions about how we build a nation that serves all and to calls for unity and repair, said Whitney Kimball Coe, director of the Rural Assembly, which presents the conference.

Each day will feature a keynote speaker, roundtable discussion, remarks from a national leader, and videos from performers, artists, and cultural organizations. Each afternoon, participants can select a breakout discussion and happy hour to attend. Click here for more information.

Biden's proposed budget would raise USDA spending 16%

President Biden's proposed budget for 2022 would boost spending on agriculture and rural areas in general. Such proposals don't generally survive intact, but they're useful as a snapshot of the president's priorities. This one raises funding for every major part of the government, and would boost Agriculture Department spending by 16 percent to $27.8 billion for the year starting in October. 

"Biden’s budget request mirrors many of the rural priorities included in his infrastructure blueprint, like broadband access, reclaiming abandoned mines and helping rural communities transition to cleaner energy sources. It also would expand funding for USDA research and education programs," Ximena Bustillo reports for Politico's Weekly Agriculture. "Congress can now get started writing the annual spending bills for each agency. But the appropriations process will run parallel to Democrats’ work on a sprawling infrastructure package, which is likely to dominate the agenda for several months."

Pandemic roundup: Independent druggists fill gaps in vaccination efforts; pandemic trauma haunts health workers

Here's a roundup of recent news stories about the pandemic and vaccination efforts.

Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., introduces legislation to provide continued funding to rural clinics that have suffered financially during the pandemic. Read more here.

The American Hospital Association warns that, without continued government support, many rural hospitals will shutter because of additional financial strain brought on by the pandemic. Read more here.

Traveling nurses say "war doesn't even compare" to their jobs during the pandemic. Read more here.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is boosting the reimbursement to providers for administering coronavirus vaccinations. Read more here.

Pandemic trauma haunts health-care workers. Read more here.

Covid-19 cases among nursing home staffers have fallen 83% from late December, despite vaccine hesitancy. Read more here.

A Virginia farmer is getting nationwide attention for planting one flag in his fields for each Virginian who has died from Covid-19. Read more here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released long-awaited guidelines for how vaccinated people may safely interact with others. Read more here.

Here's a good explainer about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Read more here.

Independent pharmacists, many of them rural, fill gaps in vaccination efforts. Read more here.

Fighting vaccine hesitancy means addressing "a constellation of motivations, insecurities, reasonable fears, and less reasonable conspiracy theories." Read more here.

The pandemic has magnified health disparities in Appalachian Ohio. Read more here.

A federal program is filling an education gap for rural migrant students during the pandemic. Read more here.

The number of people hesitant to get a coronavirus vaccine is dropping rapidly. Read more here.

A focus group of Trump voters discussed their reasons for hesitating to get the coronavirus vaccine. Read more here.

Quick hits: Gray TV stations' series explores rural issues; clean energy passed coal as electricity source in 2020

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

A new investigative journalism project from Gray Television's local stations is exploring the extent of rural disparities in Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta, starting with health. Read more here.

The Interior Department has reversed a Trump-era policy that sought to restrict which scientific research its employees could use in making decisions and rules. Read more here.

Renewable energy pulled ahead of coal as an electricity generation source for the first time in 2020. Read more here.

Op-ed says rural Americans are the future of the clean-energy economy, and policymakers must catch up. Read more here.

Relevant for rural areas that rely on tourism: a look at how bad the numbers were for tourism in 2020. Read more here.

A webinar series held on Tuesday evenings in March offers guidance on managing the everyday stressors of rural life. Read more here.

Here's a good backgrounder with updated information about rural emergency medical services and trauma. Read more here.

Biden taps director of Wisconsin's Office of Rural Prosperity as one of his key agriculture and rural policy advisers

Kelliann Blazek

President Biden has appointed a Wisconsinite with extensive rural-policy experience as a special assistant for agriculture and rural policy. Kelliann Blazek will serve as one of 21 advisers on the Domestic Policy Council.

Blazek was appointed first director of Wisconsin's Office of Rural Prosperity in April 2020. But "before returning to Wisconsin, Blazek worked as counsel to U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and helped include provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill that supported local food economies, organic agriculture and food-waste reduction," Mitchell Schmidt reports for the Wisconsin State Journal. "She also taught food law and policy at the Antonin Scalia Law School and spent time at the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. She grew up on a small beef farm outside of Bangor in La Crosse County, which her family still runs."

Blazek's appointment will likely be welcome news to those who want more rural voices in the Biden administration. A recent panel of rural policy experts at Kenyon College, for instance, agreed that not having such voices has resulted in "major structural problems" in nationwide policy. 

"It’s worthy of note that Wisconsin was not only one of the states Biden flipped to defeat Trump, it’s the site of Katherine Cramer’s research about rural resentment of urban, governmental and media elites," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, publisher of The Rural Blog. Cramer, a political-science professor at the University of Wisconsin, is the author of The Politics of Resentment, a book that chronicles how rural Wisconsin voters felt disrespected, misunderstood, and left behind by city-dwellers and liberal elites.

Can Biden deliver on promises to coal country, especially Central Appalachia? Residents and experts weigh in

The Central Appalachian coalfield is home to some of the poorest areas in the country, and economic revitalization is badly needed. President Biden has promised to bring high-paying jobs to the region through his climate-change plan, "but after generations of promises, communities once reliant on coal mining are understandably skeptical. Administration after administration has tried to bring the region sustained prosperity, yet many communities remain on the brink," Will Wright reports for The New York Times. "Without direct federal help, local residents and experts say, people living in those communities could suffer increasingly dire consequences as the nation moves away from coal for good — ending the boom-and-bust cycle that dominated their economies with a final and decisive bust."

But Biden must try new tactics and ensure widespread impact to get his promises to stick, said two experts who are on the advisory board of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues (which publishes The Rural Blog). It's unclear what those new tactics must be, but they told Wright that Biden can start by avoiding past pitfalls that often exacerbated rural disparities.

Ron Eller, author of the Appalachian economic history Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945, said previous administrations vowing to revive the region "have largely followed the same formula: job training programs, the recruitment of outside industry and a model that has consolidated power in the hands of few companies and public officials," Wright reports. "The result has been a wildly uneven distribution of wealth and opportunity that is evident to anybody who strays off the highways or outside the county seats. Some towns, such as Pikeville, are centers of wealth within the region, with a private university, several grocery stores and law offices. Outlying rural areas have largely been left out."

Peter Hille, president of the Mountain Association, a Kentucky-based community-development nonprofit, told Wright that past administrations have "accomplished really important work . . . but it has not been fundamentally transforming," so change for coal communities will have to be "some order of magnitude larger" than previous efforts. In a recent op-ed, Hille expanded on how Biden needs the right policy initiatives and large-scale investment to fulfill his promises to coal country.

Wright interviewed a diverse sampling of Eastern Kentuckians, including local leaders. Coal miner Thor Campbell said he thinks his children will struggle if they stay in their hometown after high school and said he expects coal mining jobs to disappear completely in the next five years. He doesn't know how to do anything else and said there are no clear substitute careers for older miners like himself. Bakery owner Gwen Johnson said she would welcome federal funding, but said she's "just sick and tired of outsiders saying what we need" because such funding is often mishandled and misplaced. Locals know better how to transform their communities, she said.

Matt Wireman, the judge-executive of Magoffin County, said it has a new industrial park, broadband access and tourism potential, and he thinks a little help from the federal government could help put it over the top. But he told Wright, "I want to see action, I want to see things that are tangible. . . . They can talk and talk and talk. Let’s see things we can see, feel and touch."

Bipartisan bill in House aims to invest in rural areas, revive White House Rural Council that Trump disbanded

A newly reintroduced bipartisan House bill aims to bolster economic opportunities in rural America and reinstate the White House Rural Council that was disbanded in 2017.

Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.) and a host of bipartisan sponsors first introduced the Transforming Hiring in Rural Industries and Vital Economies (THRIVE) Act in February 2020 but the bill didn't get anywhere. The co-sponsors for the current version are Reps. Hal Rogers, R-Ky.; Sanford Bishop, D-Ga.; Cheri Bustos, D-Ill.; Jim Costa, D-Calif.; Rick Crawford, R-Ark.; Jahana Hayes, D-Conn.; Ann Kuster, D-N.H.; Tom O'Halleran, D-Ariz.; Chris Pappas, D-N.H.; Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.; and Don Young, R-Alaska.

"Among the programs overseen by the Rural Council was the 'Livable Communities Initiative,' which supported local government efforts to improve transportation and develop housing in small towns," according to a press release from Rogers, who represents Kentucky's Fifth District, one of the nation's most rural. "The Council also worked in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education to provide online educational resources for teachers and students in rural communities, which was bolstered at the time by a $2 billion commitment by the Federal Communications Commission for broadband deployment across the country. Additionally, the Rural Council launched the National Water Quality Initiative to work with farmers to improve conservation of working lands and ensure they can be used for years to come."

Panel of rural experts say Biden administration needs more rural voices

"Rural perspectives should be present in every office in the Biden administration, said a panel of rural policy experts convened by students at Kenyon College. When decision-makers don’t understand rural communities, bad policy can be the result," Olivia Weeks reports for The Daily Yonder. "The biggest takeaway from the panel, said Daniel Napsha—founder of The Rural Cause initiative at Kenyon, is the need for rural voices in policy discussions. A non-representative body of policymakers has resulted in major structural problems, he said." The Rural Cause, which sponsored the panel, is a student-led advocacy group seeking to strengthen ties between Kenyon College and its rural Ohio surroundings.

The Feb. 18 panel, called "The Future of Rural America Under President Biden," also discussed the need for direct rural-development funding, the importance of data collection, the dangers of stereotyping rural America, and the policy implications of misunderstanding rural America.

Another common problem in discussing rural needs is that too many lawmakers conflate "rural" with "white" or "agricultural," which often means racial and ethnic minorities, including Native Americans, get left out of the discussion. "One way to help policymakers differentiate between rural America and farmers, said Zoe Willingham, research associate at the Center for American Progress, is to decouple rural policy from the Department of Agriculture, which houses non-agricultural rural-development programs in housing, broadband and utilities infrastructure, and a range of other community-development activities.

Increased broadband access would help overall rural resiliency, said John Windhausen, executive director of the Schools, Health, Libraries Broadband Coalition. Direct funding is needed to make that happen, he said, noting that it will cost an estimated $80 billion to bring broadband to all rural Americans. However, he also said it's difficult to assess rural broadband reach because of faulty Federal Communications Commission data maps.

Chuck Abbott of FERN covers Vilsack's to-do list, climate-change farm subsidies, and minority farmer debt relief

Chuck Abbott of the Food & Environment Reporting Network has a trio of articles this week about agricultural issues. Here's a short summary of each:

Tom Vilsack, confirmed in a landslide Senate vote Tuesday for his second stint as agriculture secretary, is coming out of the gate with a "blockbuster" to-do list, Abbott writes in the first article.

Vilsack, who will be the Biden administration's chief link to rural America, "has a panoramic approach to farm prosperity and rural economic development as a cabinet secretary with initiatives that include biofuels and broadband access," Abbott writes. "He also argues that Democrats, for lasting political success, need to be more active in rural areas and find areas of agreement with rural voters, who are heavily Republican. The rural vote was instrumental in Donald Trump’s election as president in 2016."

Under Vilsack, he Agriculture Department aims to further President Biden's goal to make the U.S. the first country to achieve net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions from farming through initiatives such as paying farmers to conserve land and plant cover crops. Vilsack said in his Feb. 2 confirmation hearing that he believes farmers are "prepared" and "anxious" to adopt greener practices as long as they're voluntary, market-based, and incentive-based, Abbott reports.

Abbott's second piece explores farmers' views on eco-friendly farming practices, as reported by farm leaders at the USDA's Agricultural Outlook Forum last week. Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest agriculture group, said farmers expect to be paid for climate-change initiatives but not if they take money from traditional crop subsidies.

Chuck Connor, president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and a former USDA deputy secretary, agreed: "You cannot do climate on the backs of the American farmer . . . They just simply don’t have the resources for that." Abbott notes, "Farm country opposition was a prominent factor in the defeat a decade ago of a cap-and-trade program to combat climate change."

The USDA "spends from $10 billion to $15 billion a year on farm supports, including $7 billion to $8 billion on crop and dairy subsidies and around $6 billion for land stewardship," Abbott reports. "Climate mitigation on the farm could require a federal contribution, possibly creating a squeeze on existing programs unless new funding is provided."

Abbott's third article explores controversy over $4 billion of debt relief for socially disadvantaged farmers that the House Budget Committee approved Monday as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. The USDA definition of socially disadvantaged farmers includes racial minorities and sometimes women.  Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee objected to the proposal, saying in comments submitted to the CBO that the plan was too hasty and that it needed more study to ensure there were no unintended impacts." They also questioned whether disadvantaged farmers' financial woes were pandemic-related. Rep. Trent Kelly of Mississippi called it reverse discrimination.

"The relief plan also allots $1 billion for land access, 'heirs property' issues and legal aid for socially disadvantaged farmers," Abbott reports.

Rural public transit agencies struggling in pandemic; advocate says drivers should be prioritized for vaccine

"In communities where the nearest hospital or supermarket may be an hour’s drive away, rural public transportation meets residents’ most basic needs. But at the start of the pandemic, ridership of public buses and vans—commonly ridden to crucial destinations like work, dialysis appointments, and the grocery store—declined by 90 percent in some rural areas," Olivia Weeks reports for The Daily Yonder. "According to a January survey of more than 100 rural and small-urban transit agencies by the Community Transportation Association of America, rural transit operations reported a 52.2% decrease in ridership since this time last year."

Loss of customers means a loss of revenue, which can make it difficult for transit agencies to stay open since they still must run routes and pay maintenance costs and salaries. "Maintaining staff is crucial even when ridership is low—a typical 16-passenger rural transit bus can safely fit only four people with proper social-distancing. Often it takes two buses to transport eight people when, prior to Covid-19, one bus could fit 16," Weeks reports. "The problems with restoring that ridership are plentiful: rural transit vehicles are small and social-distancing is difficult, drivers and riders are often high-risk for Covid-19, and vaccine availability varies widely from state to state."

CTAA director Barbara Cline said rural transit drivers must be prioritized as frontline workers and that rural America needs more access to vaccines, Weeks reports. The Federal Transit Administration has suggested that public transit providers facing low ridership should partner with local governments to provide essential community services during the pandemic such as meal delivery and vaccine distribution. CARES Act funding can assume the costs.