Virtual registration is open for Thursday's conference on health journalism in rural areas; registration is $50 tops

Want to attend the Rural Health Journalism Workshop 2022 on Thursday, July 14, but can't make it to Chattanooga? Not to worry: Virtual attendance is available, and registration is now open. The one-day conference is free for (and only open to) members of the Association of Health Care Journalists. Membership is usually $60 a year, but AHCJ will knock $10 off if you use the code RURAL22 when you register.

From the workshop website: "This workshop will bring journalists together with health care and policy experts who focus on the medical challenges of rural areas. Leave with a better understanding of what’s happening – or will be happening – in rural regions, and return to work with dozens of story ideas you can pursue. You don't have to live in a rural area to write great stories about what's happening just beyond the city limits. And think about how much policy is set based on the non-urban population of your state. This special one-day, no-fee workshop will help you find and cover health stories in rural America."

Sessions will cover data resources for reporters, rural health-care resource inequality during the pandemic, the promise and limitations of rural telemedicine, mobile clinics and other creative approaches to bridging rural health-care gaps, how to ask the right questions about opioid settlement money, and how to boost the number of rural doctors and nurses by establishing health-care pipelines in schools. Click here for more information about each session as well as a full list of panelists.

The conference is hosted by the University of Tennessee's Health Science Center, Cempa Community Care and Erlanger Health System, and is sponsored by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and The Commonwealth Fund.

Rural Assembly Everywhere recorded sessions posted; see sessions on book bans, food security and more

The annual Rural Assembly Everywhere convention was held virtually on May 10-11. If you missed it, not to worry: playbacks are now available. Click here to watch them.

Here's some of what you'll see:

• A discussion on book bans and intellectual freedom, featuring residents of McMinn County, Tenn. The community was thrust into the national spotlight after its school district banned the graphic novel "Maus."
• Remarks from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
• Remarks from Agriculture Department Undersecretary for Rural Development Xochitl Torres Small.
• Small farmers discussing food democratization.
• A discussion about apprenticeship opportunities for rural and Native American youth.
• Nonprofit Welcoming America hosting a conversation on building welcoming communities. The discussion will feature three female leaders from diverse backgrounds in Nebraska who will share their journeys to "build stronger connections between immigrant and non-immigrant communities, fight against divisive rhetoric, and ensure that inclusive policy is the norm in their communities."
• YouTube social and political commentator Justin King of "Beau of the Fifth Column."
• Neema Avashia, author of "Another Appalachia: Growing up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place."

The Rural Assembly and The Daily Yonder are programs of The Center for Rural Strategies, which calls the Assembly "a nationwide movement striving to build better policy and more opportunity for rural communities across the country." Click here for details.

Rural Assembly Everywhere to be livecast Tue. and Wed.; breakout session Wed. will look at reporting on rural places

This year's Rural Assembly Everywhere will be livecast online tomorrow and Wednesday. 

One breakout session, at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday, will be "Reporting on Rural: The How and the Why." Caroline Carlson and Tim Marema of The Daily Yonder, Pamela Dempsey of the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and Terrence Williams of The Keene (N.H.) Sentinel "will explore why accurate representation of rural communities in media is important," the Assembly says. "The discussion will dive into how we’re looking at rural data, what we’ve been working on lately, and how we assess rural stories, among other things."

Another session at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday is "Creative Power in Rural Places with Springboard for the Arts," an artists' support group. The day before, also at 5, a session will look at the future of rural communities and the nation through young voters.  The Assembly will also feature conversations with local and national rural and Native American leaders, including:

• Small farmers discussing food democratization.
• Xochitl Torres Small, the Agriculture Department's undersecretary for Rural Development.
• YouTube social and political commentator Justin King of "Beau of the Fifth Column."
• Residents of McMinn County, Tennessee, who are advocating for intellectual freedom after the banning of the graphic novel Maus in their school district.
• Neema Avashia, author of Another Appalachia: Growing up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place.
• Nonprofit Welcoming America hosting a conversation on building welcoming communities. The discussion will feature three female leaders from diverse backgrounds in Nebraska who will share their journeys to "build stronger connections between immigrant and non-immigrant communities, fight against divisive rhetoric, and ensure that inclusive policy is the norm in their communities."

The Rural Assembly and The Daily Yonder are programs of The Center for Rural Strategies, which calls the Assembly "a nationwide movement striving to build better policy and more opportunity for rural communities across the country." Click here for details.

Apr. 27-28 virtual meet to explore broadband access, equity

A Route Fifty virtual conference on April 27-28 will explore the state of broadband access in the U.S., where the disparities are, and some promising solutions to bridge the gap. 

The conference goes from 12 p.m. ET on April 27 to 3 p.m. April 28 and will feature Federal Communications Commission acting chair Jessica Rosenworcel and Center On Rural Innovation founder and executive director Matt Dunne. Several sessions have a rural focus (or discuss issues that disproportionately affect rural America). 

Click here for more information or to register.

Community Newspaper Summit, online March 8-19, features new Country Editors' Forum at 2 p.m. Central March 11

The pandemic still prevents most in-person conferences, but we've become accustomed to online meetings, and many have proven valuable and successful. Those are the prospects for Community Newspaper Summit 2021, to be held March 8-19 by the National Newspaper Association, the main trade group for rural papers.

The event is this year's version of NNA's annual meeting in and around Washington, D.C., that is held mainly to help local publishers and editors lobby their federal representatives on issues surrounding the U.S. Postal Service, freedom of information and more. NNA encourages publishers and state newspaper associations to set up online meetings with state delegations or individual senators and representatives, and says it will provide briefing materials.

The summit will inaugurate NNA's Country Editors Forum, with live interviews with newsmakers, at 2 p.m. CT March 11. The speaker will be Ben Ginsberg, who is not only the leading Republican expert on election law but has worked for several family-owned newspaper companies. He chaired the Presidential Commission on Election Administration in 2013 and "has been actively writing this year about election fraud and the many unfounded allegations about illegal voting," NNA says.

On International Women's Day, March 8, the summit will have a program, "How Women are Leading Congress."  Details on that and other sessions will be forthcoming.  "Join when you can. Leave when you must," NNA says. Members pay $50, non-members $100. Register here.

Rural Assembly Everywhere virtual festival Oct. 26-30

Rural Assembly Everywhere, a virtual festival for rural leaders, advocates and allies, is coming up Oct. 26-30. It's organized by the Rural Assembly, a Center for Rural Strategies program that connects more than 400 organizations and individuals nationwide focused on improving rural policies and communities. 

Rural Assembly director Whitney Kimball Coe said it was critical for such people to be able to gather, even if it couldn't be in person. "Family meeting feels like an appropriate metaphor for what we’re trying to accomplish with Everywhere," she told Tracy Staley of The Daily Yonder. "We’re calling everyone together, from all places, all regions, all sectors, and backgrounds because it’s going to take all us committing to the future together, and we don’t leave family behind."

The festival will feature a diverse line-up of speakers, panelists, artists, and happy hour discussions. "The keynotes, panels, and breakouts will address both current and longstanding issues, such as the 2020 election, the pandemic, gender and race, climate change and resilience, and rural and Native youth leadership," Staley reports. "The event will also include artists from across the country who will weave songs, poetry, film, and humor into the program throughout the week."

Registration is free. Click here for more information or to register.

News-media teleconference at 1:30 p.m. ET TODAY on pandemic effects on rural communities and electric co-ops

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association will host a teleconference at 1:30 p.m. ET today in which electric co-op leaders from around the country will discuss the impact of the pandemic on electric co-ops and rural communities.

New economic projections show that the nation's electric cooperatives could lose up to $10 billion in revenue through 2022. Click here to register or for more information.