Learn how to build progressive power in rural communities, the challenges facing the movement, and the critical importance of rural organizing. Listen to Nathaniel G. Pearlman's conversation with Rural Democracy Initiative Director Sarah Jaynes on The Great Battlefield.
It’s been a momentous, often stressful, and exciting year. The year began with thrilling wins in the Georgia special election that transformed the US Senate. Just weeks later, the anti-democracy faction fueled a deadly attack on our nation’s Capitol. We’re ending the year with historic infrastructure funding and a promising increase in new jobs. While COVID and new variants are a continued threat, hospitalizations due to COVID are significantly down compared to the start of the year.
The report, created by political analyst Mike Lux, reviews voting trends to establish the importance of rural voters and strategies for funding rural civic engagement.
Groups around the country are leading powerful racial justice organizing in rural communities. At Rural Democracy Initiative (RDI) we’re celebrating this important work by sharing six stories from groups we fund.
Park County, Montana is using Federal funding to partner with Yellowstone Bend Citizens Council (YBCC) to launch a new solar project. New solar arrays will reduce energy costs for low-income residents, a public school, and a county fairgrounds exhibit building. In addition to cost savings, it also reduces greenhouses emissions and is a critical component to avoiding the most devastating impacts of climate change.
In 2021, we convened rural advocates from across the country to create the Rural Policy Action Report. Identifying the top rural policy priorities for the year, the report was widely publicized and was shared directly with policymakers and key decision makers in the Biden administration. In 2022, we added resources for state-based policymakers and advocates. Then, we issued the updated 2023 Rural Policy Action Report. Each issue area includes policy priorities, example legislation, and the context for how these issues impact people in rural communities.
The intense challenges posed by COVID-19 to our rural partners have spurred us to quickly provide additional assistance to organizations rapidly adjusting their programming because of the outbreak. RDI is uniquely positioned to be responsive to organizational needs related to COVID, and we're in continuous contact with grantees.
LEAD has an effective model for strategic progressive change in rural America, and they're ready to expand. It was Wednesday, November 9, 2016, and Donald Trump had just won the election. Susan Kroger, Carmen Toft and Carrie Johnson gathered to commiserate over the election and a political landscape in South Dakota that didn’t support their values. The group knew that the political moment was an opportunity to recruit new volunteers, motivated by the results of the 2016 election, into on-going advocacy efforts in their state with little or no progressive infrastructure.
In 2019, Family Farm Action and their allies rallied farmers, ranchers, and rural communities against corporate power and their monopolization of the farm and food industry.
IAO offers services to low income families, youth, and seniors through various programs based on needs identified through community engagement. IAO also advocates for Appalachian Ohioans to elected officials, and equips citizens with information about issues and voting records with the goal of establishing a well-informed electorate for building progressive communities.
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