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2023 Impact Report
Celebrating a year of success and growth, the report includes lessons from 2023, priorities for 2024, grantee spotlights, and financial and grantmaking details.
Grantee helps media organizations pivot into better local coverage
With support from The Pivot Fund, Pasa La Voz expanded from a Facebook page to a news outlet to serve Spanish-speakers in Coastal Georgia.
‘People power is how we win’
It was a David vs. Goliath fight in Iowa last year when Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement went up against a trio of CO2 pipeline proposals in their state. Iowa CCI Senior Advisor Hugh Espey recently shared the group’s strategies with Rural Democracy Initiative grantees, illustrating how people power can overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges.
Winning Jobs, a narrative that works
The economy and inflation are top priorities for people in rural communities. How we communicate about these issues will have tremendous effect on this year’s high-impact policy debates and elections. Rural Democracy Initiative consultant Bobby Clark and the Winning Jobs Narrative team have identified an effective framework for communicating about economic issues.
Blue Tent Recommends RDI

On the heels of a New York Times/Sienna poll and last week’s election results, Blue Tent notes that voters are deeply concerned about the economy. Blue Tent encourages donors to support Rural Democracy Initiative and other organizations that are creating a shared vision for an economy that works for everyone.

Rural Voters on the Road to Progress

In the November ’23 elections, voters in Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky protected core freedoms like reproductive choice, education, and democracy itself. Rural Americans elected leaders who support clean energy, climate progress, and racial justice to city and county government, school and water boards, and as sheriffs and district attorneys. These leaders will determine whether rural Americans have senior care, child care, and adequate school funding.

RDI on NPR
Sarah Jaynes highlights the importance of rural voters to establishing governing majorities in a recent story, “A 25-year-old from a small town leads North Carolina's Democratic Party toward 2024.”
RDI in Barnraiser

Rural groups are building multi-racial majorities to build power, win elections, and implement local-led solutions. Barnraiser reports on Rural Democracy Initiative's recent Netroots Nation panel with grantees Black Male Voter Project and Showing Up for Racial Justice.
 

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Rural Map and Dashboard
RDI’s Rural Map and Dashboard is built on census tracts and draws from city shape files, Daily Yonder county codes, and population density. Users can sort by state, county, and congressional district. The dashboard includes benchmark election results, plus partisan, ideology, and issue scores.
Grantmaking for Shared Prosperity and Policy Solutions

In April and May, Rural Democracy Initiative’s (RDI) 501c3 Heartland Fund and 501c4 Rural Victory Fund committed over $2.4 million in grants to 37 groups to build on the momentum of our network’s 2022 rural wins. These groups are defending against emboldened attacks on democracy, healthcare, core freedoms, and economic security, and also maximizing opportunities with new state governing majorities, cross-partisan partnerships, and federal funding.

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