There is a clear need to advance a more inclusive economic future for rural America, which accounts for 85% of the nation's persistently poor counties. This imperative is not simply a "rural" one. The geographic divergence that divides the country between "winner-takes-most" and "left-behind" places serves to harm the nation as a whole by concentrating productivity in too few regions while leaving large swaths struggling to meet their economic potential.
Authors
William Taft, Mary Elizabeth Campbell, Hanna Love, Andrea Devening
- Pages
- 65
- Published in
- United States of America
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents 3
- I. Introduction 3
- II. Why the moment is ripe for rural economic inclusion 3
- III. The model A Learning Lab to promote community- centered economic inclusion in three rural Indiana towns 3
- IV. The playbook Practical implementation guidance for rural economic and community development leaders 3
- V. State policy recommendations Scaling community-centered inclusion across rural America 3
- VI. Conclusion 3
- Introduction 5
- What do we mean by rural 7
- Why the moment is ripe for rural economic inclusion 7
- The model A Learning Lab to promote community-centered economic inclusion in three rural Indiana towns 13
- What is the community-centered economic inclusion model 14
- Why choose Indiana to pilot rural community-centered economic inclusion 16
- Michigan City 17
- Seymour Indiana 18
- Warsaw 19
- Research and engagement activities that guided the Learning Lab 20
- The playbook Practical implementation guidance for rural economic and community development stakeholders 23
- Selecting districts for community- centered economic inclusion 24
- Step 1 The Where 24
- Key where lessons from rural CCEI 30
- Convening a coalition of leaders across sectors and capacity levels to co-create CCEI priorities 32
- Step 2 The who 32
- Key who lessons from rural CCEI 34
- Economic development planning to help correct past harms and invest in undervalued assets 36
- Step 3 The why 36
- Key why lessons from rural CCEI 40
- Co-creating community-centered economic inclusion agendas 42
- Step 4 The what 42
- Key what lessons from rural CCEI 47
- Implementing funding and sustaining CCEI agendas 50
- Step 5 The how 50
- Key how lessons from rural CCEI 52
- State policy recommendations Scaling community- centered inclusion across rural America 55
- Recommendation 1 58
- Build the capacity of local community institutions economic development organizations and other civic entities to lead community- centered planning in rural towns. 58
- Recommendation 2 60
- Recommendation 3 61
- Hold policies programs and grantmaking decisions accountable for rural contexts to better align funding systems with community priorities and outcomes 61
- Conclusion 63
- Endnotes 64
- Acknowledgments 64