In rural communities, as in cities, libraries provide “vital social infrastructure that shape the way people interact,” as a New York Times op-ed put it last year. But to do so, some rural libraries are dramatically changing how they work, what they provide, and how they measure success. The reason, as Callie Jarvie, director of the Rock County Community Library in […]
“Red Pedagogy” Sinks Indigenous Charter School Approval in NC Native Country
By a 4–3 vote that reversed its earlier decision, the North Carolina Charter Schools Advisory Board (CSAB) has rejected a proposal to create a charter school focused on growing “indigenous leader practitioners” in the state’s poorest and the nation’s most ethnically diverse rural county. NPQ has covered Robeson County before, when it was selected to serve […]
Convolutions of Race and Identity: The Lumbee Struggle for Sovereignty
Federally “recognized” but denied the sovereign status that 573 other tribal nations have, the 55,000-strong Lumbee Indians—the largest tribe east of the Mississippi—reside in the margins of US definitions of race, culture, and sovereignty. They lack access to the federal funds—limited though they are—for housing, schools, and health granted to the nation’s 573 federally recognized tribal nations, leaving […]
Lead in the Drinking Water in Public Schools: Our American Way of Life
Persistent exposure to lead, we now know, damages kids’ brains. But most school districts, even after America woke up to the perils of Flint’s dangerous water five years ago, are still not inspecting their fountains and faucets for toxic lead levels. What’s up? Wouldn’t this be an issue that could unite politicians across the aisle to decisively act? But like […]
The War on Poverty’s Legacy in Maine: Innovating Among a Small Community
Yesterday, we published a newswire about community development corporations, and today we publish this paean to community health centers. Both stories illustrate the importance of certain legacy types of organizations in the lives of community all across this country. Live in Eastport, Maine, and you are the first in the US to see the sun rise, […]
Appalachian Ohio Rebuilds Local Food Chains
Food deserts are not just an urban problem; indeed, 75 percent of the nation’s food-insecure counties are decidedly rural, desperate for fresh food despite rich natural assets and farmland. In Athens County, Ohio, nearly one in five residents lack sufficient access to nutritious and affordable food. For children, the rate is 24 percent, double the […]
Can Our Nation’s Food Co-ops Meet the Twin Challenges of Market Success and Racial Equity?
“Compete, respond, and lead,” urged Doug O’Brien, president and CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), as he moderated the opening panel of this year’s national conference of food co-ops, the Consumer Cooperative Management Association conference, better known as CCMA2019. The CCMA conference has been held annually since 1980. This year’s conference in June brought hundreds of food co-op managers, […]
One Austin Neighborhood and Its 40-Year Battle against Displacement
In 2000, Austin’s Guadalupe neighborhood—a 14-block area just across the interstate from the city’s downtown—was 85 percent Mexican American and 15 percent African American, with a median family income of $39,000. Sixteen years later, the neighborhood looks very different. Nearly half of its residents are white, and its median family income is $67,000. Single-family lots […]
Opportunity Zones Skip Over Hard-Hit Rural Places
Shelterforce is right on the money in their article, “Pushing Opportunity Zones to Fulfill Their Promise.” The piece urges urban leaders across the country to set guiding principles to make sure this new tax incentive, called the “most significant community development program to pass in a generation,” leads to equitable development and not displacement of low-income residents and […]
Creativity and Partnerships Turn a Nuisance into a Resource
Starting a new industry in a remote rural region is a daunting task. Selling the virtues of a tree so invasive that the state developed a strategic plan just to control this menace and a citizens group boasted of killing 12,000 of these trees in just one year, is also daunting. And promoting the use […]