Why rural America is a place of epic opportunity

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A new year offers the opportunity for a reset.

The calendar no longer feels like a countdown with time running out, but a new canvas filled with possibilities. It’s the ideal time to refresh perspectives, identify new goals, and map out the year ahead. And at the Center on Rural Innovation, the transition to 2022 has put one theme front and center:?

Epic opportunity.

All too often, people talk about rural America in terms of what we don’t have. We’re moving beyond that — and we’re not alone. More organizations are waking up to the prospect that technology can spark a rural renaissance in the 21st century.??

As the perfect kickoff, we announced this month that?Aberdeen, South Dakota, will be the pilot site for?our new partnership with Land O’Lakes and CoBank, an initiative that will empower more rural places to benefit from everything that broadband access and the growing digital economy has to offer. This project,?American Connection Communities, came to life because the visionary leaders of our partner organizations understand that rural economies need to be strong and diversified if they hope to succeed for decades to come. They see small cities like Aberdeen as a place of opportunity, a chance to show other leaders and policymakers what the future of rural economic development can look like across the country. They believe, as we do, that the jobs of the future can and should be able to?happen anywhere.

We’ve also seen more stories that illustrate the ways rural America is evolving and upending inaccurate stereotypes, too.

The next time you hear someone talking about how rural America isn’t diverse, you should point out that the latest Census data shows it is actually more diverse than ever: Nearly a quarter of rural residents — 24% — are people of color. This month, we spoke with NPR for a story about?West Liberty, Iowa, where this ongoing demographic shift has resulted in a five-person city council that now has four members from its growing Latinx community. The example isn’t an outlier, either: 10% of rural counties are now majority people of color, according to?a Brookings analysis.?

These narrative-busting examples are essential when it comes to recognizing that rural America is not white America, as well as realizing the vibrancy and transformative potential that this diversity provides to so many rural communities.

Along the same lines, CORI, in collaboration with?Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc., released several pieces of research this month funded by the?U.S. Economic Development Administration, which had the incredible foresight to ask us to dig deeper to understand where and how their resources — and the rest of the economic development community — can have the greatest impact in bringing technology jobs to?rural communities. In addition to?case studies?examining the economic development approaches used by?several towns?around the country, there is a series of?reports?on topics like the?impact of remote work, the?gig economy,?automation, and the geography of innovation. This work will be the focus of a virtual?roundtable discussion?we are hosting on Feb. 17 — you can?sign up?to be a part of this event.

Supported by new partners and amazing new communities, with new research and data to draw from, it’s truly an exhilarating moment to be working in and for rural America. The momentum is only growing. At the dawn of this new year, now is the time to make the most of this incredible opportunity.

-Matt Dunne, CORI founder and executive director (January 2022)