About Stand Up for Rural America
BACKGROUND: 49 million
people live in rural America. Despite declines in poverty, 340 of the 386
poorest counties are rural. At 14.2%, the national rural poverty rate exceeds
the metropolitan rate by nearly three percentage points. Before Stand
Up for Rural America, no one knew how many community developers were
addressing the challenges confronting rural towns and counties. No
one had documented where these grassroots groups work, the activities they
undertake or what they achieve. As a result, rural community developers were
receiving less attention, fewer resources and less policy support than their
urban counterparts. To learn more about the challenges and opportunities, and
what community developers are doing to meet them, read Standing Up for Rural America: All in a Day’s Work, A Place in the Country and Unharvested
Bounty.
CAMPAIGN PURPOSE & GOALS: Stand Up for Rural America is a national coalition initiative, with 750 sponsors, dedicated to helping rural community developers gain the attention, resources, and policy support their work deserves.
The Campaign focuses on four specific goals: securing funding for the Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI) -- the first capacity building program for community developers in USDA; launching a Rural Funders Group in the Council on Foundations to increase rural philanthropy; stimulating significant private investment in rural community development; and organizing an umbrella network of rural community developers to continue educating funders, lenders and policy makers.
More recently, Stand Up added three items to its action agenda: enacting a “rural friendly” federal home ownership tax credit for investors; helping preserve existing Community Reinvestment Act regulations applicable to rural areas; and supporting efforts of The Congressional Rural Caucus to secure a more comprehensive, better coordinated federal rural policy.
TANGIBLE RESULTS:
Federal
Funding for Rural Community Development Initiative (RCDI)
More than $36 million has been appropriated from FY 2000-2005 in the USDA
budget.
Increased
Foundation Attention and Support
There is an active Rural Funders Working Group in the Neighborhood Funders Group of the Council on Foundations. It helped foster a $100 million National Rural Funders Collaborative now making a second round of grants. It also sponsors meetings, site visits, a newsletter, a listserv, and a “Rural 101” training curriculum for funders.
More
Private Investment
Better than $113 billion has been invested, mainly by Fannie Mae and
Bank of America, but also by LISC’s National Equity Fund, Rural Opportunities,
Inc. (ROI), and ROI’s partners.
A Rural
Community Developers Network
The Campaign has organized a Network with 1,727 grassroots members. They receive a biweekly Network Reporter containing information on funding and financing opportunities, policy issues, training and other resources.
A
Congressional Rural Caucus
Inspired by Stand Up, U.S. Representatives Eva Clayton (D-NC, retired) and Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) restarted the bipartisan Congressional Rural Caucus (CRC), dedicated to insuring that rural communities receive their fair share of federal resources and policy support. Current co-chairs are U.S. Representatives John Peterson (R-PA) and Allen Boyd (D-FL).
KEY ACTIVITIES:
Recruiting
750 Sponsors from 49 states Organizing
a 39 person Steering Committee Conducting
the 1st comprehensive survey of rural community developers Publishing the 1st Directory of Rural
Community Developers Conducting
a follow up survey Updating the Directory Organizing
three national Stand Up for Rural America Days Supporting
a dozen State Stand Up Days Organizing
the 1,727 member Rural Community Developers Network Publishing
the biweekly Reporter distributed to this Network Developing
and distributing a video, documentary film, three publications and three photo
exhibits Persuading 123 PBS stations, reaching 43% of
the national television audience, to broadcast the documentary film
MAJOR PRODUCTS:
The
first and revised editions of the “Directory of Rural Community Developers,”
summarizing national survey results and listing, describing, and mapping survey
respondents, organized by state (available online at www.ruralamerica.org).
“
Unharvested Bounty,” a magazine describing and analyzing the challenges facing rural
communities and what grassroots groups are doing to address them.
“Rural Communities Creating
Opportunity,” a Council on Foundations prize winning 24-minute video,
produced by Appalshop, Inc., showing how rural grassroots developers from
diverse distressed areas change peoples’ lives, and a related Photo Exhibit.
“A Place in the Country,” a film by
The Center for Rural Strategies, Appalshop, Inc., and Rural LISC documenting
seven community developers’ work from Maine to California and South Dakota to
Texas, featuring interviews with U.S. Senators Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Kit Bond
(R-MO), U.S. Representatives Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO) and Eva Clayton (D-NC,
retired), and Robert E. Rubin, Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee
at Citigroup. A companion magazine explores rural challenges and trends,
what community developers are doing to meet them, new rural markets and
philanthropic opportunities and where the gaps in federal rural development
policy lie.
“Rural Communities: Helping the Country
Work,” a photo exhibit and CD-ROM portraying the work of 14 community
developers and the challenges these and their colleagues face.
“Standing Up for Rural America:
All in a Day’s Work,” a photo essay and exhibit showing what rural
community developers do each day to make America a stronger, better place.
SUPPORTERS: