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The Daily Yonder
It’s Shutdown Season
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Keep It Rural, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Like what you see? Join the mailing list for more rural news, thoughts, and analysis in your inbox each week. On a good day, I forget that the government exists. I...
Rural Healthcare ‘Pathway to Progress’ Report Now Available with the Views of Sanford Health, AAFP and More
Think the challenges faced by rural health systems can be solved utilizing solutions employed by urban providers? Think again! Financial pressures are more acute with low patient volume. Much poorer connectivity and a lack of local specialists further complicate accessibility issues. To gain solutions for these unique set of challenges...
For Rural Communities, Broadband Expansion Is No Single Thing
Tourism runs the economy in the old mining town of Silverton, Colorado. From skiers in the winter to hikers and four-wheelers and mountain enthusiasts of all stripes in the summer – without tourism, the town of around 600 people has very little industry. And there is one resource the...
Small-Town Fire Department Helps Fill Gaps in Postpartum Care
It’s hard to quantify how much of an impact postpartum health visits have on new mothers in rural Crawfordsville, Indiana. “The word I generally use is immeasurable,” said Darren Forman, who runs Project Swaddle through the Crawfordsville Fire Department. “We’re doing everything we can to get data, but...
Study Looks at Climate Change Effects On Rural Electrical Grids
Researchers from across the country are studying how to improve electrical grids across the country with a focus on underserved, rural communities. Through a four-year, $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, South Dakota State University, University of Maine, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and University of Puerto Rico Mayague will examine how climate change affects electrical grids. The project is titled “STORM: Data-Driven Approaches for Secure Electric Grids in Communities Disproportionately Impacted by Climate Change.”
Climate Change Is Affecting Rural Workers in Myriad Ways
Climate change is taking its toll on rural workers and not just by making it hotter. But while the threats are many, there is little legislation to protect them, officials said. In some states, legislators are even pulling back rules and ordinances designed to help employees who work outside. On...
Commentary: The Time an Iowa Democratic Committee Sponsored a Stock-Car Race
After Clinton lost to Trump in 2016, the Democrat National Committee (DNC) examined its strategy. I hadn’t been active with politics since 1992, but in 2018, I wanted to understand why most of my friends and neighbors voted for Obama twice and then voted for Trump. This was my home on the Iowa/Minnesota border and I wondered how sensible people swung in opposite directions.
Q&A: Understanding the Difference Between Rural and Urban Homelessness, With Elizabeth Carpenter-Song
Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.
Fall for These Four Rural Byways
Traveling byways is a great way to sample local flavor and have authentic place-based experiences. The four trips below all lean into unique ecosystems and habitats or history and culture, making for particularly lovely autumn destinations. Pine Barrens Scenic Byway, New Jersey. While New Jersey might not exactly be top-of-mind...
Radically Rural: From Crisis to Consensus – Confronting Water Struggles in Rural Areas
From January to July 2023, the United States experienced 15 weather and climate disasters, each with costs exceeding $1 billion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That adds up to a record number of events of such magnitude, from severe storms to historic floods across the nation. How...
How Will Rural Americans Fare During Medicaid Unwinding? Experts Fear They’re on Their Own
Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in KFF Health News, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Learn more about KFF. Abby Madore covers a lot of ground each day at work. A staffer at a community health center in Carson City, Nevada,...
Navajo Climate Justice Advocate Awarded Prestigious Heinz Award
On Wednesday, September 20, Nicole Horseherder was awarded the Heinz Award for the Environment and will receive an unrestricted $250,000 for her work as an energy justice leader working to protect the water, air, and land of the Navajo Nation. Horseherder said it’s nice to be recognized, but it’s not...
The Summer of Country Music
As a kid, I never thought country music was very good. I grew up listening to the likes of John Prine, B.B. King, Emmylou Harris, and Lucinda Williams on my dad’s hundreds (I mean hundreds) of CDs, without ever realizing many of these artists were foundational to country music. I thought they were folk and bluegrass and blues (which, of course, they are), but the fiddles and harmonicas that made up the soundtrack of my youth were also what made up the roots of country music.
Organizing Against Culture Wars Trying to Reshape Public Schools
A grassroots organization in North Carolina is working with rural communities to protect public schools from calls for book bans and policy changes. Down Home North Carolina has been organizing in local politics since 2017. Its school organizing branch, Public School Strong, primarily works in rural and suburban areas to combat attacks on public education while also advocating for better school funding and teacher pay. The branch has had teams active in 28 counties since its launch in June of this year, according to a press release.
Review: Changelab’s Toolkit Offers Help to Rural Communities Working on Complex Health-Related Policies
The health of rural communities has been declining for decades. From 1999-2019 age-adjusted death rates for 10 leading causes of death were higher in rural areas, including heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, stroke, diabetes, kidney disease, Alzheimer disease, respiratory illness (influenza, pneumonia, etc.) and suicide. Rural communities are often blamed for their poor health – blamed for having inadequate health care resources, blamed for unhealthy behaviors, and blamed for poor health outcomes – without regard to social factors that influence health in many ways.
Group Organizes around Rental Housing Issues in Northeast Kentucky
When community organizers started knocking on doors in Boyd County, Kentucky, they were ready to listen to what people had to say about the biggest issues in their lives. What surprised the canvassers was how ready residents were to talk. “It was just house after house after house of people...
Experimental Study Shows Dramatic Poverty Decreases With 7 Safety Net Programs Fully Funded and at 100% Participation
Poverty would decrease by 31% if seven safety net programs were fully funded and had full participation from eligible candidates, according to new research. The report from the Urban Institute says poverty would decline from 14.7% to 10.1%. Further, child poverty would decline 44% from 15.2% to 8.5%. “If all...
A Rural Calling: Al White
When Al White was growing up in a three-room shotgun house in Duck Hill, Mississippi – the town for which he today serves as mayor – the hours were imbued with the sounds of the outside world. He and his brothers woke up to WONA-1570, a country music...
Q&A: Native-Led Rural Organizing, With Krystal Two Bulls
Editor’s Note: This interview first appeared in Path Finders, an email newsletter from the Daily Yonder. Each week, Path Finders features a Q&A with a rural thinker, creator, or doer. Like what you see here? You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article and receive more conversations like this in your inbox each week.
Why Geography Isn’t Destiny for Rural Education
Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in Mile Markers, a twice monthly newsletter from Open Campus about the role of colleges in rural America. You can join the mailing list at the bottom of this article to receive future editions in your inbox. Work in education...
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