Community Strategies Group

This first in the Thrive Rural Field Perspective Series highlights how accelerating connections between health and development can propel rural prosperity.  

This book chapter highlights six action principles “do economic development differently”—that shifts from the risky “winner takes all” approach that is heavily reliant on a business-recruitment strategy to a “let’s all win” approach of building on a region’s existing, underutilized assets.

What are the pathways of influence for public health and health care to foster more prosperous, equitable and sustainable communities across rural America? This field scan provides an understanding of the state of relevant health fields in the rural United States.

What must happen for economic development to foster a more prosperous, healthier, equitable and environmentally sustainable rural America? This scan of field practices and trends advances our answer to this question.

One of the most important networks undergirding the US economy isn’t made of concrete or fiber-optic cable. We should give it the respect it requires.

In the Northern Forest, we sustainably harvest timber as part of integrated forest management and use sawmill waste to create solid wood fuel that is delivered to homes just as oil and propane are. But, instead of contributing to the problem, modern wood heat reduces net carbon dioxide emissions by more than 50%.

We need to reconsider dated stereotypes regarding which communities are leading the environmental movement.

The Rebuild Rural America Act of 2021 would add $10 billion per year for five years to USDA Rural Development’s budget. How should we evaluate this proposal?

For more towns and communities across America to share in the benefits of recovery and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the modern economy to thrive, we must revamp federal rural policy.

Much has been said about the influence that rural voters and rural states on the outcome of national elections. Some have proposed elimination of the Electoral College as a solution to this perceived problem. We question the wisdom and potential efficacy of this proposed quick fix for what ails us.