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What We Do
We're Building Lasting Change
Through consultancy, communications, data/research, and local engagement, we connect organizations and allies centered on advancing American values and homegrown prosperity with rural leaders and communities. There are no fees for our work as we depend entirely on generous donations from individuals, foundations and other organizations. Our work includes: the Rural Strong Network Branding and Communications Campaign; Strategic Partnerships and Alliances; Civic Leadership Training and Communications Support; Community Organization; Innovation, Experimentation and Evaluation Technologies and Tools; and Policy Implementation and Accountability.
What Makes Us Different
In these challenging times, we realize that our country is deeply polarized and that if we are going to endure as a nation, where everyone receives the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we have to embrace each other, our differences, and the values that make us uniquely American. We are unapologetically proud to be American, love our country, our American values, our rich and diverse population, and our continuing desire to achieve a more perfect union. We do not approach our work as if the American people, whether living in the cosmopolitan cities or in the beautiful rural countryside of our great country, need to be treated or viewed differently, lectured to, dismissed, manipulated or denigrated or that the lifting up of all Americans is an intractable battle of good against evil where one side wins and the other side loses. We believe that our destiny as a nation is tied to the unity of its people, united in purpose and dedicated to moving our country forward.
With this in mind, it is clear that Americans living in rural areas, factory towns and marginalized communities have been left behind - devastated by the policies and positions that have evolved to this present day. Individuals, families and communities often struggle due to a lack of resources. Books are written about it, and nothing changes; the problem is studied and nothing changes; politicians make promises, and nothing changes; town halls happen and nothing changes. In other words, NOTHING EVER CHANGES. Something needs to be done and done now. We are action oriented and believe in getting things done - centered on outcomes. Our approach focuses on positive and proactive engagement instead of negative and reactive work centered on conflict with our fellow Americans. We believe that strength is achieved in consensus and a return to the embracing of American values which avoids alienation and conflict, and honors close relationships that are maintained over time among people dependent on each other. Our work focuses on and facilitates WHAT THE COMMUNITY BELIEVES is needed, as LED BY THE COMMUNITY, with problems solved with a holistic response that restores faith in institutions, the election of people who are proud public servants working for the common good and not for personal fame or enrichment, and holds accountable those who stand in the way of progress.
Listen. Learn. Lead. We help leverage connections and relationships with existing groups and efforts across sectors to provide additional capacity, strategic support and targeted resources to gain momentum for community, regional and national work. We host Rural Strong Network gatherings to bring people together to ask them how to make government work. We provide Rural Strong Network branding such as signs, hats, bumper stickers and t-shirts to make it safe to talk about what it means to help rural communities and to have rural pride. We build the Network across communities, regions, states and the nation.
We establish strategic partnerships with national, state and local organizations and serve as a convenor/collaborator to bring people together across issues and constituencies. Our partnership with key data analysts and vendors allows us to integrate innovative technology solutions to enhance outreach strategies and improve data-driven decision-making and outreach.
We provide grassroots organizers with the training they request, including: community gathering facilitation for issue identification, LTEs, podcasting, digital content creation. We also provide campaign and candidate recruiting tools and training and launch local media partnerships leveraging The Rural Strong Network: radio, podcasts, digital platforms. We also provide weekly social/email toolkits linked to policy initiatives and local action and our story collection series and media placement support.
Innovation, Experimentation and Evaluation. Our civic work is grounded in curiosity and learning. We will test new technologies and tools; engage in rigorous evaluation and analysis of our program work at every level; and create a learning hub to share new-best practices. We work with community leaders across the country and pursue strategic investment in building our Listen, Learn and Lead - Rural Strong Network - focused on our civic work in target areas.
We will work with local leaders to track and expose harmful actions, policies and missed opportunities and will push authentic community voices into public conversations. We will create a public demand and work to advocate for policies that make democracy, government and the economy work for all of us.