The season three finale of Reimagine Rural has Tony checking in with leaders in places he previously visited to see how the towns are faring. From stalled industrial developments in central Ohio and rural California to devastating floods in Globe, Arizona, this episode reveals how rural communities adapt and persevere amid unanticipated policy changes, leadership transitions, and natural disasters, keeping their vision alive even as their paths take unexpected turns.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

When a permit application for a proposed power plant heralded the possibility of a large data center being located near the towns of Davis and Thomas in West Virginia, local leaders and residents were taken by surprise and are determined to protect the creative economy and natural beauty of their place. In this episode, host Tony Pipa revisits Tucker County to capture the story of a community at the intersection of national technology policy and local control.

For more insight, see Tony's interview with Brookings Senior Fellow Nicol Turner Lee on the global race for AI, local impacts and trade-offs, and community oversight.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

This special edition of Reimagine Rural features Tony Pipa interviewing Tom Halverson, CEO of CoBank and a member of America's Rural Future: The Brookings-AEI Commission on Rural Prosperity. Halverson reflects on the commission's visits and public hearings in North Dakota and Minnesota, emphasizing the diversity of rural places and important trends regarding rural youth, agriculture, innovation, and the need for holistic, bipartisan rural policy reform.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

A former mill town once defined by economic decline, Skowhegan, Maine, is thriving again through creativity and collaboration. From a growing regional food hub and a major riverfront revitalization effort to new housing and early education projects, residents are proving that rural communities can innovate, adapt, and build a vibrant future rooted in heritage and shared vision.

Also see Tony Pipa's interview with Scott Andes, senior advisor for economic development and professor of the practice at Carnegie Mellon University, to discover how federal investments can help distressed rural areas achieve long-term prosperity.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

Since the 1990s, Beardstown, Illinois — official population 5,800 — has experienced steady immigration due to the meatpacking industry, breathing new life into this once declining town. Now a multicultural community with residents from over 30 countries, newcomers have integrated throughout neighborhoods, revitalized storefronts, and enriched local schools. In this episode, Tony Pipa explores how this small Midwestern town has learned to embrace change and built a vibrant downtown, and how policy changes and the national narrative about immigration are affecting this rural place.

See Tony's interview with Rachel Perić of Welcoming America to explore what rapid demographic change means for small-town life.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

Through community-driven investments in health care, economic development, and civic leadership, the town of Ord, Nebraska, stands as a model for rural renewal. A modern hospital with state-of-the-art features has helped to attract and retain residents, and a local sales tax fund has provided resources to finance projects that have made Ord's business community vibrant. Exceptional among many neighboring towns across the prairie, Ord has a vibrant civic culture and economic future.

Also, see Tony's interview with Tyler Malone on the role of rural hospitals in sustaining community health and development.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

Morris, Minnesota, a rural place on the edge of the prairie, is at the forefront of environmental sustainability. In this episode, Tony Pipa visits Morris to discover how its residents and local leaders have set aside partisan politics to build powerful, trusted partnerships to invest in clean energy and conservation practices that improve the town's economic viability and offer new opportunities to build lasting community wealth.

Also, see Tony's interview with Benji Backer, founder and CEO of Nature is Nonpartisan, on a nonpartisan approach to conservation and clean energy.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

Hazard, Kentucky, is overcoming the decline of its coal industry and the impact of the opioid epidemic, creating a vibrant downtown business district and renewed civic spirit. In this episode, Tony Pipa visits the Queen City of the Mountains to meet the people who decided downtown was worth fighting for and understand how they brought it back to life.

Also, see Tony's interview with Ryan Eller, executive director of Appalachia Funders Network, as they explore the powerful ways that narratives—both positive and negative—can shape a community's identity and future, and the role philanthropy and policy can play in enabling sustainability and prosperity in Central Appalachia.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

A single natural disaster can change a community for generations. In the span of five years, Canton, North Carolina, experienced Tropical Storm Fred, Hurricane Helene, and a significant economic shock: the closure of its paper mill. The 115-year-old institution had employed more than a thousand people and was a source of pride for workers and their families. In this episode, Tony Pipa visits Canton to understand how residents are working together to navigate this series of crises, and what it means to be a mill town without a mill.

See also Tony's interview with Matt Calabria, director of the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, to learn more about how state leadership is coordinating recovery after the most devastating storm in state history.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

Over the past several years, a set of partners in Old Fort, North Carolina, has been developing a network of elite mountain bike and hiking trails that was starting to put the town on the map. In September 2024, Hurricane Helene left the place in ruins, damaging homes, trails, and more than a dozen businesses that had opened as the outdoor recreation economy took hold. In this episode of Reimagine Rural, the first of season 3, Tony Pipa visits this small western North Carolina town to learn how it plans to keep its vision for a just and sustainable future intact as it continues to rebuild after the storm.

See also Tony's interview with Matt Calabria, director of the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, to learn more about how state leadership is coordinating recovery after the most devastating storm in state history.

Episode transcript and show notes.

Reimagine Rural is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].