Reimagine Rural

In this special edition of Reimagine Rural, Tony Pipa interviews Derek Kilmer, senior vice president, U.S. Program & Policy at The Rockefeller Foundation and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (WA-6) and Benji Backer, CEO and founder of Nature is Nonpartisan. Kilmer and Backer are members of America's Rural Future: Brookings-AEI Commission on U.S. Rural Prosperity and they share insights and perspectives from the Commission's August 2026 visit to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

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].

In this special edition of Reimagine Rural, Tony Pipa interviews Phil English, co-chairman of the Government Relations Practice Group at ArentFox Schiff, LLP and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives (PA-3). English is a member of America's Rural Future: Brookings-AEI Commission on Rural Prosperity and shares his insights and perspective from the Commission's May 2026 visit to Eastern Kentucky.

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 Bill Bynum, CEO of Hope Enterprise Corporation and Hope Credit Union, and Charlie Cotherman, executive director of the Center for Rural Ministry at Grove City College and pastor at the Oil City Vineyard Church. Both guests are members of America's Rural Future: The Brookings-AEI Commission on Rural Prosperity. Bynum and Cotherman offer insights from the Commission's March 2026 visit to the Mississippi Delta and share lessons learned from visits to multiple rural Delta towns.

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].

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].