Rural Matters

Michelle chats with attorneys Ming Wong of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Michelle Garcia from New Mexico Legal Aid about protecting the legal rights of LGBTQ people in rural areas. There are more than 3 million rural LGBTQ residents, according to Wong. Garcia says that many LGBTQ individuals in rural communities face isolation, which can lead to self-harm or suicide. Wong discusses the efforts in states, such as Arkansas, to use religious exemptions to weaken anti-discrimination laws, both for LGBTQ people and other marginalized groups. Garcia describes the impact of federal protections for LGBTQ communities in rural areas, many of whom do not have legal protections on either the state or local level. Wong encourages interested listeners to contact their federal representatives about the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Garcia asserts that it is important to implement equitable policies to ensure all rural residents, including LGBTQ individuals, can live fulfilling lives. This episode is sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, www.nclrights.org.

Michelle discusses the importance of rural economic development and USDA's loan programs with two experts in the field: Thomas Kimsey, President & CEO of Thomas USAF and past President of the National Rural Lenders' Roundtable and Bill Broydrick of Broydrick & Associates, lobbyist for the National Rural Lenders' Roundtable. Kimsey clarifies the various USDA loan programs that can be utilized by rural businesses, healthcare clinics and local government. Broydrick discusses the importance of nursing home facilities in rural communities. Kimsey also shares several significant success stories of USDA loan recipients. Broydrick elaborates on the importance of financing rural broadband. This episode is sponsored by the Thomas USAF, www.thomasusaf.com.

Michelle chats with several speakers from the Rural Assembly Everywhere conference, taking place April 20-21 with the theme of The Road to Repair. The speakers include Cariel Klein and Travis Coe from the Double Edge Theatre Company and Margaret Renkl, author of Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss and the upcoming Graceland, at Last: And Other Essays from The New York Times. Klein and Coe discuss the intersection of artistic and justice-focused work. Klein describes how Double Edge Theatre has worked to try to reverse the feelings of isolation many have felt during the pandemic through their socially-distanced shows. Coe describes how experiencing unfamiliar stories through art can be a transformative experience for rural audiences. Renkl discusses the nuanced portrait of the South presented in her upcoming book. She also says that rural communities are especially exposed to the immediate effects of climate change. Renkl talks about the way she code-switches when writing about the rural South for a national audience. For more information on the Rural Assembly Everywhere conference, visit ruralassembly.org/everywhere/.

In the second part of our special two-part series, the Biden-Harris Rural Vision, Michelle talks with Thomas J. Vilsack, the 32nd United States Secretary of Agriculture who has returned to the role he served for eight years under President Barack Obama. Secretary Vilsack highlights the American Rescue Plan sections that benefit rural residents, including increasing food assistance, extending broadband access, strengthening rural hospital infrastructure, and providing housing assistance. Secretary Vilsack discusses the new USDA Equity Commission, which identifies ways for the department to support historically underserved groups, such as farmers of color. Looking forward, Vilsack says, the USDA will work to make the food system more resilient and to improve nutrition in general for rural Americans.

In this first part of our special two-part series, the Biden-Harris Rural Vision, Michelle talks with Will McIntee, the Associate Director of Public Engagement in the White House Office of Public Engagement. The office's goals are to improve the connection between the federal government and the public and ensure that all constituencies have a seat at the table. McIntee explains that, in many ways, rural communities are the key to the success of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. The goal of the program, he notes, is not just to get the country back to normal, but also to return "better" than before the pandemic. The legislation, McIntee notes, includes funding for vaccine education; rural school reopening and remote learning; mental health services and rural healthcare; farmers and food producers; and Native communities and Native health services. McIntee urges listeners to connect with the White House Office of Public Engagement to share success stories and best practices in rural communities.

Michelle chats with author Ross Benes about his new book, Rural Rebellion: How Nebraska Became a Republican Stronghold. Benes notes the influences of his hometown of Brainard, Nebraska, on his current life in New York City. Benes describes the misconceptions of people in New York City about his rural upbringing, where he found a strong support of community organizations and the value of neighbors. Benes says that he appreciates the peace of his childhood in retrospect.

Benes talks about how his view of immigration changed once he encountered immigrants in person. Benes describes how wedge issues like abortion and immigration and lack of flexibility in party policies contributed to Nebraska becoming Republican. Benes encourages people to experience the other side of the urban-rural divide. This episode is sponsored by the University Press of Kansas. Visit them at KansasPress.KU.edu

Michelle chats with Sarah Jane Tribble, Senior Correspondent at Kaiser Health News, Brock Slabach, Senior VP for Member Services at the National Rural Health Association, and John Henderson, the CEO and President of Texas Organization of Rural and Community Hospitals, about COVID vaccine rollout in rural areas. Tribble notes that many health disparities are more prevalent in rural communities, which is why it's important for rural communities to have access to the COVID vaccine. Slabach describes the distribution challenges in rural, including lack of federal guidance, transportation difficulties, and inadequate broadband coverage. Tribble says that it's hard to convey to rural residents the importance of getting the vaccine when people are resistant to wearing masks. The hope is that people will see their friends and family suffering and dying from the virus and take steps to prevent infection. Slabach emphasizes an open dialogue in vaccine messaging. Henderson talks about the situation in Texas where rural hospitals were initially not allocated any vaccines. Tribble says that we must utilize this pandemic to create a better emergency management playbook. This episode is sponsored by the All of Us Research Program. Join us to make a difference at joinallofus.org/RuralMatters

Michelle chats with Katie Baca-Motes, director of The Participant Center for the All of Us Research Program at Scripps Research, and Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association, about several significant rural health issues. Baca-Motes describes how the All of Us Research Program, in which individuals provide their health data to an open-source health database, is accessed by researchers to improve health outcomes. Morgan notes that rural populations are traditionally left behind in medical research and that by participating in the All of Us Research Program, rural residents ensure that their specific health situations are addressed. Baca-Motes also discusses the optimal outcomes of the All of Us Research Program: getting medical and preventative care in more convenient locations and empowering rural communities to take care of their own health. Morgan notes that racial disparities come into play with rural communities, so rural people of color are doubly under-resourced. Baca-Motes says that the best way to reverse anti-science sentiment is getting information out to clinical staff and encouraging the positive influence of peers. Morgan stresses the importance of using data so that future generations don't encounter the health disparities found in rural areas right now. This episode is sponsored by the All of Us Research Program. Join us to make a difference at joinallofus.org/RuralMatters

Michelle chats with Zachary Michael Jack, the author of a superb book, called Country Views, which deals with his choice to remain in rural Iowa and reflects his personal views and historical data on agrarianism and rural life,. Jack, who has written columns for many of the nation's best-circulated newspapers, including USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, as well as The Daily Yonder, describes some the vexing issues facing rural communities, including the use of chemicals in agriculture and the lesser life expectancies facing many rural residents, compared to those in metropolitan areas. Jack also discusses a column he wrote, called Color Me Purple, in which he notes that his home county voted in equal numbers in the presidential election between Gore and Bush and how people can respectfully disagree politically on a variety of policy issues. Rural residents are "more than the sum of their natural disasters," he says. This episode is sponsored by Ice Cube Press, www.icecubepress.com

In this final episode of our four-part series, Rural Higher Education: Challenges & Opportunities, Michelle chats with three experts about innovative programs in rural higher education: Matt Dunne, founder and executive director of the Center On Rural Innovation; David Tandberg, senior vice president for policy research and strategic initiatives at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO); and Leslie Daugherty, an education designer at the Education Design Lab. The Lab's focus is on ensuring that learners' needs and goals are front and center, using a human centered design approach, She describes the Lab's latest project, called BRIDGES, which is conducted in partnership with Ascendium and five rural community colleges, and is dedicated to creating pilot programs for sustainable growth and economic agility for these institutions and their learners. It's important to talk to learners and uncover the "why" behind quantitative analysis to enable innovative programs to truly succeed and be inclusive, she notes. Tandberg discusses how his organization deploys empirical research to advance policy objectives in higher education in United States. State leaders should broaden their perspective of rural institutions of higher education and view them as "stewards of place," where they can become key actors in economic and cultural development in rural areas. Dunne talks about how globalization and automation had a disproportionate, detrimental effect on rural areas following the 2008 recession and how his organization is building digital economy ecosystems to deal with this disparity. He also notes that in implementing these critical ecosystems, it was essential that the rural area have an institution of higher education, which could engage in the community, as is happening now in the exciting collaboration between Colby College and the town of Waterville, Maine. To access the Center on Rural Innovation's report, Higher Ed's Role in Rural Innovation Ecosystems, visit https://ruralinnovation.us/rural-ihe-report/ This episode and the entire Rural Higher Education Series is underwritten by and produced in collaboration with Ascendium Education Group, a nonprofit organization committed to helping learners from low-income backgrounds reach their education and career goals. For more information, visit ascendiumphilanthropy.org. The series is also produced in collaboration with MDRC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research firm committed to finding solutions to some of the most difficult problems facing the nation. Learn more at www.mdrc.org.