Rural Matters

Rural Matters Bonus Brief brings Michelle and Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves together for an in-depth, 20-minute discussion on how the U.S. Economic Development Administration's American Rescue Plan programs can help rural communities and regions "Build Back Better."

Michelle and Deputy Secretary Graves connect over their shared rural roots and passionate understanding of the unique challenges that these communities face after the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. "In order for us to have a strong middle class and economic recovery in this country, we need to make sure that rural and tribal communities have the type of economic recovery that other parts of the country are starting to see… Rural communities have different needs than Urban communities," said Graves.

Under President Biden's American Rescue Plan, the EDA has been allocated $3 billion in funding to assist previously underserved communities in their efforts to accelerate economic growth, and to build local economies to be more resilient to global economic impacts in the future. This funding will be available to rural communities through six innovative challenges:

• Build Back Better Regional Challenge
• Good Jobs Challenge
• Economic Adjustment Assistance
• Indigenous Communities
• Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation
• Statewide Planning, Research and Networks

The EDA also recently announced the exciting Coal Communities Commitment, which allocates $300 million to support these hard-hit communities in their recovery, and aid in creating new jobs and opportunities.

Visit https://www.eda.gov/arpa/ to attend informative webinars, receive technical assistance for the application process, and for more information on how the EDA's American Rescue Plan programs can help your rural community or region.

For more discussions on President Biden's Build Back Better plan and how it relates to rural communities, click the links below for previous Rural Matters Bonus Briefs with Biden-Harris Administration officials Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, White House National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, Chief Science Officer of COVID Response Dr. David Kessler, Member of the Council of Economic Advisers Heather Boushey, NIH Director Francis Collins, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh.

Michelle chats with Dr. Andrew Koricich, associate professor of higher education at Appalachian State University and Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges (ARRC's) executive director; Dr. Kevin McClure, associate professor of higher education at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and ARRC's director of communications; and Dr. Alisa Hicklin Fryar, professor of political science at the University of Oklahoma and ARRC's director of data. The episode focuses on ARRC's fabulous first report, released in January 2021, Strengthening Rural Anchor Institutions: Federal Policy Solutions for Rural Public Colleges and the Communities They Serve. Koricich discusses why ARRC was established and the support it receives from the Joyce Foundation. He also notes how rural colleges conduct considerable allied health training, especially during the pandemic. AARC focuses on "underdog" higher education institutions, explains McClure. These institutions, he adds, are invested in their communities and provide valuable civic support. Rural higher education institutions have become one-stop shops for community needs, providing bachelor's degrees, associate's degrees, certificates, job training and placement, and community support, such as art programs, notes Fryar. The conversation concludes with the panel discussing policy solutions in various areas, including infrastructure, teacher training, loan forgiveness, and establishing a rural-serving institution designation. This episode is sponsored by the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges, https://www.regionalcolleges.org

In this 100th episode of Rural Matters and the final installment of our four-part series spotlighting rural hospitals, produced in collaboration with and sponsored by the Center for Optimizing Rural Health (CORH). Michelle chats with Pamela Tillman, Hospital Administrator for LifeBrite Community Hospital of Stokes in rural North Carolina, and Dr. Nancy Dickey, CORH's Executive Director. CORH selects 30 hospitals for the HRSA-funded Vulnerable Rural Hospital Assistance Program. Those chosen for this free program, whose application period closes July 30, will have access to CORH's team of rural health experts and receive technical support. CORH is working hard to establish depth in hospital leadership, Dickey adds. Tillman's 14-bed critical access facility had three COVID cases recently as the pandemic surged again in certain areas of the country. Her hospital had to pivot during the pandemic, she notes, to implement telemedicine initiatives that could provide treatment for patients. During the pandemic, Dickey stated that CORH helped hospitals keep up with current regulations and hospital best practices. This episode and the entire four-part series is sponsored by CORH, https://optimizingruralhealth.org

Michelle talks with Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland about President Biden's "Build Back Better Plan," the nation's worsening climate crisis and how it impacts national security.

In Part III of this eight-part series on rural higher education and workforce development, produced in collaboration with and underwritten by Ascendium Education Group, Michelle chats with John Fitzsimmons, president of The Foundation for Maine's Community Colleges; David Daigler. president of the Maine Community College System; Justin Archer Burch., national director of Workforce Development at Rural LISC; and Francie Genz, co-principal of the Institute for Networked Communities. Fitzsimmons describes the five basic components of the Foundation's groundbreaking remote work program: skills training for jobs that can be performed remotely, certificates in the essential skills to be an effective remote worker, a certificate in leading a team remotely, a digital resource library, and a three-credit course in remote work. According to Fitzsimmons, there will come a day when a course in remote work will be an essential component of many academic business programs. About 95 percent of Maine is rural, notes Daigler, and these rural communities have unique challenges in engaging in college life. So it's important to bring job opportunities directly to rural residents, according to Daigler. Burch discusses how Rural Works addresses equity issues. including poverty, and the importance of forming a national intermediary to aggregate the initiatives of major foundations in the rural space and to enable rural resident to "live in place." Genz explains how her organization brings businesses together from the same industry sector to collaborate with community leaders in making their industry more competitive and building stronger connections between people and jobs. The goal is to create a table where public and private sectors can work effectively together, building stronger regional economies and helping more people get good jobs where they live. This episode and the entire series on rural higher education and workforce development is sponsored by Ascendium Education Group, a nonprofit organization committed to helping learners from low-income backgrounds reach their educational and career goals. For more information, visit ascendiumphilanthropy.org

In this episode, Michelle talks with Gina McCarthy, White House National Climate Advisor and former EPA Administrator, about the Biden Administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework.

In Part III of a four-part series on rural hospitals, produced in collaboration with and underwritten by the Center for Optimizing Rural Health (CORH), Michelle chats with Dr. Nancy Dickey, CORH's Executive Director and Jon Rains, President & Chief Operating Officer and Managing Partner at Carrus Healthcare, which includes Atoka Medical Center in Oklahoma. CORH selects 30 hospitals for the HRSA-funded Vulnerable Rural Hospital Assistance Program. Those chosen for this free program, whose application period closes July 31, will have access to CORH's team of rural health experts and receive technical support. CORH is working hard to establish depth in hospital leadership. Carrus Atoka is a 25-bed critical access hospital whose goal is to make health accessible and affordable. The keys to success for these kinds of facilities is top-notch leadership and community support, according to Dickey. CORH provides crucial education in this space, notes Rains. Small hospitals have many challenges because of their size but they also have the opportunity to make things better for both the patients and the community, he adds. COVID taught us that smaller, rural hospitals had the capacity to deal with more acutely ill patients, asserts Dickey, and in the post-COVID era, we should capitalize on this capacity, create a new payment structure, and realize the dangers in closing local hospitals. "Rural hospitals truly save lives," concludes Rains. This episode and the entire four-part series is sponsored by CORH, https://optimizingruralhealth.org

In Part II of this podcast series on rural economic development and lending, Michelle chats with Thomas Kimsey, President & CEO of Thomas USAF Group, who has closed $4 Billion+ in government guaranteed loans. Our other guest is Mike Couch, Executive Director of the Central State Hospital Development Authority. Couch was named the National Rural Lenders' Roundtable's Borrower of the Year and describes how he and others are developing the former Central State Hospital Campus, an overwhelmingly vacant campus in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia, with the goal of job creation. Thomas USAF, along with USDA's B&I Guaranteed Loan Program, funded the largest project to date, which involved getting support from both the governor and state legislature. With the help of Food Service Partners, the project transformed a former food kitchen into a fully functional USDA-certified food facility. The bottom line — increased sustainability, jobs and a boost for the local economy. Couch concludes by noting that, without Kimsey and Thomas USAF, the project would not have happened. Couch also mentions another USDA funded success story — a nursing home on the CSH Campus that is dramatically contributing in new jobs and the overall economic health of the local community. This episode is sponsored by Thomas USAF, www.thomasusaf.com.

In Part II of this eight-part series on rural higher education and workforce development, produced in collaboration with and underwritten by Ascendium Education Group, Michelle chats with two thought leaders in education and two community college students: Meghan McCann, senior policy analyst at the Education Commission of the States; Desiree Jones-Smith. senior program manager with the College Excellence Program, where she co-leads the Aspen Prize and the Aspen Rural Community College Success Initiative; William Hendon. a Business Management student at Southern Crescent Technical College; and Matthew Vishino, who is seeking an Associate Degree in Marine Logistics at Western Kentucky Community College. McCann discusses the very recent ECS report that focused on the motivations for pursuing and the perceived value of postsecondary education and training in rural areas. In general, while there was a positive view of postsecondary education and training, rural respondents were skeptical about the value of postsecondary education, with the majority indicating that they were not likely to pursue further education in the next five years. (For more information on the report, Perception of Postsecondary Education and Training in Rural Areas, visit https://www.ecs.org/perceptions-of-postsecondary-education-and-training-in-rural-areas/. Jones-Smith talks about the Aspen College Excellence Program's Rural Community College Success Initiative (RCCSI), which is learning from a network of rural community college leaders. That initiative, she says, is studying the lived experiences of effective rural higher education leaders as they contribute to the success of their students and the rural community members that they live and work alongside. The RCCSI hopes to learn more about what strategies and tactics make a college successful in the rural context. Initial research suggests that many community college leaders realize that their rural and rural-serving institutions have real assets. Effective leaders have an opportunity to honor and support all of the unique and varied identities and experiences within the rural communities that they serve. , she adds. (For more information, visit https://highered.aspeninstitute.org/team) Vishino says he opted for attending a community college because of its ease of access and its lesser cost than four-yar universities. Hendon says that community college changed his life, from having to deal with dead-end jobs and being a mill worker to acquiring a "higher level of life" by smashing through the proverbial glass ceiling. This episode and the entire series on rural higher education and workforce development is sponsored by Ascendium Education Group, a nonprofit organization committed to helping learners from low-income backgrounds reach their educational and career goals. For more information, visit ascendiumphilanthropy.org

"If you look at people who are unvaccinated, their risk remains substantial." — Dr. David Kessler, Biden Administration's Chief Science Officer of COVID Response and former FDA Commissioner. Listen to this 15-minute interview right now.