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Survey of Rural Challenges 2015 – 2025 results

By Becky McCray

10 Years of Rural Insights. What small town people see as their biggest challenges and what topics they most want help with. Survey of Rural Challenges, report written by Becky McCray and Deb Brown. Challenges, assets, actions

Download the PDF report Executive Summary The Survey of Rural Challenges asks rural people to share their ground-level insight into the challenges they face and the assets they can use. This report analyzes over 2200 responses from communities across the US and Canada from 2015 to 2024. The responses show what’s changing and what isn’t […]

February 3, 2025 Filed Under: announcement, community, economic development, entrepreneurship, resources, rural, success, Survey of Rural Challenges, trends, workforce, youth Tagged With: community development, economic development, Rural surveys and polls, rural trends, Survey of Rural Challenges

Young Americans Returning to Rural for More than Just Holiday Dinners

By Small Biz Survival

A group of diverse young people in a casual bar setting. One is holding a mic and speaking as others listen.

by Caroline Tremblay, The Daily Yonder August 5, 2024 Kansas: Elevate the work of younger people In rural Kansas, if you’re between the ages of 21 and 39ish, you might be considered a PowerUp —  but not just because of your age or location. A PowerUp is someone who is rural by choice. “The name […]

August 7, 2024 Filed Under: community, rural, trends, youth Tagged With: community development, guest post, rural, youth

Improving the rural workforce: small town stories and takeaways

By Becky McCray

A group of young women in matching t-shirts visit the floor of a manufacturing plant

Takeaways for improving rural workforce: Bring together students, employers and multiple levels of education Build and document employee skills with micro-credentials Use apprenticeships to build skills, increase awareness of local job options Stitch together multiple programs to build your own workforce To add a new program in the public schools, hire dedicated program staff (at […]

January 19, 2024 Filed Under: economic development, rural, workforce, youth Tagged With: apprenticeships, economic development, education, employment, workforce

Solve Rural Community Challenges the Idea Friendly Way – stories from IEDC

By Deb Brown

Guest post by Deb Brown What attendees learned from attending the Idea Friendly Session by SaveYour.Town at the International Economic Development Council Conference — Big Ideas you can copy in your town  Becky McCray and I were excited to lead an interactive Idea Friendly workshop at the International Economic Development Council Conference in Dallas in […]

November 9, 2023 Filed Under: community, economic development, ideas, rural, youth Tagged With: big ideas, childcare, downtown, housing, idea friendly, volunteers, youth

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