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About the Center for Rural Affairs

Who We Are

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The Center for Rural Affairs was established in 1973 as an unaffiliated nonprofit corporation under IRS code 501(c)3. The Center for Rural Affairs was formed by rural Nebraskans concerned about family farms and rural communities, and we work to strengthen small businesses, family farms and ranches, and rural communities. The Center for Rural Affairs has evolved into one of the nation’s leading rural organizations known for our pioneering work to rebuild rural America and our national work to reform federal policy. Our work includes:




  • Advocate for federal policies that support rural community development that reduces poverty, rewards resource stewardship and strengthens small farms and businesses.

  • Provide loans, technical assistance and training to small entrepreneurs through our Rural Enterprise Assistance Program (REAP), the nation’s leading statewide rural microenterprise development program.

  • Provide comprehensive rural community development services.

  • Develop new cooperatives to reach and expand premium markets that reward sustainable agriculture, strengthen family farms and open the doors of opportunity to beginning farmers.


Our Values

Our work is guided by a dedicated board of directors and our values. We value:

  • Responsibility –to contribute to the betterment of our community and society;

  • Conscience that balances self-interest with an obligation to the common good;

  • Progress that strengthens rural communities, small businesses and family farms;

  • Genuine opportunity for all to earn a living, raise a family and prosper in a rural place;

  • Stewardship of the environment on which current and future generations rely;

  • Widespread ownership and control of small businesses, farms and ranches by those who work them;

  • Fairness that allows all who contribute to the nation’s prosperity to share in it: and

  • Citizen involvement and action to shape the future.

We reflect these values in our projects as well as in the way we treat each other within the organization. We provide our staff the extraordinary opportunity to devote their professional lives to working for the things they believe in – in common purpose with people of like mind.


Center Leadership

Don Reeves, President and Board Chair
Chuck Hassebrook, Executive Director and Rural Policy Program Director
Jon Bailey, Rural Research and Analysis Program Director
Jeff Reynolds, Rural Enterprise Assistance Project (REAP) Program Director
Michael Holton, Rural Opportunities and Stewardship Program Director
Brian Depew, Rural Organizing and Outreach Program Director
Barbara Chamness, Administrative and Organizational Development Director

Plus 20 program and administrative staff in offices in Lyons and Hartington, Nebraska and REAP field service staff in home offices in Atkinson, Minden, Morrill, Plymouth, Seward, South Sioux City, and Tecumseh, Nebraska.


Center Financial Support

The Center for Rural Affairs receives its support through grants and contracts, donations, honoraria, fees for services, and publications income. Total 2007 budget: $2.5 million.

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