Four years ago I wrote an article for this newsletter exploring the question, “What would it look like if rural really mattered?” (www.cfra.org/newsletter/2006_01.htm). Periodically I have returned to explore that theme. As a new decade dawns, it seems time to turn that question on its head and talk about how we ensure that rural America really does matter.

Perhaps I am biased, because I work with media, but I believe that first and foremost rural America needs to tell a different story – to each other and to our urban friends. And we need to tell that story a lot better and a lot louder.

In early November, Nicole Godek attended Kansas Marketplace, the first-ever rural entrepreneurship conference in Kansas, which was hosted by the Center for Rural Affairs in Hays, Kansas. She came there to tell people about her efforts to help her community of Grainfield, Kansas, and other rural communities tell their stories through the website she created (http://lovesmalltownamerica.com/home.php).

I don’t know if her site is the best on the market, or if there are similar services out there. What I do know is that she is not content to simply spin rural concerns – such as cheap real estate – as reasons why people should move to her rural community. She is, however, intent on telling anyone who will listen that Grainfield (population approximately 300, although locals tell me that has slipped a little since 2000) has the capacity to confound expectations. She lets people know that she didn’t “settle” for life in a small town; she chose it.

“Imagine a place where the serenity of the Kansas Plains and the majestic charm of community are the essence of rural life. People are proud of an honest day’s work, and a handshake and a friendly smile are what you’re greeted with downtown. You don’t have to imagine. That place is Grainfield,” says Godek.

There are other examples, of course. Take a look at Hastings, Nebraska’s Facebook pages or check out the story about Reuben Wentz who gave $500,000 to his hometown of Napoleon, North Dakota, so they could build a community restaurant. Visit rural places like Mineral Point and Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin or Montevideo and Marshall in Minnesota if you want to find places where people tell a story about rural living that will confound your expectations.

And I hope I hear from other rural Americans chastising me for leaving their community out of this article because, to me, that would mean they have the audacity to make sure rural really matters.

Share your story: with John Crabtree, 402.687.2103 x 1010 or johnc@cfra.org.