The Center for Rural Affairs makes one promise – we will persevere as a committed force improving life in rural America and a steadfast voice for the values that reflect the best in rural people. This is our report to you on what we’ve done, so you can judge whether we’ve lived up to our commitment and earned your support.

Our focus on a stated set of rural values sets us apart. We don’t try to represent the narrow selfish interests of any group – even decent ordinary rural people. Rather, we work with decent ordinary rural people to take control of our common destiny to create a better future that reflects the values we share. We firmly believe that our true interest is best served when we work together in pursuit of what is right and good.

So we work to create genuine economic opportunity for all and a fair economy that enables all who contribute to nation’s prosperity to share in it. We fight for widespread ownership and the opportunity for all who work to own the fruits of their labor, because rural communities and American democracy are strongest when wealth is held in the hands of many, rather than a few.

The hyper pursuit of self-interest and hyper partisanship are rendering American democracy dysfunctional.

We value personal responsibility to conduct our private affairs with integrity and social responsibility to each do our part for the larger community. So we challenge rural people to embrace the responsibilities of citizenship and work with others to advance the common good. And because we each have a responsibility to the next generation to leave our land, air and water at least as well as we received it – we value stewardship.

You’ll see these values reflected in the reports on each of our individual programs. Our work in Nebraska to support rural community and micro enterprise development helps create genuine opportunity and widespread ownership. We advance these values nationwide by working for federal policies that support small business, rural community and renewable energy development and reverse the bias toward bigness that undermines family farms and ranches.

We entered the health reform debate to advance fairness – to ensure that ordinary working and self-employed rural Americas have access to affordable health insurance and care. It’s also critical to rural economic opportunity. We cannot build a strong rural economy if innovative rural Americans must choose between starting small businesses and family farms and having health insurance for their families.

You’ll see our commitment to stewardship in our work on new programs to reward farmers who protect the land and water. It’s also reflected in our writings asking you to take a balanced look at the scientific evidence that human activity is causing climate change at a quickening pace that presents significant risks to upcoming generations.

Democracy cannot survive without citizens of conscience bringing their values to the issues of the day. To make democracy really work, we must not only fight for our legitimate interests, but also summon the virtue to temper our pursuit of self-interest with a commitment to shared values that define the common good.

The hyper pursuit of self-interest and hyper partisanship are rendering American democracy dysfunctional. The solution must start with grassroots citizens of conscience modeling the change America needs.

That includes resisting the instinct of partisans to see only good in their own side and only evil in the other. We take that seriously at the Center. We apply a dose of honest accountability to both parties. In the last year – nearly every year – we have publicly criticized and publicly supported actions by prominent elected officials of both major parties.

We also recognize that living up to values like fairness starts at home. We are proud that the ratio of our highest to lowest salary for full-time staff has remained around 2:1, even as some nonprofits have mirrored the corporate world with outrageous top salaries.

So take a look at this report to get a fresh overview of the Center for Rural Affairs, and let us know what you think. We won’t always agree, but we can learn from each other and thereby find the new approaches we need to make rural America thrive again.

Chuck Hassebrook, Executive Director