Small Towns

Rural communities hold the keys to survival in their own hands. With help from policies that build on their strengths as desirable places to live and raise families, they can thrive.

Community Development

To thrive, rural communities must invest in themselves and their futures, including rural schools and rural leaders.

Community Food Systems

Local food systems provide fresh, healthy food for all and keep money circulating in the local economy.

Rural Groceries

Small towns across rural America are losing their grocery stores, and we’re working to help groceries stay around.

Small Towns Notes

 

Poverty on the Great Plains

Posted by Jon Bailey Apr 30 2012 - 12:00am

This is the third in a series of briefs examining data from the 2010 Census. Since the 1980 Census, the Center for Rural Affairs has analyzed Census data for a multi-state region. For the 2010 Census analysis, selected counties in Colorado, Montana, Wisconsin and Wyoming have been added to obtain a broader view.

Download a copy of the report as a pdf below.

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Poverty on the Great Plains
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Don't Slash Investment in Small Town Nebraska

By John Crabtree on March 6, 2013 - 2:53pm

At the Center for Rural Affairs we’ve learned, from experience, that entrepreneurial development serves small town Nebraska better than other economic development strategies. Traditional industrial recruitment simply does not have the economic heft that entrepreneurs create in rural communities. Entrepreneurship adds jobs, raises incomes, creates wealth, and improves the quality of life of local citizens in myriad ways.

Rural Monitor: In a Rural Colorado Valley, Old-Fashioned Print News Lives On

By Casey Francis on February 22, 2013 - 9:31pm

​Earlier this month the High Country News ran a story by Jonathan Thompson about another newspaper called the Saguache Crescent. The paper serves the community of Saguache, Colorado—population: about 500. Other than the all-in-one publisher, editor, pressman, and mechanic of the Saguache Crescent, who is described as “marinating in the smell of hot lead, dust and the slow decay of old newsprint,” the most notable thing about this paper is how it’s made.

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