Focus Areas

State governments should pass policy to improve the lives of people in rural communities. Rural advocates from across the country have united around common values and shared challenges and identified four primary pillars for rural progress. Within each focus area, there are strategic, popular and meaningful policies that can be adopted now.

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1. End Historic Discrimination

Our government has failed to include rural, Black, Indigenous, Latino, and Asian people in its policymaking and has often discriminated against them. Black farmers being pushed from the land, Native American sovereignty disregarded, and Latino and Asian farm and meatpacking workers forced into dangerous working conditions are just a few examples of the harm and cruelty these communities face. It’s time to end this discrimination and restore justice.

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2. Invest in Rural Communities

The historic economic extraction and lack of federal government investment has left rural communities in a financial hole. The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated those challenges. Now is the time for policy that invests in rural people and communities.

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3. Rein in Corporate Monopolies

Corporations, particularly those that extract wealth from rural farms and Main Streets, have far too much power over our government. It is time to get serious about prioritizing rural people and their communities.

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4. Build Sustainable Economies

Rural economic reliance on extractive industries like fossil fuels, factory farming, and industrial timber must end. A new economy can be built on regenerative food, natural resource, and energy production along with small business innovation and a strong public sector. Rural policy must prioritize resilient local economies, putting people and communities first.

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Issues