UPDATES
Briefing: Data Resourses for Rural Prosperity PART II – Navigating Grants.gov
Join RuralOrganizing.org Education Fund and Grants.gov personnel for a learning session on navigating available data resources to help small towns and rural communities move meaningful projects forward. After small towns and rural communities have a vision for what they need and have researched examples of other communities' federal awards, you may be ready to ...
Colorado River Water Users AvoidMandatory Use Cuts – For Now
In a last minute deal reached before the May 30 deadline, federal officials have agreed to pay westerners to use less water from the Colorado River. This has paused the impending mandatory cuts - for now. Department of Interior officials indicate that the agreement should protect the Colorado River from reaching "deadpool" - when ...
A Funeral for a Coal-Fired Power Plant in Ohio
A funeral is an emotional experience that helps participants grapple with both the good and the bad. That's what artists worked to capture in "Calling Hours," a play about the closing of the Conesville Coal-fired Power Plant which operated for over a half-century and was both a major employer and significant polluter in Conesville, ...
Conflict of Interest Habits Spread from Oil and Gas to Offshore Wind Development
Difficulties in transitioning the US to renewable energy is not limited to your on-shore town. Off-shore wind is growing at break-neck pace as a part of the Biden administration's commitment to transitioning away from fossil fuels to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. But change is usually hard, and the 3,411 turbines and 9,874 ...
Policy Briefing with Reps. Nikki Budzinski and Derek Kilmer: Concrete Solutions for Rural America
Nine in ten persistent poverty communities in America are rural, but rural communities face barriers to accessing federal funding designed to help American communities thrive. These barriers include volunteer local government leaders with limited time, fewer philanthropic organizations to help meet federal match requirements, and smaller tax bases due to smaller populations available to ...
Briefing: Data Resources for Rural Prosperity
Join RuralOrganizing.org Education Fund, USDA Rural Development, and the Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, for a learning session on navigating available data resources to help small towns and rural communities move meaningful projects forward. Small towns and rural communities deserve a fair share of federal investments to support prosperity and ...
Delivering Concrete Results for Rural America with Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski
Join RuralOrganizing.org Education Fund for a virtual event featuring remarks from Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski on what we can do to reinvest in the rural economies which are providing the economic backbone of our country. Register Here When: April 24 at 4pm Eastern Where: Via Zoom - Register Here Who: Nikki Budzinski (D-IL) Illinois Representative ...
$1 Billion in Kentucky Flood Damage was Exacerbated by Decades of Strip Mining Damage
Estimated costs for renovating or rebuilding the 540 destroyed and 4,500 severely damaged homes from last July's Kentucky floods could reach $1 Billion, say researchers from the Ohio River Valley Institute and the Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center. The report cites a terrifying gap in funding, with only $159 million has been raised so far by federal, ...
Strange Bedfellows in Montana Lead to Mysterious Illnesses
Old and new mines in Butte, Montana, may be poisoning residents in the homes within view, and the EPA may be as much to blame as anyone else. Evidence comes from a study by environmental epidemiologist Suzanne McDermott of City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. In the ...
Equity in the EV Revolution Requires Charging Equity
Rural communities, low-income neighborhoods, and people living in apartments are among the groups who stand to be left behind by the Electric Vehicle (EV) movement that is transitioning the US from gas-powered vehicles to those that can be run on renewables. If the benefits of cleaner transportation — better air quality, less noise, lower ...
Realities of Capitalism Thwart Efforts to Delay Energy Transition in Wyoming
Wyoming, one of the most transition-resistant extraction economies in the nation, is facing tough realities as their plans to retrofit two powerplants cannot get past capitalist hurdles. Even with an approval to bump payer rates by 15% to pay for carbon capture technology on Neil Simpson II and Wygen II coal-power plants, both outside ...
Rural Voters Want Good Jobs – They Are Coming from the IRA
Polling from RuralOrganizing.org has shown consistently over 5 years that rural constituents want increases in jobs and wages, decreases in daily costs, and improved quality of life in our small towns and rural communities. Since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed last August, over 100,000 clean energy jobs have been announced according to a ...
Daycare Relief in Lake Crystal Thanks to USDA Rural Development Community Facilities Program
After a year of operation, Little Lakers, a nonprofit child care center is booming with a waiting list nearly a year long. It is filling a critical need for working parents in this rural part of Minnesota. The center opened with the support of $725,000 from the USDA Rural Development Community Facilities Program and ...
Grant Opportunity: High-Wage Jobs and New Businesses in Underserved Rural Communities
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development is now accepting applications for $500,000 to $2,000,000 through its Rural Innovation Stronger Economy (RISE) program. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. The program was unveiled in ...
Conservatives Say Bring the Renewable Energy, Leave the Climate Talk
Conservative states are getting attention for embracing renewable energy while avoiding the language of climate change this week after The Economist profiled several Texas wind ranchers as to point out "lessons for liberals." The ranchers say it's simple economics: cattle returns $8 per acre, deer hunting bumps up to $15 per acre, and wind ...
Rural Missouri Rolls Out Electric School Buses
A federal rebate program is bringing environmental action and cost savings to El Dorado Springs R-ii, a rural school district in Missouri, in the form of dozens of electric school buses slated to roll out this fall. With more miles to cover, rural school districts often have large budgets to fuel their school buses, ...
Hayden, Colorado, Poised to Successfully Transition Away from Coal
Four tenants have committed to fill spots in an 11-vacancy industrial park under construction in Hayden, Colorado, creating anticipation of 55 new jobs and a welcome transition plan away from coal. Hayden, Colorado, at just under 2,000 people, depends on coal for most of its tax base, but as Colorado has committed to closing ...
Omnibus Spending Bill Stands to Support Rural Communities
On December 3o, 2022, President Biden signed a $1.7 trillion spending bill into law, $200 million of which will go toward the RECOMPETE Pilot Program with the Economic Development Administration (EDA). This pilot program targets areas of low employment across the country, which overlap heavily with rural communities, to invest in economic development planning ...
New Mexico School Has Unlocked Key Winning 15 State USDA Rural Development Awards
The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) has been awarded 15 funding packages through USDA Rural Development since 2001 - more than any other entity in the state. Key to success? Having a dedicated grant writer to research what is required for each individual funding package. The school, which serves over 600 Tribal and ...
Coal Transition Success in Appalachia: ARC POWER Initiative
The Appalachian Regional Comission's Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative, is celebrating successes highlighted in a recent evaluation - over 3,400 students have been supported in finding employment in high-demand, upstream occupations. The evaluation showed that POWER’s stakeholders appear to be working toward economic transformation by striving for change at ...