Why Rural? Why Now? via RFI Fellows

Rural Futures Institute Author

02/06/2018 Added

6 Plays

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RFI Community Innovation and Faculty Fellows weigh in our critical questions of 2018. Why is rural a critical part of our future? Why is now full of opportunities to move us toward a thriving rural future?

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[00:00:00.156](slow music)
[00:00:04.770]So the question of why rural, why now,
[00:00:07.570]here's what I would say.
[00:00:09.230]That I really believe in the power of rural places.
[00:00:12.330]Every person in every community has these talent,
[00:00:15.700]skills and assets to share.
[00:00:17.670]By creating more inclusive processes
[00:00:19.516]where we're integrating immigrants or newcomers
[00:00:23.100]and people moving back into the community,
[00:00:25.630]we can create a much greater society
[00:00:28.480]where people feel valued, where there's opportunity
[00:00:31.930]and where we really are making a difference
[00:00:34.240]to human kind.
[00:00:35.520]We're providing the food that's on everybody's table.
[00:00:38.100]We're providing the water that people drink
[00:00:40.100]and we are at the pentacle of where innovation
[00:00:42.352]can be possible.
[00:00:46.430]It has become mission critical in a lot of
[00:00:48.280]small rural communities.
[00:00:49.628]Healthcare is important to maintain
[00:00:53.370]economic viability as well as the
[00:00:57.380]health and integrity of those populations.
[00:01:00.290]I've visited with people and they say
[00:01:01.790]the biggest things that drive economic development
[00:01:03.690]are healthcare and education.
[00:01:05.400]If the community loses either one of those,
[00:01:07.590]I see a big decline in their economic development.
[00:01:13.329]The number of the smaller communities,
[00:01:15.240]the challenges that they have
[00:01:16.680]and the sort of things that they're dealing with
[00:01:19.130]is very similar to what's happening
[00:01:21.230]in distressed urban areas and you're seeing
[00:01:25.567]disinvestment and you're seeing people leaving
[00:01:28.164]and you're seeing infrastructure
[00:01:29.927]that's not being used.
[00:01:31.470]And so there's really more commonalities
[00:01:33.890]between rural areas and urban areas.
[00:01:36.680]One of the things that we can do is
[00:01:39.030]get people that are dealing with community of place
[00:01:41.790]and the community of place can be a rural area
[00:01:43.720]or it can be an urban neighborhood.
[00:01:45.130]So there's a lot of energy in terms
[00:01:48.070]of community development I think
[00:01:49.190]that it's a more common interest than maybe differences,
[00:01:51.900]in my opinion.
[00:01:53.480]It brings me back to the Miangalua
[00:01:57.360]where we are more alike my friends than unalike
[00:02:00.910]and I think that that needs to be talked about
[00:02:02.580]more and more often until it drowns out
[00:02:04.198]the divisive voices.
[00:02:06.210]I referenced (mumbles) the why
[00:02:10.440]and I think that if you're firmly grounded
[00:02:13.300]in your why, then you can handle any challenges
[00:02:16.423]that are gonna come at you.
[00:02:18.220]So Why Rural Why Now?
[00:02:20.852]The success of the state of Nebraska
[00:02:25.190]is dependent on the economic viability
[00:02:28.760]of our entire state and it is critical
[00:02:31.761]that we are mindful of
[00:02:35.210]the growth and development of rural Nebraska.
[00:02:38.070]Without the growth and development of rural Nebraska,
[00:02:41.300]Nebraska will not be economically successful.
[00:02:44.490]So envisioning the future is really hard,
[00:02:46.720]so the things that we really focused on
[00:02:48.780]through the work of the Nebraska Community Foundation
[00:02:50.960]are the three Cs of achievement.
[00:02:54.740]They are capacity, competence and confidence.
[00:02:59.100]And if we can help each and every individual,
[00:03:01.170]each and every community, each and every group of people
[00:03:05.050]to really define how they can have capacity,
[00:03:08.376]competence and confidence in their path forward,
[00:03:12.502]people are really able to approach things
[00:03:14.890]from the view of abundance, not scarcity,
[00:03:17.842]optimism, not fear, and that's how we're gonna create
[00:03:22.450]the future together.
[00:03:24.140]I think that the fellows program is so interesting
[00:03:28.210]because it is tapping into the assets
[00:03:31.030]of the university, but also other
[00:03:33.598]higher education institutions
[00:03:36.300]and particularly because it's the part
[00:03:39.600]where I fit in, is those community assets
[00:03:42.160]and how do we all come together
[00:03:44.520]to help develop an opportunity for,
[00:03:48.520]and I'll be selfish here, for the university
[00:03:51.160]to be able to really meet the needs
[00:03:53.000]of our rural communities?
[00:03:55.383](slow upbeat music)

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Why Rural? Why Now? via RFI Fellows

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