Report Calls for New Partnerships to Address Poverty in Rural America

May 2, 2017

To address persistent rural poverty in America, the philanthropic, nonprofit, business, and government sectors must form new partnerships and make investments aimed at catalyzing broad-based economic growth, a report from NeighborWorks America argues.

Released at NeighborWorks America’s first national conference on rural poverty and economic development, the report, Turning the Tide on Persistent Rural Poverty (pdf), found high rates of persistent poverty — defined as at least 20 percent of the population living in poverty for at least thirty years — in rural areas, primarily Appalachia, Indian country, the Mississippi Delta, and colonias in the Rio Grande Valley. According to the study, factors contributing to the prevalence of persistent poverty in rural areas include population loss due to out-migration, lack of accessible transportation and other vital infrastructure, and reliance on resource extraction. In addition, many rural communities lack services and community development resources; receive limited federal and philanthropic funding, in part due to mandated matching funds that smaller, less well-resourced organizations have difficulty raising; structural bias; a sense of hopelessness; and, in the case of Native-American communities, legal restrictions that hamper business transactions such as collateralizing business loans or home mortgages using trust land.

To address persistent poverty in rural areas, the report calls on business, government, and philanthropy to increase the supply of consumer banking services and partnerships with community development financial institutions in rural markets; provide broadband connections, training, and equipment more deeply into rural communities; and boost commercial lending to grow small businesses and encourage local entrepreneurship. 

Read more on PhilanthropyNewsDigest.org.