Imagine what might happen if one of the most rural counties in Virginia provided broadband to every household within it? If farmers, once dependent upon tobacco, could now sell large quantities of produce and meats to thousands of people on a limited budget? If abandoned schools, unused buildings and vacant lots were converted to over 11,000 units of affordable housing? Or if people with a few acres of woodlands could raise and sell high value forest products without cutting down any trees?
You needn’t imagine it, because it’s already happening, most of it right here in Southwest Virginia. Last week, about 60 people who had gathered in Blacksburg learned about these remarkable success stories as part of a USDA-sponsored “Rural Investment Roundtable.” Among those telling the stories were some of the leading problem-solvers and innovators in the region, including:
- Roger Fraysier of the Scott County Telephone Cooperative, a member-owned utility provider who recently achieved universal broadband access for everyone in the county;
- Kathlyn Terry of Appalachian Sustainable Development, whose Appalachian Harvest Food Hub is providing boxes of healthy, locally raised produce and ground beef to nearly 1,500 families a month, as well as to supermarkets in a five-state region;
- Bryan Ailey of People Incorporated, which has built or repurposed thousands of buildings in order to make housing more affordable for working folks;
- Katie Commender of the Appalachian Beginning Forest Farmer Coalition and John Munsell of Virginia Tech who together help small forest landowners raise, process and sell forest-grown medicinal herbs and other products to national and international buyers; and
- Kevin Byrd of the New River Valley Commission, a regional development entity that has helped bring broadband to many rural communities in the NRV and has also helped solidify the partnerships needed to bring Amtrak service to Christiansburg.
These local leaders were joined on the roundtable by Perry Hickman, Virginia director of rural development, and myself as we explored what’s working in rural Southwest Virginia, how the federal and state governments can make their programs more effective and user-friendly, and how farmers, entrepreneurs and the public can get involved.
The Blacksburg gathering was one of several efforts by USDA, and in some cases, other federal agencies, to highlight the work of groups and businesses working to solve a host of economic and social problems across rural America. Similar convenings have taken place in other states, such as Arizona, while others are being planned for Wisconsin and elsewhere.
The Rural Urban Bridge Initiative (RUBI), which I direct, has volunteered to help organize these events because we believe that it is time to change the narrative about rural areas. For too long, the mainstream media has focused on the intractable problems of small towns and the countryside, with prominent commentators like Paul Krugman positing that “no one knows how to fix rural America.” In point of fact, people do know how to fix many of our problems and are well along the path to doing so. By lifting up the extraordinary work being done by local innovators — like those who spoke in Blacksburg — we hope to create a new and more accurate rural narrative, one that acknowledges our problems but focuses more attention on the wide array of bottom-up solutions, that have emerged, usually locally led, and often with the federal government as a partner.
Changing the narrative begins with building more awareness among the public about the progress being made and how they might be a part of it. Patricia Austin of Wythe County came to the Blacksburg roundtable in hopes of getting some ideas about how to make her 57 acres of farm and woodlands more productive. She was particularly excited to learn about the strong market for forest-raised medicinal herbs, finding the gathering “extremely informative. I was excited to learn about the innovative techniques that are going to move farming in our area into the next century,” Austin said.
Ann Norris, a member of the board of directors of MOVA Technologies in Pulaski, also expressed excitement “to hear about all of the funding opportunities that are available to groups here in southwest Virginia.” With a PhD in materials engineering science, Norris is part of MOVA Technologies’ cutting-edge work to remove ammonia and carbon dioxide from large chicken production facilities and channel it to the production of vegetables in repurposed buildings.
Several participants at the Blacksburg event came just to learn what was going on in the community, and many of them expressed being both surprised and encouraged by the breadth and impact of the work described. As someone who has been involved in community development work in the region for more than 30 years, I know the challenges involved in “telling your story” to the wider community and securing consistent coverage in the media. Yet participants in Blacksburg, both presenters and audience members, seemed to agree that magnifying these success stories was essential to building public support for them and ensuring that rural communities remain a priority for federal agencies and future administrations. My own experience makes clear that local people can solve most of their own problems, especially when the government invests in the locally adapted strategies they develop, rather than providing top-down, cookie cutter programs. The Rural Investment Roundtables USDA is holding showcase some of these locally based strategies and show what’s possible when we invest in local people and communities.
Anthony Flaccavento is executive director of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative. He lives in Washington County.
