In-mid July, the Council on Foundations hosted the 2009 "Philanthropy and Rural America Conference" at the Clinton Foundation Center in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The focus of the conference was: what can philanthropy do to grow wealth in rural America?

 

The first two days of the conference were organized as plenary and concurrent sessions on education, economic development, energy and the environment, and building rural philanthropic capacity.  The final day was devoted to developing a plan of action for the Council and for individual foundations.  One action was to call upon the Council of Foundations, Congress, and USDA "to move forward a public initiative to build philanthropic rural development endowment funds and capacity in and for the underserved communities of rural America.  This initiative will include USDA capacity building grants to create and serve rural community-based endowments and tax incentives to encourage individuals to support such endowments."

 

The Obama Administration was represented at the conference, signaling the intention of public and philanthropic partnerships.  Ed DeSeve, Special Advisor to the President for Implementation of the Recovery Act, spoke about The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Rural America.  Mr. DeSeve told the audience that the Recovery Act has more than a billion dollars of wellness grants to distribute to communities, and that the government wants communities to get directly involved in meeting their needs.  "We are focused on creating healthier, greener, better educated communities with higher quality jobs," he said. "In order for this to be successful in rural areas, we need you to take action and let the government know what you have in your communities--and what you need."  Mr. DeSeve also called on the Council to collect these recommendations, ideas, and suggestions, and share them with the Obama Administration. 

 

Dallas Tonsager, USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development, spoke about Rural Development--Broadband and Beyond.  Mr. Tonsager noted that the Recovery Act has $2.5 billion available for broadband, and said that USDA is working with communities to build on their current assets to deploy broadband. 

 

Carlos Monje, Policy Director for the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation at the White House, addressed The Social Innovation Fund and Rural America.   Mr. Monje noted that, "All across the country, groups are identifying problems in their communities and figuring out ways to solve them. Our office's task is to find these 'diamonds in the rough,' the programs that are working, and give them the resources to expand."  According to Monje, as a result of President Obama's announcement last month of a rural tour, "Cabinet members are fanning out across the country to discover ways to strengthen rural communities."

 

A highlight of the conference was an address by former President Bill Clinton.  Mr. Clinton spoke about his vision of rural America's future.  In welcoming conference participants to his home state and the Clinton Center, Mr. Clinton emphasized his commitment to tackling the issues that confront rural communities, including health care, childhood obesity, energy conservation, agriculture, and broadband.  Mr. Clinton also challenged those in attendance to bring their best ideas forward. "We can beat up on people and say they should give more money in rural America," he said, "but we should give them some new ideas."  The former president said that "an enormous number of good things are being done in America" but many don't ever rise to scale because of lack of publicity. He believes we need to "establish an honor roll of stand-alone projects that other people and states can take to scale and try to get them funded."  Mr. Clinton said this is the best way to get buy-in, in advance, from big, donor foundations. 

 

Mr. Clinton focused much of his talk on alternative energy initiatives and the future growth of wind and solar energy in rural America. He was adamant about the need for such initiatives, saying, "We need to change the way we produce, conserve, and consume energy--and rural America needs to be part of that." Alternative energy, he claimed, "would spark the largest job boom we've had since World War II--and we wouldn't have to shoot anyone to do it!"