This year’s focus will be on how we create better outcomes for rural communities by specifically addressing barriers that disproportionately affect rural people and places, such as persistent poverty, disinvestment by public and private institutions, lack of access to quality healthcare, education, and technologies, and the depletion of our natural resources.
Convene conversations that focus on youth leadership and empowerment; rural child poverty and building a better policy framework to address it; and the persistent gap in philanthropic investment in rural America.
As Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack said in his address to the 2013 National Rural Assembly: “Folks, we are not going to have that more inclusive nation unless people around this country recognize and understand that we cannot accept failure with impunity.”
The Rural Assembly is intentionally a cross-sector, cross-geographical coalition. The National Gathering is dedicated to hosting conversations at the crossroads of health and climate, immigration and economic development, art and agriculture, poverty and prosperity, to name a few. Your participation influences the content and outcomes of each gathering.
