PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 30, 2020
Drawing on more than 20 years of working in communities across four rural states, we see actionable, specific opportunities for President-elect Joe Biden to make federal policy work for rural places. We recommend:
• Engage in genuine conversations in rural places about the role of the federal government.
• Elevate rural to the level it deserves in the president’s Cabinet.
• Invest in doing economic development differently in rural places.
• Focus on and communicate about rural-urban connections rather than the divide.
Yes, there is a pandemic raging, but the widening gulf between rural and urban, rich and poor, red and blue requires a new tone, a new path and new solutions. Let’s get to it. ~ Rob Riley, Northern Forest Center