Aspen CSG Thrive Rural Framework

To achieve equitable rural prosperity, we need ways of thinking and acting that are powerful enough to move communities to action, build shared purpose across regions, and change the status quo. The Thrive Rural Framework weaves together current community innovations and tested approaches for a wide range of issues integral to achieving equitable rural prosperity that is both sustainable and durable.

Compounded trauma and challenges related to domestic/partner violence in Rural Communities

Challenges of addressing domestic/partner violence in rural communities due to isolation, community structures, and lack of access to services - all connected to broader lack of access to resources, in addition to social barriers victims in close-knit communities face such as cultural misogyny, anti-LGBTQI sentiments, etc.

CORI Rural Aperture Project

What counts as rural? Why does it matter? There are real consequences of how we define "rural." CORI created a data visualization story that dives into how the different definitions of “rural” used by the federal government paint vastly different pictures of rural places, and have major implications in both how stories are told and funds are distributed.

IRSG Resourcing Rural Infrastructure Report

Using New York State as a place-based case study, IRSG dug deep to expose the various components of rural community organizing infrastructure and funder recommendation for resourcing this infrastructure to create the conditions for statewide progressive change that advances justice for rural communities.

Heartland Fund

Through pooled funding and strategic grantmaking, Heartland Fund (the c3 arm of Rural Democracy Initiative) connects rural leaders with national and regional funders to build permanent civic engagement and organizing infrastructure in rural areas of the United States, including small cities and towns. Heartland Fund is a long-time partner to IRSG, providing a a strategic and collaborative grantmaking vehicle for funders to collectively invest in rural organizing groups in key geographies across the country.

Rural Democracy Rural Policy Action Report

In 2021, Rural Democracy Initiative, Farm Action, and RuralOrganizing.org worked with rural communities around the country to develop this Rural Action Policy Report. RDI and its grantees and partners have been working to implement these policy recommendations, with success in enacting some key policies at federal level. In 2022, RDI partnered with State Innovation Exchange to update the report with a complementary policy guide for state lawmakers and officials.

Rural Organizing Dialogue Series - Voices and Learnings from Rural Leaders

Over the summer of 2022, IRSG hosted a series of Rural Organizing Dialogues. This dialogues offered informal spaces for funders and rural leaders to dig deep around topics such as land justice, building power in rural communities, and what's needed to advance a racial justice vision in rural.

If there is a resource you would like to add to this list, please contact stephan@nfg.org