Press Releases

Ford Foundation Supports New National Summit on Future of Rural America

NEW YORK, 27 June 2007 — More than 300 leaders from rural communities throughout the United States have assembled outside Washington, D.C., this week for the first annual summit on the future of rural America.

The National Rural Assembly, which is supported by the Ford and W.K. Kellogg foundations, is focusing on the pressing social and economic issues facing the nation’s rural communities. The gathering offers rural leaders an opportunity to build stronger regional and nationwide networks and to connect with state and federal lawmakers to actively promote policy priorities and initiatives.

Rural communities face enormous challenges in the globalizing economy. Rising oil prices, industrial restructuring, outsourcing of jobs and the movement of people are significantly affecting the American countryside. In many parts of rural America, poverty rates have increased and household income has fallen well below levels in metropolitan regions. While innovative programs have emerged in response to these pressures, they have often lacked the support necessary to fully take root.

"For too long, the challenges facing rural America have not received the attention and action they deserve," said Ford Foundation President Susan V. Berresford, who attended the summit in Chantilly, Va. "This gathering offers an opportunity to increase understanding of the issues facing rural America and to build a movement for change."

The Ford Foundation has a major commitment to philanthropic efforts to address the needs of rural America. Over the past decade, the foundation has invested some $54 million in more than 200 initiatives to support rural community organizations, policy research, arts and cultural programs, leadership training and economic development.

Some of the innovative grantees working to improve life in rural communities include:

• Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (Minneapolis, Minn.)
  
  With support from the foundation, the institute is working in targeted rural communities in the Midwest and Appalachia to train local leaders, boost locally owned development projects and host public forums on economic development.
  
  www.iatp.org
  
  
  
• Center for Rural Strategies (Lyons, Neb.)
  
  Ford grants support the center's efforts to analyze federal budgets and government policies to provide better understanding of how they affect rural communities and programs to reduce rural poverty.
  
  www.ruralstrategies.org
  
  
  
• Southern Rural Development Initiative, Inc. (Raleigh, N.C.)
  
  The foundation supports the Transforming Communities initiative, a regional development program that helps unite citizens around efforts to foster equitable and sustainable communities in the rural South.
  
  www.srdi.org
  
  
  
• Nebraska Community Foundation (Lincoln, Neb.)
  
  With foundation support, the Nebraska Community Foundation trains community leaders to develop new skills and technologies for working with donors, build new rural community endowment funds and expand community-based philanthropy.
  
  www.nebcommfound.org
  
  
  
• Humboldt Area Foundation (Bayside, Calif.)
  
  Ford's support of the Community Partnerships with Native Artists initiative enables California Native American artists to work in collaboration with rural and urban Native communities to develop arts projects.
  
  www.hafoundation.org
  
  
  
• Community Foundation of South Wood County (Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc.)
  
  A Ford grant provides continued support to the Community Progress Initiative (CPI), an economic revitalization strategy to address job loss, unemployment and poverty challenges impacting the present and future of the region.
  
  www.cfswc.org
  
  

These efforts reflect the Ford Foundation's commitment to advancing rural philanthropy, strengthening local democracy and supporting innovative partnerships in communities in need.

The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.