Often schools close out of a belief that taking this step will save money and help students. Whether or not those benefits materialize, there are downsides for the locals.
Of Jennifer Silva’s sample of 108 working-class people, over two-thirds didn’t even vote in the 2016 election.
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
A sociologist spent over a year interviewing black, white and Latino residents of a declining coal town in central Pennsylvania, plumbing the sources of their political disillusionment.
Suburbanites now outnumber urban and rural dwellers.
Ursula Page/shutterstock.com
Sherry Hamby, Sewanee: The University of the South
People in Appalachia are skeptical and cautious around technology – and how they think can be useful and instructive for living in a tech-centric world.
Telecommunications wires stretch along a rural Kansas road.
Technology & Information Policy Institute, University of Texas
Many people in rural America don’t have access to fast, affordable internet access. How might those communities connect to the global exchange of goods, services and ideas?
People wait in line for a methadone clinic to open in Hoquiam, Washington, a small town within a predominantly rural area.
David Goldman/AP Photo
The US wants to invest in more infrastructure to handle our rainfall and melted snow. Stormwater credits could help cut costs and protect the environment.
What will be left of rural television stations?
Dual Freq
Federal rules governing television stations were meant to keep them connected to the communities they serve. The Trump administration wants to weaken those rules, and those civic links.
Some Americans have fast internet, but many still lag behind – especially in rural areas.
BlueRingMedia via shutterstock.com
The Trump administration’s proposed budget suggests it will continue to spend federal dollars on expanding broadband internet access. But the rules governing internet traffic matter too.
Pittsburgh, between its industrial past and a clean, green tech-driven future.
Dllu
Pittsburgh’s post-industrial economic resurgence is promising, a historian of the region writes, but there’s a reason President Trump highlighted the area in his speech exiting the Paris climate deal.
Rural schools are an often overlooked part of the public education system.
Sascha Erni/flickr
A recent study from the Tisch College of Civil Life at Tufts looks at millennials’ civic engagement – and finds some cause for concern in rural, suburban and urban areas.
The divide is in the data.
American Community Survey (ACS) 2011-2015 5 year estimates, Table S1810
More and more people are talking about the ‘rural-urban divide,’ but what does that phrase actually mean? We asked experts from around the country to illustrate the gap in graphs and maps.
The federal prison in Forrest City, Arkansas.
AP Photo/Danny Johnston
The number of prisons in the US swelled between 1970 and 2000, from 511 to nearly 1,663. Here’s the story of why one town in Arkansas welcomed a correction facility.
Using the internet is what matters.
Woman on laptop via shutterstock.com
Giving rural residents the option of using broadband access isn’t enough to boost their community involvement. To really improve civic engagement, rural dwellers need to use the internet.
One primary concern in rural areas: higher temperatures put strain on water and energy sources.
AP Photo/Robert Ray
Nine out of 10 rural places experienced increases in diversity from 1990 to 2010. Data show a more diverse future is guaranteed across all of America, and there’s no going back.
The view from Wyoming County, Pennsylvania.
Cropped from nicholas_t/flickr
‘Rural America’ is a deceptively simple term for a remarkably diverse collection of places. Understanding – and improving – these parts of the country is critical for all Americans.