Brian Depew, executive director of the Center for Rural Affairs, starts with a joke.
“My joke is that when you ask somebody what rural is, it's a place smaller than where they live,” he says. “I've been in New York City and people are like, ‘I want to do more rural work like that work we did in Lincoln, Nebraska,’ which is a community of 250,000. Or, if you're in Lincoln, Nebraska, rural is Fremont, which is a town of 20,000. If you're in Fremont and you ask somebody what rural is, they say, ‘Well, that’s a community like Lyons,’ a town of 900 people. And honest to God, it, if you go into the bar in Lyons, Nebraska, and you ask what rural is, they're like, ‘Oh, well, those are the people that live outside of town.’”
While most folks will likely define rural as a place that is smaller than where they live, the Center for Rural Affairs generally defines it as a community with a population of 50,000 or less that is not part of a metro area.
These small communities are vital to the rural economy and their vibrancy is essential to the larger American economy overall. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation brought together experts in the field of rural entrepreneurship to put a spotlight on this very issue, with an emphasis on the role entrepreneurship plays at the heart of crucial rural economic development.
“In rural Arkansas, rural Tennessee and in a couple areas of rural Mississippi, we’re seeing folks who are returning home for opportunities to start businesses,” says Cynthia Norwood Terry, director of entrepreneurship at Communities Unlimited.
At the same time, rural communities are also providing opportunities for new residents. Depew says for more than a decade that’s been driven by employment opportunities in meat packing, construction and hospitality, but now, it has expanded well beyond that. Immigrants have found employment and community in rural America, while also contributing to the startup rate. Kauffman Foundation research shows that immigrants are twice as likely to become entrepreneurs as native-born Americans.
Rural America today is likely different than the archetype some people might expect. That also means what rural economies and communities need is different as well. Understanding around that is vitally important for federal, state and local policy – especially as it grapples with perceptions around a rural/urban divide.
Matt Dunne, founder and executive director of the Center on Rural Innovation, says the first thing any policymaker should do is talk with rural leaders, who are keenly aware of the narrative around rural America.
“I think some of the distrust that's emerged in our country has been the cognitive dissonance between what largely urban media sources are saying is going on in this country and what people in rural America are seeing as a reality in their day-to-day lives,” Dunne says. “The economic divide is a real one. This is why we emphasize doing the intensive research that we do.”
Data can help people see the divide. He says the jobs that pay the best and provide greatest economic mobility opportunities are not present in most rural places. Dunne says data also helps in communicating the impact of entrepreneurship.
“We used the research that Kauffman did several years ago about how rural America had seen a particularly steep decline in entrepreneurship in the 30 years before 2008,” he says. “We bring the data, and we bring the information and we work hard in making sure that we're partnering with others to get that message out there. There is a divide, it's addressable, and there are rural leaders ready to take it on if they are given the chance.”
Depew isn’t a fan of the urban/rural divide narrative. He feels it often generalizes or distracts from an important conversation. He feels it can get it the way in the policy making space.
“If we're thinking about an economic divide or communities that are left behind, the type of investments and actions we need from policy makers are strikingly similar for communities that are left behind, whether those are urban communities that are left behind or rural communities that are left behind, and finding those commonalities in the policy making process could be one potential way to get through that question.”
Learn more about rural America by watching the Entrepreneurship Issue Forum: Spotlighting Rural America. Panelists discuss the current landscape of entrepreneurship in rural areas in America, along with the innovative solutions to challenges entrepreneurs face to start grow and sustain a business.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation based in Kansas City, Missouri, that seeks to build inclusive prosperity through a prepared workforce and entrepreneur-focused economic development. The foundation uses its $3 billion in assets to change conditions, address root causes and break down systemic barriers.