Rural Community Assistance Partnership

Practical solutions for improving rural communities
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Poverty and housing needs persist in rural America as population changes

Posted Wed, 2012/12/12 - 12:30pm by RCAP

WASHINGTON (HAC) – For decades before the current recession, rural Americans struggled with poverty and housing problems. In fact, a new Housing Assistance Council study reports, rural America encompasses 86 percent of the U.S. counties where poverty rates have remained at 20 percent or higher since at least 1990.

Video: "The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water"

Posted Thu, 2012/06/21 - 4:39pm by RCAP

Description by the video's producers:

"The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water" is a short [actually, about 20 min.], animated film [for adults - not children] made by a collaboration of creative and dedicated volunteers at the Surfrider Foundation. Several local Surfrider Foundation chapters combined their talents and funds to create the film -- and then actor Zuleikha Robinson of Lost generously agreed to narrate it.

Des Moines Register: Ag boom misses small towns

Posted Fri, 2011/05/20 - 9:12am by RCAP

Aside from some scattered bright spots, the biggest boom in farmland prices in 30 years has done little to reverse the gradual decline of small towns across Iowa. The same is true in agricultural communities across the country, according to scholars who track rural economies.

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