Rural Community Assistance Partnership

Practical solutions for improving rural communities
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small towns

How the state and federal governments run up against dying small towns

Posted Wed, 2012/07/25 - 5:09pm by RCAP

Soundwaves, the online home of CNN Radio, profiles a small Iowa town and its struggle to meet the requirements from the state and federal government for clean water. Yet the town's population is aging and decreasing, so how will the town afford an expensive new sewer system? Will the town still be there in 40 years, which is when its loan for the sewer system is due to be paid off.

 

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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