Rural Juror

Although Radford has been declared a "Metropolitan Statistical Area" together with Blacksburg and Christiansburg, there's no denying we're rural. And according to this Small-Town Philanthropy article I just read, educated people still have very ignorant views about what to do with us:

Richard Foster, vice president for programs at the Kellogg foundation, says when Kellogg conducted a poll of individuals and state and federal legislators about rural America a few years ago, it found that people had "bipolar" views.

The first, he told a recent conference on rural issues: "People living there are hard-working people, they're self-sufficient, self-reliant." They turn to their neighbors when they need help and are too proud to accept outside aid.

The second: "Everybody's name is Bubba, and they're not intelligent at all." They operate methamphetamine labs and produce high rates of teenage pregancy and youth drug abuse and "really don't deserve our help."

"In either scenario," he said, "there's not a lot of help coming to rural America."

And what do we need help with? Here's a short list of rural challenges from the Carsey Institute--many of which hit pretty close to home:

Loss of population, especially young people, as manufacturing industries decline in the face of technological change and overseas competition.

Migration of immigrants, primarily Hispanics, to take low-wage farm and food-processing jobs.

Renewed interest in coal production as a result of rising oil prices, risking environmental degradation.

Movement of retirement-age people and others to rural areas for "quality of life" reasons, bringing new skills but also contributing to real-estate sprawl, driving up housing costs, and requiring additional health care and transportation.

Chronic poverty in regions such as central Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta.

If you think non-Appalachians are going to find these issues obvious and come to the rescue, good luck. What we need are some loud voices, people!