In this episode, Jim talks with Jim King, CEO & President of FAHE and Chrystel Cornelius, CEO at Oweesta Corporation, both leaders of Partners for Rural Transformation (PRT). PRT is a national coalition dedicated to advancing economic mobility in persistent poverty areas in rural America. Jim and Chrystel share their experience and perspective on the reasons why persistent poverty is so prevalent in rural America; how this in turn impacts all of America and actions PRT is doing to strengthen rural communities in general, and specifically in light of COVID-19 and recent events.

Check out Episode 16 of Cinnaire’s Advancing Communities Podcast here!

The post Advancing Communities Podcast – Partners for Rural Transformation: Eliminating Persistent Poverty, Advancing Prosperity and Economic Justice appeared first on Partners for Rural Transformation.

Our communities need bold solutions, now.

Partners for Rural Transformation is committed to taking action to promote healthy and resilient rural communities. Long term, we need vibrant, committed leaders in communities to help their neighbors to rebuild. The work that we’re doing right now is to ensure those leaders can continue their work and support their communities to rebuild their economies.

Below are the ways we’re providing frontline support to our communities and advocating for policies that provide critical public health and economic relief during this crisis.

• Fahe’s Appalachian Perspective – Policy Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Communities Unlimited: What can small businesses do about economic impacts of COVID-19?
• HOPE’s COVID-19 Resources for Individuals and Businesses 
• HOPE’S COVID-19 Response Support page
• Hope Policy Institute: Blog post on the lack of healthcare resources in rural communities
• RCAC’s COVID-19 Resource page

Sign up to stay updated on our work.

The post Response to COVID-19 Pandemic appeared first on Partners for Rural Transformation.

When Codney Washington became a family man and decided to settle down, he started his own construction business. The move was a good one, but times became tougher with the 2008-2009 housing crisis, so Codney decided to diversify. He began to look at real estate investments.

It was then a friend let him know about a unique investment: a skating rink. The old skating rink in his hometown of Pine Bluff was for sale. This was the very same rink where Codney skated as a child. The rink that, even then, was one of the few places kids could go for entertainment in Pine Bluff. Pine Bluff, Arkansas is a city with a population of 42,271 people of which 28.6% live in poverty and 76.9% are African American. In this context, Codney saw a unique opportunity to give back to his community, but he was going to need some help. That’s where Communities Unlimited came in.

‘On Board From the Beginning’
Skateland skating rink had opened and closed in Pine Bluff several times over nearly 30 years. As time went on, places such as the movie theaters in town closed, and entertainment venues became scarce. The skating rink, when open, was one of the few places kids could go for entertainment, in a time where the other option was being out on the streets and getting into trouble. It was that thought that was at the forefront when Codney began inquiring about purchasing the old rink.

Codney worked out an agreement with the owner to lease and eventually purchase the rink, but he knew he would need help. For starters, the rink was in need of repairs and updates. He needed access to startup capital faster than he could generate it himself.

So Codney brought the project to Communities Unlimited. As with other financial institutions, he expected an uphill battle. He was surprised at what he got instead. “I came in with all these ideas about Skateland and what I wanted it to be,” he said. “The thing that struck me was how much the team at Communities Unlimited bought into what I was saying.

“You go and talk to banks, and all they want to look at is your credit report and what kind of assets you have,” he said. But he found that wasn’t the case with Communities Unlimited. “They were on board from the beginning.”

Thanks to a loan from Communities Unlimited, Codney was able to take over the skating rink and update it. The first several years were the toughest, with Codney working 10+ hours at the rink on the days it would be open.

Giving Back
As Codney saw how the rink transformed the community, he also began to see other ways to help the city’s youth. When the building next door to the skating rink became available, Codney purchased it with the intent of turning it into a community center. But as the idea evolved, he saw it as a place where life skills could be taught to the city’s emerging adults. Then the idea came about to use his background in construction to teach construction trades in the old building. The concept kept growing, from just providing trade skills to providing a true transition for those wanting to forge a straight and narrow path in life, away from the trouble they might have experienced in their youth.

Codney began working with a youth center in nearby Dermott on ideas for a transition out of the youth center and into a productive role in society. He began purchasing properties around Pine Bluff to use not only as a training ground for construction and other trade skills, but also to create a transitional home for youth.

A big part of that plan is to help the youth develop their own businesses, if that’s the path they choose. Once again, Codney’s relationship with Communities Unlimited will come into play. He said he hopes to steer his clients toward Communities Unlimited’s small business technical assistance, which guides budding entrepreneurs on what it takes to not only open a business but also maintain it and make it successful.

“They provide something I can’t provide,” Codney explained. “I can be a mentor and I can lead you, but sometimes you have to get out of there and fish on your own. That’s where [Communities Unlimited] comes in.”

He hopes to pass the successful relationship he’s had with Communities Unlimited on to his clients.

With financial and technical assistance from Communities Unlimited in place, Codney plans to continue to work to make a difference in the lives of the youth in his hometown, so that not only he can give back to his community, but they can as well.

The post It’s All About Giving Back to the Community, Skateland, Pine Bluff, Arkansas appeared first on Partners for Rural Transformation.

The post Mi Casita Program appeared first on Partners for Rural Transformation.

Fahe fights back against the Opioid epidemic by utilizing their deep roots in the region and their ability to connect outside investment to boots-on-ground leaders across Appalachia.

Almost three years of playing with their grandchildren—lost. By 2013, Appalachians were more likely to die early and experience chronic health conditions during their lifetime, a life expectancy gap with the rest of the country that had widened since 1990.12 The headlines have been coming, hospital closures, cancer, resurgence of meth, and then the greatest of them all: opioid overdose deaths, which nationwide in 2016 killed 42,249 people, more people annually than HIV/AIDs (6,721 people), car crashes (37,461 people), or gun violence (~38,000 people).13,14,15,16 Appalachian men ages 25 to 44 experience a 72 percent higher overdose mortality rate versus men in other parts of the country. For Appalachian women ages 25 to 34, the rate is 92 percent higher. West Virginia and Kentucky were rated 1st and 3rd respectively in the nation for overdose deaths.

Fahe is a regional Network of 50+ organizations throughout Appalachia making our communities and economies work, and pushing back against the economic stagnation and accompanying reduction in health outcomes in our region. Although decades of systemic poverty has taken a toll on Appalachia—19.7% rate in Central Appalachia with areas of eastern Kentucky as high as 25.7%, versus 12.3% for the nation—the Fahe Network has shown how local leaders and the right investments can and do turn the tide.

Fahe believes that in order for all Americans to have a good life, with a stable job, in a healthy community, investments in public health must focus directly on health investment and also on socio-environmental determinants, which account for half of key indicators, length, and quality of life. Fahe works both of these ways in the beautiful mountains we call home. In direct health investment, Fahe collaborates to develop residential treatment facilities that result in recovery opportunities unavailable but for Fahe’s leadership. By connecting local leaders in the mental health field with real estate developers and the capital needed to construct and finance the residential facility combined with the operating models that connect subsidy resources recovery services are made available to people who most desperately need them and who don’t have the resources for private pay treatment. Specifically, Fahe has facilitated the collaborations that resulted in the creation of 1800 units of residential treatment facilities by bringing $50M in loans, equity investments, and subsidy to the operations and development that together demonstrate annual savings to the states in excess of $20M annually and a reduction in recidivism rates.

Effectively engaging socio-environmental determinants of health requires broad, public-private partnerships in housing and employment: Whitesburg, KY, a persistent poverty town of 2,200 in the mountains of far eastern Kentucky is home to a prime example, one of three Appalachia Heat Squad pilots. This outreach program assesses and improves homes through energy audits and repairs, reducing energy costs in a region with an abundance of substandard and unhealthy housing that makes utility bills an increasing part of housing cost burden in Appalachia. Reducing high utility costs frees up money to support other needs, like health insurance or even healthy food. At the same time, Appalachia Heat Squad provides local jobs, a key need and an important social determinant of health.

In addition, the local leader of Fahe Network Member H.O.M.E.S. in Whitesburg, Seth Long, is deeply embedded in his community as a leader and participant in the activities of other community health and economic development organizations, including a local famer’s market, where H.O.M.E.S. has helped construct facilities for the market and for residents to enjoy music in an outdoor setting. Through this farmer’s market, local famers have additional customers for their produce, and residents in an area where fresh food is less available in dollar stores are able to buy local food that is fresh and nutritious. This effort targets both patient health and the local economy, and exists because of a structured collaboration among community leaders including housing, health and economic development. In the future, because of these relationships, H.O.M.E.S. may be providing construction expertise to support the adaptive reuse of a school to expand a community health center.

Seeing the intersection of the need for good jobs, the opioid crisis, and the success that was being shown in Whitesburg, Fahe worked to create a program of transformational employment for recovering addicts in Eastern Kentucky, one of the innovative programs of its kind in the country. The Network is expanding a successful worker reintegration model piloted by DV8 Kitchens in Lexington, Kentucky into six coal-impacted counties in eastern KY over the next three years, providing paid internships for 30 people in addiction recovery, placing them with 30 unique employers, and providing informational training sessions designed to liſt the stigma many employers have about people going through recovery. Fahe was able to depend upon Appalachian Regional Commission funds through a POWER grant to do this, showing the importance of investment to making a difference in lives on the ground.

Building on the transformational employment strategies, the Fahe Network is leading the provision of access to wraparound recovery services such as transportation and housing with an Eastern Kentucky base in Whitesburg. The program received federal funding of $3.7M from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). But for Fahe’s advocacy, that investment may not have made it to Appalachia, as service provision is typically deployed to a state’s major metro areas. This federal investment is now creating jobs, serving people, and turning people’s lives around who need it in persistent poverty Appalachia.

These vignettes of the Fahe Network in Whitesburg are just examples of a Network carrying out a broad suite of activities to make people’s lives healthier and more prosperous in persistent poverty areas and throughout Appalachia. They are small windows of how federal and private investment come together to build a vibrant region of more families that can enjoy living and playing together for years to come.

The post Building the Addiction Recovery Infrastructure in Central Appalachia appeared first on Partners for Rural Transformation.

In parts of rural California where the basic right to safe drinking water is out of reach, particularly for many Latinx and tribal communities, RCAC’s Agua4All installed 362 water bottle filling stations.

More than a million Californians lack access to safe drinking water, a startling statistic in a state with the fifth largest economy in the world. For these Californians—of which one in three is Hispanic—the only alternatives to unsafe water are expensive bottled water or sugary drinks. Research has shown that some low-income families spend more than 10 percent of their earnings on such beverages.

This is a serious public health concern, particularly in California’s rural communities where infrastructure and financial resources are limited. Moreover, contaminants such as arsenic can cause cancer, thyroid disorders and other serious health problems. Children are at particular risk for health problems that stem from not drinking enough water.

To address the challenge, RCAC launched Agua4All, a pilot project in partnership with The California Endowment in 2014. The idea was simple: install water bottle filling stations where they are most needed, such as in schools and community centers, and include water treatment where necessary. Today, there are 362 units throughout rural California. A crucial aspect to the program, too, was building public-private partnerships to expand access and encourage water consumption. Public/Private partnerships are collaborations between public entities and private companies to provide additional services. In this case, RCAC is partnering with foundations, public utilities, public schools, and private partners including fountain manufacturers Acorn and Elkay, bottle companies like Nalgene, and filter manufacturers to provide the products to the school locations at a steep discount.

Since the program’s pilot, success has been noticeable. In 2016, two years aſter the program was initiated in the Eastern Coachella Valley and Kern County, more children were drinking water (for example, at the Saul Martinez Elementary school in Mecca, the number of ounces of water consumed per student per day more than doubled and, in some cases, more than tripled once the filling stations were installed).

This year, the program expanded to other rural and tribal communities in California. Much of this is due to the work RCAC did with other drinking water advocates to secure state budget funds dedicated to improving access to clean drinking water in California schools via the Drinking Water for Schools Program. RCAC is the technical assistance provider for the grant program, which includes identifying solutions to improve access to clean drinking water; assessing water contamination levels; preparing funding applications; evaluating access at schools; coordinating communication between school and water boards; and organizing school outreach programs. RCAC staff are now working with more than a dozen Tribes across 74 schools in 32 school districts in 17 counties, increasing access to clean drinking water.

Access to clean drinking water is not only critical to public health and a basic human right, it is also a fundamental building block for the development of regional economies. Places without clean drinking water will be marked by outmigration and remain low priorities for regional development stunting growth and potential. By engaging in the efforts to direct state funds towards solutions in communities in need of clean drinking water and leveraging its CDFI capacity, RCAC supported the development of necessary infrastructure to foster economic opportunity and overall well-being.

The post Clean Drinking Water Program Expands to Schools and Tribes across California – Central Valley, CA appeared first on Partners for Rural Transformation.

Bridgette’s life was transformed when her local CDFI helped her secure stable income and transportation, a safe home, and freedom from debt. Now she’s sharing her financial skills and knowledge with others in her community.

First Nations Oweesta (Oweesta), a Native CDFI intermediary, works with Native CDFIs that serve Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian populations. The population served by Oweesta and its cadre of Native CDFIs is typically younger than the national average, low-income and experiences very high unemployment (37% are unemployed). These economic conditions are fueled by historical injustice, as most reservations were forcibly placed in remote and isolated areas lacking natural resources or other means for establishing a functional economic base. Over half of Native individuals live in isolated rural locations and have lived in cash economies for generations as no conventional financial outlets were present or accessible on reservation lands.

Oweesta tackles unemployment and financial education by expanding access to capital for Native CDFIs and by building the financial capability of individuals and organizations throughout Indian Country. One of the tools used for establishing a strong foundation of financial education includes the Building Native Communities: Financial Skills for Families (BNC) train-the-trainer program, which includes an intensive three-day train-the-trainer workshop. Participants in the workshop must pass a knowledge-based certification exam before receiving accreditation. Once an instructor has been certified, he or she receives access to a range of teaching tools for use in his or her tribal community. Since 2001, over 35,000 individuals have received certification and tens of thousands of tribal members have learned the tools and skills needed to build their individual assets through the provision of the BNC curriculum. The curriculum is the most widely used in Indian Country since its inception and is now in its 5th edition. The success of the BNC program is centered on its cultural relevancy translating traditional values and practices in managing resources into mainstream financial systems.

Native CDFIs have become institutional financial pillars in their communities, changing the economic landscape with the provision of capital opportunities provided in conjunction with capacity building trainings and courses promoting individual, small business and homeownership asset building opportunities. The following stories reflect the incredible changes Native families and communities can experience when presented with opportunities to further their financial aspirations and goals.

The Fort Belknap Indian Reservation is located in Blaine County, Montana and is home to the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes. With 54.4% of the population living below the poverty line, Blaine County is an isolated and rural county located near the US and Canadian border with half of the population comprised of Native Americans. One tribal member, Bridgette, (Assiniboine) struggled working odd jobs while supporting her son Liam with no vehicle. Living with her brother and father, resources were scarce for the family. Determined to find gainful employment, she made the most of an opportunity when the local Native CDFI offered her a temporary job. She quickly demonstrated a strong work ethic and garnered the trust of the team resulting in full time employment. With a stable source of income, she was able to pay off all of her overdue bills, transitioned from public assistance and purchased a vehicle. She then succeeded in securing a home for her and her son, gaining economic independence. In July 2018, Bridgette then attended the Building Native Communities: Financial Skills for Families train-the-trainer in Anchorage, Alaska. She came back to Montana with a brand-new perspective on life and gained an incredible skillset in managing her personal finances. Bridgette knew the only path for a better life included setting financial goals and becoming more aware of how she was spending her money and what she was saving. Leading by example, Bridgette is now one of the lead instructors for the Fort Belknap Education Department – Credit Financial Literacy Team on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation spreading the knowledge of financial empowerment to her fellow tribal members.

Another example of success occurred in Gallup, New Mexico. Gallup is a rural community of 22,000 people located in McKinley County in the Northwest corner of New Mexico. Located in close proximity to the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni Reservations, almost half of the population is Native American. It is among the counties with the highest poverty rates in the country, even among persistent poverty counties. Alliayah attended Gallup Central High School during her senior year and was required to take the Building Native Communities: Financial Skills for Families financial literacy class. The courses taught her best practices in personal financial management, and also covered information on how to successfully build and manage credit to be better prepared when it’s time to apply for a credit card or a loan.

Alliayah then contacted her local Native CDFI, knowing she had no credit, to see if there were any opportunities to build her personal assets and begin establishing a credit history. The Native CDFI worked with her and provided a credit builder loan to help with the establishment of credit. After successfully working with the CDFI and slowly using and managing credit issued to her by the institution, she now has a credit score of 719, an important milestone given how she saw how much her parents struggled without good credit growing up.

These examples are among thousands of stories that occur when safe and affordable capital and culturally appropriate training to marginalized communities is provided. Oweesta’s work as an intermediary lender and national capacity building trainer supports local tribal efforts to provide personal and community asset building opportunities for tribal nations and populations across the nation.

The post Building Credit, Building Wealth in Native Communities – Lodge Pole, Montana and Gallup, New Mexico appeared first on Partners for Rural Transformation.