CONTACT: Jay Tilton – (859) 208-7600
Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 – The Partners for Rural Transformation (PRT) Monday announced its five-year strategic plan, outlining a bold, solutions-based vision to mobilize capital, change systems, and empower communities so that rural America is no longer defined by persistent poverty, but by opportunity. The plan charts a path for people to live, work, learn, and raise families in the rural communities they call home.
PRT President Farah Ahmad said: “In rural spaces across the country, people are working together to build, to support, and to strengthen their communities. Partners for Rural Transformation is scaling that effort up, securing capital, and building capacity as these communities chart their own futures. Today, we are announcing our vision for mobilizing capital, changing systems, and empowering rural communities as we work to bring an end to persistent poverty. This is what partnership looks like, and we invite the broader community of practitioners, funders, and policymakers to be a part of it.”
The strategic plan is based on three pillars to drive real change in rural communities experiencing persistent poverty:
- Capital Mobilization: $10 billion in capital deployed through our Partners in rural regions of persistent poverty by 2030.
- Systems Change: Adoption of policies and practices by private, public, and philanthropic sectors that more agilely deploy capital in rural communities.
- Community Empowerment: Investments that deliver community-driven outcomes and empower communities to be self-led and independent.
People living in regions of persistent poverty face significant barriers to well-being. The longer these barriers exist, the more likely communities lack adequate infrastructure and support services. These gaps contribute to limited employment opportunities, reduced access to responsible financial services, shortages of affordable housing, and poorer health and education outcomes, all exacerbated by decades of disinvestment.
Although rural communities contribute $2.7 trillion to the national GDP, they receive only around 6 percent of philanthropic dollars. In the Alabama Black Belt and the Mississippi Delta, this means there was just $41 in foundation funding per person compared to the national average of $451 and the average for New York state of $995 per person.
Rural bank consolidations have also reduced access to relationship-based lending typical of small community banks in rural areas. In fact, the number of rural community banks has declined by nearly 50 percent in the last 30 years.
PRT aims to reverse this trend of disinvestment by:
- Elevating the case for rural investment and challenging outdated narratives;
- Transforming how capital reaches communities by advancing proven rural funding practices;
- Informing policy conversations to strengthen public investments rural communities rely on;
- Reshaping practices through its “do-tank” that turns ideas into on-the-ground action; and
- Building connections with local leaders through a national network of rural development experts.
PRT invites partners across philanthropy, private financial institutions, and local, state, and federal government to join in eliminating chronic disinvestment and ending persistent poverty in rural communities across the country. You can learn more about PRT here.
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Partners for Rural Transformation is a coalition of six community-rooted organizations with national reach and more than 250 years of experience in rural development. We are working to build a future where rural America is no longer defined by persistent poverty, but by opportunity so people can live, work, learn, and raise a family in the communities they call home. Our Partnership spans some of the most diverse and underinvested regions in the country – from the Mississippi Delta to Appalachia to Native American Communities, the Deep South, The Rio Grade Valley, and beyond. We share a common history of chronic disinvestment that leads to persistent poverty and impacts health, education, and economic opportunity in the communities we call home. Learn more here.