Small-town Nebraska has a poverty problem. Three Nebraska towns have three solutions.
“Since the 1960s, census data has shown higher rates of poverty in non-metro regions of the country. Twenty Nebraska counties had a child poverty rate higher than the national average in 2020. All 20 counties have populations under 40,000, according to U.S. census data collected by The University of Omaha’s Center for Public Affairs research. Now, in some smaller Nebraska towns, local community leaders are fighting back, determined to shrink poverty in their hometowns. Since 2016, three separate initiatives in three different spots – Hastings, Nebraska City and Red Cloud – have tried to tackle the issue in different ways.”