Brookings, AEI Launch New Bipartisan Commission on Rural Prosperity
The Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute last week formally launched America’s Rural Future, a bipartisan commission to develop “pragmatic, long-term solutions that advance economic opportunity, resilience, and quality of life across rural America.”
The commission will be co-chaired by former Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and former Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. America’s Rural Future will be supported by Tony Pipa, senior fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development, within the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings, and Brent Orrell, senior fellow at AEI.
In a webinar kickoff, Brookings President Cecilia Rouse said the commission will emphasize lifting up potential solutions and strategies that are coming directly from rural leaders and communities. “Washington often makes policy about rural America without first taking the time to include rural voices,” Rouse said.
In a release announcing the commission, AEI President Robert Doar said that “all of us at AEI are pleased to partner with Governor Sununu, Senator Heitkamp, and scholars at Brookings to examine the real condition of America’s rural communities and paths that advance their prosperity.”
Orrell said the commission will look at five key areas:
- Workforce and economy
- Demographics and physical and social connectivity
- Health finance, systems, and outcomes
- Natural resources, climate, and resilience
- Policy and governance
The aim of the commission is “creating the brightest future possible for rural communities,” said Pipa. “The future of rural America is central to the future of our country overall.”
The commission will bring together a politically diverse group of leaders across a range of personal and professional backgrounds, including former elected officials, business executives, investors, philanthropic leaders, practitioners, and community representatives. Over the next two years, members will hold visits and listening sessions across rural America, conduct in-depth policy analysis, and elevate rural voices through public events and narrative storytelling.
The commission will produce a national rural strategy by fall 2027 as well as shorter analyses in the interim.
“We don’t have a Farm Bill and aren’t likely to going forward.” Heitkamp said “And it’s going to create even more stress. What needs to change is we need to do the work of building coalitions around ideas and having leadership that’s willing to advance them and hold firm.”
“The further you get away from the people, local government really deals with policy in a nonpartisan way,” said Sununu. “We really want to get to that localized and state-level discussion and bring those best practices to the surface.”
Pipa said the commission also will try to counter the stereotypes that many Americans hold about rural communities, which he said are too often thought of as economically challenged and lacking in diversity.
Roughly 25% of rural communities are made up of people of color, Pipa said; “the breadth and diversity are exceptional.” He also said that while rural communities represent some of the country’s most economically challenged areas—85% of persistent poverty areas in the nation are rural—some of the most highly economically advantaged areas in the U.S. are also rural.