Announcing season three of Reimagine Rural podcast

Season three of Reimagine Rural podcast launches soon with new episodes. Once again, host Tony Pipa is visiting small towns from coast to coast, talking to local people, capturing their stories of the changes unfolding in their hometowns, and exploring the implications and intersections with public policy.

From disaster recovery in North Carolina to downtown revitalization in Kentucky to cleaner and cheaper energy in Minnesota, plus healthcare, data centers, immigration, and a whole lot more across the country, Tony is telling a whole new set of stories from rural America on how local places are organizing themselves to meet challenges and find ways to help their communities thrive.

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 KIM EFFLER (Old Fort NC):  There is something that is beautiful about Appalachian spirit, and grit and people that live here and that have called this place home for generations.

[music]

 BAILEY RICHARDS (Hazard KY): So I want this to be a place that if people do leave because they find their home, wherever that is, that we are equally attracting new people to move here. We’re not just trying to retain the people that we have. We want this to be a place that’s welcoming and inviting enough that the people like me feel like they can move here and have a life and have opportunities and want to move here too.

ZEB SMATHERS (Canton NC):  We don’t want the story of Canton and Haywood County in Western North Carolina to be one of pity or sorrow. We want it to be one of resiliency and hope and grit, but again, also grace. If we can do that even in a small way, maybe these folks are part of something that’s much bigger than just a hurricane. Maybe we can make, we can leave a mark, whether it be hurricane response or just how we treat each other. Let that be our legacy.

TONY PIPA: Hi, I’m Tony Pipa, senior fellow in the Center for Sustainable Development at the Brookings Institution. And this is season three of Reimagine Rural. I’m once again visiting small towns from coast to coast, where I talk to local people, capture their stories of the changes unfolding in their hometowns, and explore the implications and intersections with public policy.

From disaster recovery in North Carolina to downtown revitalization in Kentucky to cleaner and cheaper energy in Minnesota. Plus healthcare, data centers, immigration, and a whole lot more across the country, I’ll be telling a whole new set of stories from rural America on how local places are organizing themselves to meet challenges and find ways to help their communities thrive.

The first new episodes will drop soon. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app or visit us at Brookings dot edu slash Reimagine Rural.