A film debuts in Texas today to help member-owned utility customers learn more about opportunities coming their way from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

"Power to the People: The Story of Rural Electric Cooperatives" is a short, animated feature highlighting what could be transformative for many rural communities.

Philip Fracica, director of programs with Renew Missouri, says money from the "New ERA" clean-energy program will reduce costs for rural Americans while improving grid reliability. To be eligible, he notes applicants had to document how a community would benefit.

"To get access to financing and forgivable funding for clean-energy projects. So, we're wanting to help them with that part of this process, to really help streamline it and make sure that community interests are being valued and considered," he said.

Cooperatives are consumer-owned utilities that purchase electric power at wholesale and deliver it directly to the customer. As nonprofits, they often lack capital to add clean-energy resources to their grid such as wind and solar.

The film, created by the Rural Power Coalition, debuts at the PowerXchange Conference in San Antonio.

Bri Knisley, director of public power campaigns with the environmental group Appalachian Voices, says more than 40 million people in 90% of U.S. counties are served by rural electric cooperatives.

"And they also provide electricity to some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country," Knisley said, "Low-income communities in Appalachia, Black and Brown communities in the Rust Belt, the border lands, tribal lands."

The USDA said it received record demand for the New ERA funding, which it views as a generational opportunity using clean energy to cut consumer costs in low-income communities across the country. Currently, two-thirds of rural electricity comes from fossil fuels.

This month, a North Dakota network of rural hospitals enters its second year of trying to make local operations more efficient, so they can keep the doors open for patients and keep their local communities thriving.

The Rough Rider High-Value Network was announced in October 2023. It is made up of 23 independent, critical access hospitals in smaller towns and cities across the state. Leaders from the facilities share best practices and ways to keep costs lower.

Kylie Nissen, executive director of the North Dakota Rural Health Association, said she is encouraged by the effort, knowing the long-standing struggles hospitals and clinics in these areas have faced.

"It's not only closures that we're concerned about, it's rural community members (who) don't want to see their hospital bought out by a large system, too," Nissen observed. "Because then, the decision-making and the care for their local community just isn't there."

Since it began, the collaborative has secured at least two desirable contracts with commercial health insurers, benefiting all member hospitals. In its August forecast, Becker's Hospital Review reported five North Dakota hospitals were at immediate risk of closing within the next two to three years.

Nissen pointed out the ripple effect of keeping the hospitals independent and running efficiently, while improving patient care, can be felt across an entire community.

"Health care is huge when it comes to economics," Nissen stressed.

She added a healthier population, that does not have to travel as far for appointments or other care needs, results in a stronger workforce. She acknowledged they are still navigating challenges, like reducing maternal care "deserts," noting federal grants are competitive. The state of North Dakota chipped in $3.5 million to help get the Rough Rider Network started.


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Recent Minnesota policy moves are in the national spotlight, with Gov. Tim Walz on the Democratic presidential ticket.

Rural areas within the state are assessing high-profile law changes and program funding.

Minnesota's adoption of free school lunches for all students, has been a major focal point since Gov. Walz became the Democratic nominee for Vice President.

Former Bridgewater Township Supervisor Kathleen Doran-Norton said universal lunches and a new child-tax credit are helping families from smaller towns and cities experiencing poverty.

She said some of the challenges felt statewide do resonate in rural areas.

"All of these," said Doran-Norton, "what we might think of as separate issues, sort of, are interconnected."

But she painted the lack of childcare access as a crisis unfolding in rural communities, and said it hurts employee recruitment for businesses.

Last year, Minnesota set aside $300 million for early childhood initiatives. And a new Paid Family and Medical Leave program starts in 2026.

The Walz administration and Democratic leaders have faced scrutiny for using a significant portion of a record surplus for these investments.

It's unclear just how much these programs and added support will propel Minnesota's small-town landscape.

Doran-Nortan said she's hopeful, but indicates policymakers still have a lot of work to do, including healthcare access.

"We're seeing rural clinics and hospitals close," said Doran-Norton. "I think in Northern Minnesota, [an] area the size of Massachusetts does not have OBGYN care."

During her time as township supervisor, Doran-Nortan said she realized the need for rural areas to make themselves more climate resilient - conveying the importance of bigger agencies helping with things like flood mitigation.

However, Midwestern states like Minnesota are considering carbon capture projects that feature underground pipelines.

These ventures, fueled by federal incentives, are creating conflict in rural areas over public safety and landowner rights issues.




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UPDATE: The event referenced in this story has been postponed due to inclement weather. The story will be updated when a new date and time are announced. (3:57 p.m. MDT, Aug. 7, 2024)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is highlighting its investments in rural America with an event coming up soon in western Virginia.

The gathering will feature local leaders and businesses and discussions of how the federal government has supported them through recent spending packages like the Inflation Reduction Act.

Anthony Flaccavento is a Virginia farmer and the executive director of a group helping to organize the event: the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative. He said a lot of people living in cities might look at rural areas in a negative light.

"The first big goal is to say to the broader media and the country, 'Hey, we're not dead yet. In fact, we're fighting back and having really effective, impactful work,'" Flaccavento pointed out.

The stakeholders at the roundtable are involved in industries like food systems management, agroforestry and affordable housing. Flaccavento acknowledged the federal government has rapidly improved how it connects with and invests in smaller communities in the past few years. Rural counties have grown in population since the pandemic after a decade-long trend of decline.

The event will be open to the public, at The Inn at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, at a date soon to be determined. It will kick off a series of similar gatherings across the country. Flaccavento is especially excited for people to learn about ACME Panel Company in Radford. This is a small business creating stormproof, insulated building materials.

"That's the kind of innovation that's creating local jobs," Flaccavento stressed. "It's also building structures that are perfect for a world experiencing climate change, much more energy efficient, and much more storm resistant. So they're a stellar example."

The federal government has invested billions in trying to spur economic growth in rural America. Flaccavento added grants and programs for broadband, ag innovation and manufacturing have made an especially big impact.


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