Rural America Needs Local Champions

“Rural America is a national treasurer, and if lost, it will be very difficult to attain again.” That statement was made by W.K. Kellogg Foundation Vice President for Programs, Rick Foster, during a November 9, 2005, University of Nebraska Public Policy Center Thomas C. Sorensen Forum for Political Leadership teleconference.

That teleconference was broadcast to 14 sites across Nebraska on the NebSat satellite network. Joining Foster on the seminar program were Ray Aguilar, the Nebraska State Senator for District 35; Doug Kristensen, Chancellor of the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Nebraska, and former Speaker of the Unicameral; and Sandy Scofield, Director of the Nebraska Rural Initiative at the University of Nebraska. The North Platte Telegraph (http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15583107&BRD=377&PAG=461&dept_id=531813&rfi=6) reported Foster as saying during the seminar that rural America needs “local champions to make rural issues heard.”

The new Kellogg Foundation FSRD initiative, “Rural People, Rural Policy,” is designed to enable rural voices to create a distinct vision that matches rural America’s diversity for the present and future generations. For more information on the policy seminar series visit http://ppc.nebraska.edu/PolicySeminarSeries/index.htm or call (402) 472-2634. For more information on the new “Rural People, Rural Policy” initiative visit http://www.wkkf.org/Programming/Overview.aspx?CID=274.