Rural Perspective Column: Leadership

Rural America represents a vast amount of land in the United States that, although varied, reflects similar people facing similar challenges and opportunities. Although definitions may differ among those who might refer to themselves as rural citizens, according to The Rural Aperture Project, there is a common thread in the manner that people choose to govern their lives, make their contributions to America and experience the fullness of nature that creates this rural character.

Leadership becomes an important mechanism to rural America as these communities experience an enormous amount of change related to population demographics and structural adjustments in the areas of education, health care and infrastructure. The grim or exciting nature of these issues depends on one’s perspectives on opportunity and change.

From an economic perspective, rural communities that are close to urban centers generally tend to be much stronger than those rural communities that are farther away from urban community centers. In fact, many remote rural areas continue to face significant population decline, along with community structural resources to maintain a reasonable quality of life for the residing families.

However, as there continues to be population shifts due, in part, to the over-taxations associated with urban centers of America, new and smaller communities are being selected as communities where a better balance can be achieved for many families.

Consequently, according to Elizabeth A. Dobis, Thomas Krumel, John Cromartie, Kelsey L. Thomas (Conley), Austin Sanders and Ruben Ortiz in “Rural America at a Glance,” this creates reasonable community shifts that allow for a greater distribution of resources and allocation of funds to rebuild the infrastructures associated with bridges, roads and highways in consort with educational and health care systems to serve future families throughout rural America.

As the economics of our communities are strained, there is a challenge many citizens grapple with: whether to yield to hopelessness or to continue to have faith beyond the obstacles.

When traveling through certain communities throughout rural America, one might be inclined to think rural America is continuing to experience a slow and painful demise. Interestingly, the prosperity of our great nation reflects a continued ebb and flow of progress and change in a similar fashion, where today’s dilapidating communities will be tomorrow’s source of tourism and attraction. As a native of rural America and a community agent poised to support the families and communities of rural America, I have never lost faith in these communities and the power of positive change rooted in a greater America.

Now more than ever, it becomes paramount that those who are in leadership must commit efforts to regain the trust and faith among rural America’s citizens. In layman terms, those who are in leadership can better serve these communities by committing greater time to engage citizens in their spaces and ensure they feel heard and see actions based on their expressed needs.

In addition, leadership can commit time to better explain how the limited resources are distributed in an equitable manner that benefits all constituent groups of these communities.

Dr. Victor Wilburn is a professor and the chairperson for the Department of Child and Family Studies at Southeast Missouri State University. His emphasis is on improving the economic viability of rural communities and the social-emotional wellbeing of children.