How Bridging Makes Allies of Rural Communities

There’s a fuller story about rural communities that includes their complexity, diversity, and overlooked potential.

People who live in rural communities are among the communities the Foundation serves, along with Native Americans, communities of color, immigrants, and refugees. There’s a lot of value and potential in rural communities that goes untapped because funders often don’t understand them.

This includes the term rural, which “can be complex,” says Cheryal Hills, executive director of Region Five Development Commission (R5DC), a Foundation grantee partner in central Minnesota, where plenty of places are defined as rural. For people in rural places, she says, “Identities are rooted in the soil. One size doesn’t fit all.”

Rural communities are diverse and usually include members from all the other communities we serve. They suffer from generations of underinvestment, from large agricultural operations that extract resources, and from a striking amount of invisibility.

The opportunity to build relationships that lead to thriving communities and allies for change is as high in rural communities as anyplace else. And, as in anyplace else, there’s plenty to be gained by moving beyond assumptions and bridging differences.

Part of bridging means filling the void and listening.

Listening demonstrates genuine care for peoples’ concerns, and it’s the first step toward building trust, explains Adrienne Evans, executive director of United Vision for Idaho (UVI), one of the Foundation’s grantee partners committed to community-driven change for rural communities.

There’s a need for genuine connection that’s going unmet because so many outside interests have disinvested in or ignored rural communities for decades. The unmet need creates opportunities for relationship building, but also the possibility for exploitation. This dynamic becomes dangerous when hate groups step in to fill the void with harmful messaging that appears to make sense of their circumstances.

By showing up and offering a shared meal or a listening ear, those with a divisive agenda build a sense of community. And, they’re especially effective when policymakers are often deaf to their concerns.

“Absent an alternative invitation, the pain and struggles rural people face are attributed to people on the other side of the political spectrum and democratic institutions themselves,” Evans says. “When the others do come in, they’re engaged only temporarily and with an obvious political agenda. They’re not listening to what rural people have to say and making them part of the process.”

But there’s a way to change this, and UVI is having success. An investment in listening and engagement can literally turn people’s mindset toward possibility and hope.

Evans and teams of volunteers are going door to door, and smart phone to smart phone, to engage with people in rural areas. One recent campaign resulted in almost 500,000 conversations, most of which revealed a deep desire for connection and to rebuild faith in each other and in institutions.

“It begins with showing people that you’re hearing their problems,” Evans says, “and not responding with magic bullets but building real relationships over time. When they have real conversations with real people, including those different from them, they open up to common solutions to common problems.”

Finding common ground is another essential part of bridging.

Charlie Brown, executive director of the Trust for Civic Life, a nationwide funder collaborative focused on rural communities, says giving people more opportunities to tackle everyday, nonpartisan issues in their communities is a way to build trust and deeper connection.

“When neighbors with different backgrounds come together to solve the problems that they all care about, whether that’s taking care of a sick neighbor, cleaning up graffiti, or saving a small business, they learn they can count on each other and create outcomes that benefit everyone,” he says. “This kind of collaboration not only improves communities, it builds the confidence and skills required for people to take on the deeper issues that divide us.”

Cheryal Hills, from R5DC, knows this firsthand.

“Hearing all voices doesn’t mean you’re compromising your values,” she says, “but that you’re trying to understand where others are coming from.”

The five counties served by R5DC experience divides along race, gender, orientation, and politics—which tend to be conservative. Many immigrants and refugees have arrived in recent decades and work in local businesses or on farms, attend the area schools, and contribute to the economy. But they’ve often felt isolated or resented by residents who’ve lived in the area for a long time.

Hills hit on a shared priority to improve the region’s economy. Without newcomers to staff hospitals or senior care centers, there wouldn’t be treatment for the aging population. Without welcoming workplaces, immigrants and refugees wouldn’t stay. People are seeing their interdependence, finding common ground so that everyone can thrive. This has become a focus for R5DC’s bridging work.

Bridging means listening and learning for change, not giving up your values.

It can be unpopular to bridge difference in a time of polarization, yet it’s essential. Bridging doesn’t call on any of us—especially those who are vulnerable—to put ourselves in harm’s way or to compromise our values. Having a conversation to understand is not the same as agreeing.

Bridging means having the courage to see ourselves and other people more fully and having the openness to challenge assumptions by listening and learning. Which, by the way, is one Foundation’s core values. From there, we can build relationships as allies to move toward common ground and real change that benefits rural communities, and also the other communities we serve.