Listening Sessions Initiative (2021-2023): Rural Community, Economic, and Workforce Development

Identifying Needs and Opportunities in Rural Recovery

Completed in February 2023, this initiative gathered input from rural development stakeholders to identify the most pressing needs and greatest opportunities for rural communities and small towns across the United States as they recovered from multiple chronic challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Regional Rural Development Centers embarked on a process to collect this feedback through a year-long initiative, and shared their findings with USDA NIFA and other federal partners as stakeholder feedback.

The first step in this process was a survey through which key rural development implementers and other stakeholders could provide baseline feedback. These findings can be explored using an interactive data tool.

During the second phase, which took place in 2022, the RRDCs hosted a series of facilitated listening sessions with invited stakeholders aimed at diving deeper into survey findings and identifying long-range strategies on key priorities. Each of the four RRDCs hosted one regionally focused listening session and one of national scope focused on a specific topic area (Broadband and the Digital Divide; Community Planning and Engagement; Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and, Workforce Development). 

The team produced a comprehensive summary of the listening sessions in February 2023. To request a copy of this 53-page report, please email the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development at nercrd@psu.edu. 

The team also wrote an article about their experience adapting traditional community-engaged research approaches for an entirely virtual setting. It was published in Community Development, a peer-reviewed journal of the Community Development Society.