Setting a Rural Agenda for Washington State

Join this meeting to learn how the establishment of a Rural Development Council could benefit Washington State.

In Washington State, several federal, state, public, private and philanthropic entities provide community building resources for rural communities. There also exist many high functioning interagency and private/public strategic partnerships formed over the years working in areas such as health care, education, employment, housing, business and other community development efforts. These have provided much benefit to rural communities and continue to do so. However, in Washington State there is not currently a holistic, systemic and sustainable way for efficient sharing of information with the focus of maximizing how resources can be best utilized, based on local priorities and a rural plan.  Local rural communities could potentially benefit from a more holistic way of coming together to form a set of regional priorities for community development activities that could tie into a larger statewide dialogue about rural priorities. 

At this meeting, we will discuss challenges facing rural Washington, and how a Rural Development Council could help:

• Build capacity for local communities
• Coordinate funders to support economic development
• Leverage additional resources and gap funding for rural areas
• Set a state agenda for rural needs and priorities
• Inform public policy beneficial to rural concerns
• Revitalize rural communities and make them sustainable