It’s clear that rural America holds an essential role in moving our country forward and deciding who controls the agenda in Washington, D.C., yet rural America is often left out of important policy decisions. The Rural Progress Summit brought together rural stakeholders from across the country to ensure future policy considerations address the challenges rural communities face. Along with discussions of important rural priorities, we’ll also highlight the vital role rural areas play in shaping the nation’s energy, economic, and agricultural future.

 The One Country Rural Progress Summit provided a forum to develop a consensus on the future of rural America and its position as a key player in our nation’s political and economic landscape.

Day 1

PROVIDING THE BEST HEALTHCARE FOR RURAL AMERICA

Aidan O’Connor, Critical Care Flight Paramedic in New York, discusses how to deliver better healthcare for rural communities

Governor John Kitzhaber with MODUM Health discusses value-based healthcare in Oregon

Sean Robbins, VP of External Affairs for Blue Cross Blue Shield

Dr. Richard Powers, psychiatrist and neuropathologist

Moderated by Representative Anthony Daniels

DAY ONE KEYNOTE SPEAKER – SISTER SIMONE CAMPBELL

Sister Simone Campbell

Sister Simone Campbell (a Roman Catholic Sister of Social Service) is a religious leader, attorney, and author with extensive experience in public policy and advocacy for systemic change. For almost 17 years she was the executive director of NETWORK, Lobby for Catholic Social Justice and leader of Nuns on the Bus. In 2010, she wrote the “nuns’ letter” that was seminal in the passage of the Affordable Care Act. She has twice spoken at the Democratic National Conventions, appeared on numerous television and radio programs and received many awards including a “Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award” and the “Defender of Democracy Award” from the Parliamentarians for Global Action. Prior to her work in Washington, this native Californian did interfaith state-based advocacy in Sacramento and for 18 years was the founder and lead attorney at the Community Law Center in Oakland to serve the family law and probate needs of working poor families in Alameda County.  Her two books, A Nun on the Bus (2014) and Hunger for Hope (2020), are award winning reflections on the substance of her life and the call to faithful justice seeking.

THE FUTURE OF WORK IN RURAL AMERICA

Neela Mollgaard, Executive Director of Launch Minnesota

Dr. Mittie Cannon, founder of Power Up discusses workforce training in rural communities

Gabe Horwitz, Third Way

Shelly Steward, Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative

Matt Dune, Center on Rural Innovation

Moderated by Sen. Heidi Heitkamp

Day 2

RECONNECTING WITH RURAL VOTERS

David Axelrod, founding director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and former senior advisor to President Barack Obama

Mitch Landrieu, former mayor of New Orleans and Senior Advisor for Coordinating Infrastructure Implemention

Heidi Heitkamp, co-founder of One Country

Moderated by Representative Ashton Clemmons

THE COMMON RURAL/URBAN POLICY AGENDA

Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of Rural Telecom

Colleen Fisher, CEO of Council for Affordable and Rural Housing

Julie Bomar, Executive Director of Wisconsin Farmers Union

Moderated by Representative Ashton Clemmons

DAY TWO KEYNOTE SPEAKER WHITNEY KIMBALL COE

Whitney Kimball Coe is a vice president and Director of National Programs for the Center for Rural Strategies. Kimball Coe directs the work of the National Rural Assembly, a program that brings together rural leaders and advocates from every region with national public- interest organizations, funders, and policymakers in ways that inform public policy and private investment in rural people and places.  In 2017, she was a featured speaker at the inaugural summit of the Obama Foundation and a guest on the radio program On Being with Krista Tippett. Her focus on building civic courage in communities is directly tied to a practice of participation in her hometown of Athens, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband Matt and daughters, Lucy and Susannah. Coe has a MA in Appalachian studies from Appalachian State University in North Carolina and an undergraduate degree in religion and philosophy from Queens University of Charlotte. Follow on Twitter @ruralassembly & @whitneykcoe Find her on Instagram @whitneykcoe & @rural_assembly

THE CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS OF RURAL AMERICA w/ HANNA LOVE

Hanna Love is a Research Associate with The Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Center for Transformative Placemaking at the Brookings Institute Metropolitan Policy Program.

ORGANIZING IN RURAL AMERICA

Adam Zabner and Danny Vesecky, UChicago students, discuss original research by OCP on best practices for rural organizing and voter persuasion

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND

Sen. Heitkamp and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand discuss the impact of paid family leave in rural America.

Day 3

COMBATTING DISINFORMATION IN RURAL AMERICA

Tim Luecke, author of Why Trump?

Laura Quinn, president of Catalist

Art Cullen, Pulitzer Prize winning editor of The Storm Lake Times,

Tyler Axness, North Dakota radio talk show host and publisher of NDXplains

Phil Snape, co-founder of Impact Social

2020 RURAL CANDIDATES PANEL DISCUSSION

Jon Hoadley, former candidate for Congress in Michigan

Christina Hale, former candidate for Congress in Iowa

JD Scholten, former candidate for Congress in Iowa

Moderated by Kael Weston, former candidate for Congress in Utah

DAVID DALEY DISCUSSES GERRYMANDERING AND REDISTRICTING

David Daley, is a senior fellow for FairVote and the author of Ratf**ked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy, which helped spark the recent drive to reform gerrymandering. Dave’s second book, Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy, chronicles the victories and defeats in state efforts to reform elections and uphold voting rights. A frequent lecturer and media source about gerrymandering, he is the former editor-in-chief of Salon.com, and the former CEO and publisher of the Connecticut News Project. He is a digital media fellow at the Wilson Center for the Humanities and the Grady School of Journalism at the University of Georgia. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Guardian, New York magazine, the Atlantic, the Boston Globe, Rolling Stone, Details, and he’s been on CNN and NPR. When writing for the Hartford Courant, he helped identify Mark Felt as the “Deep Throat” source for Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.   

SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE UPDATE

Mikayla Brody is the Staff Director for the Senate Agriculture Committee

RURAL HORIZONS POLLING UPDATE

One Country Presents Original Polling and Social Insight Analysis by Doug Usher