Inspiring solutions for working families

In a recent COURIER piece, organizers who joined our 2025 Rural Policy Action Summit emphasized the importance of solutions for working families. The summit, hosted by Heartland Fund's Rural Democracy program and partners, included rural and small-town advocates from more than 50 local grassroots groups across the country. Together in Des Moines, Iowa, they shared stories of successful community-driven campaigns that have improved lives.

In Montana, community groups banded together to stop an exorbitant utility rate hike, for example. Meanwhile, in Missouri, organizers secured paid family medical leave to keep workers and their families healthy and safe. Plus, in Wisconsin, residents came together to save a publicly run nursing home from falling into private hands and threatening the quality of care for the older community.

“The backdrop to our meeting is that the current leadership in D.C. is trying to give more lavish tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations and pay for them with devastating cuts to our healthcare and education, breaking contracts with small farmers, giving away public land, and gutting programs that support rural people,” said Heartland Fund Executive Director Sarah Jaynes in the COURIER piece. “We’re convening the Rural Policy Action Summit so rural people can shape the decisions about the places we call home.”