Summit underscores importance of public investment

Public News Service covers the third Rural Policy Action Summit, hosted by Heartland Fund's Rural Democracy program and our partners earlier this spring. In syndicated stories that reached over 200 local outlets nationwide, PNS highlights the need for lawmakers to protect public education, small businesses, and working families.

Melissa Cropper, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, one of over 50 local organizers who attended the summit, said in one piece that the effects of disinvestment hit rural communities even harder than other areas. Losing just one school or hospital, Cropper explained, can have dramatic consequences.

That's why Cropper and rural advocates came together at the Iowa summit to envision a policy future that champions people-powered solutions for working families.