Many rural communities have seen farmland eroded by encroaching development or are losing young residents to places with more amenities and greater opportunities. Smart Growth America’s Rural Development Technical Assistance is designed to work with rural communities and better utilize rural development policies and programs to address these challenges.

Working with rural communities, we focus on saving communities money and achieving better outcomes through the implementation of smart growth approaches. By applying our economic and fiscal health tools to rural settings, participants will:

• receive a better understanding of how federal, state, and local rural development policies and programs impact community facilities, multifamily housing, and single-family housing, and the role these policies play in supporting stronger economic and fiscal footing;
• become empowered to rethink and redevelop their economic, fiscal, and housing strategies;
• develop successful concepts and tools that rural communities and rural development programs can use to assess and understand the fiscal impacts of specific development and housing opportunities, and;
• receive direct, hands-on technical assistance, speeding the dissemination and implementation of best practices in rural development.

If you believe like we do — that smart growth strategies can help small towns build durable local economies, reduce public costs, and preserve the features that make them unique — contact us today to strengthen your rural community.