NACo, White House Rural Council spotlight childhood poverty in ‘Rural Impact County Challenge’ initiative

The White House Rural Council has launched the Rural Impact County Challenge in coordination with #NACoLeg

Recognizing the pivotal role counties play to positively impact the lives of the American people, the White House Rural Council has launched a new initiative, the Rural Impact County Challenge, in coordination with NACo and its 2016 Legislative Conference.

The initiative is designed to identify and highlight innovative and successful efforts to combat rural childhood poverty. At least 85 percent of America’s persistent poverty counties are located in rural areas. This new initiative will help advance counties’ efforts to alleviate rural poverty, particularly among families and children, by promoting local-state-federal partnerships and addressing the wide range of challenges facing rural communities.

Learn more about the county challenge.

• Rural Impact County Challenge

The Rural Impact County Challenge consists of two major components: a call to action for counties and a national convening of County Challenge participants and administration leaders, and other partners.

The call to action asks counties to develop an actionable plan to achieve local and state-level results. As part of the call to action, each participating county should pass a resolution expressing its commitment to work with local, state and federal entities to develop a plan with measurable outcomes to improve several areas of service — including early childhood education, nutrition, workforce development, and health and human services.

These partners will also work together to implement evidence-based strategies to advance the plan, create a process to track progress and use the resulting data to report on successes.

The national conference of County Challenge participants, hosted by NACo and the White House Rural Council, will take place this summer to highlight progress and innovation in advancing county-led plans. This will give participants an opportunity to measure their progress, and identify and share best practices from counties across the country.

County Challenge participants, in addition to being recognized as leaders in the fight against rural poverty, will receive a weekly newsletter containing rural-focused research and information about state and federal funding opportunities. Participants will also be invited to participate in monthly webinars with senior Administration officials and other county participants, and will benefit from the opportunity to learn from peers about challenges and best practices.

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For more information on the initiative or how your county can get involved, please contact Arthur Scott, associate legislative director, at ascott@naco.org or 202.942.4230.