White House Rural Council seeks counties to combat rural childhood poverty

85% of the country's persistent poverty counties still remain in rural America 

Last year, President Obama directed the White House Rural Council to focus on rural child poverty as a priority. The chair of the council, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, has taken this charge and driven a robust agenda focusing on issues such as telehealth, access to nutrition, and improved services to rural families.

“Federal agencies have been aggressive in using the programs they have to make sure every child has an opportunity to succeed. But the federal government cannot do it alone,” said Secretary Vilsack. “We need to work with the county governments to make sure we are making the most significant impact.”

As a part of this effort, the White House Rural Council partnered with the National Association of Counties to announce the Rural Impact County Challenge (RICC), a call for at least 100 counties by summer 2016 to pledge to create opportunity for kids in rural areas. That’s 100 county leaders committed to ensuring that the future of their community and rural America is bright.

Rural America provides the vast majority of food, energy, and environmental benefits for the rest of the country and is the source of nearly 90 percent of renewable water resources, while serving as home to important service sector and manufacturing hubs.

Despite this role in the nation's economy, 85 percent of the country’s persistent poverty counties still remain in rural America.

The lack of opportunity for rural kids and families is often compounded by other challenges such as distance from health and early learning programs, lack of access to public transportation and higher rates of substance use disorders, among others.

The Rural Impact County Challenge tackles these issues by leveraging and bringing federal agencies, the private sector and philanthropic institutions’ resources together.

Counties can find out more information and to sign up at www.naco.org/RuralImpact.

For specific inquiries or questions, the White House Rural Council can be reached at ruralaffairs@who.eop.gov.