In Santa Clara County, California, the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation program is funding an effort to prevent development and bolster agriculture on local farmland. The County, home to Silicon Valley, pur...

A state-funded loan repayment program makes Michigan stand out in a competitive market for doctors and health care professionals. To help reduce the shortfall of healthcare professionals in underserved, rural communit...

Close collaboration between stakeholders in a community allows rural health centers to remain in operation. With the failure of many rural hospitals across the United States, medical providers, nonprofit organizations...

A variety of nonprofit and philanthropic programs have started offering virtual college counseling to students living in rural communities. Through these setups, recent college graduates are often paired with students...

Empowering women to practice sustainable agriculture promotes resilience and enables communities to protect biodiversity. The Kusor Upland Farmer’s Association, sponsored by the United States Agency for International ...

Northern Michigan University has found a way to tap into the Educational Resource Spectrum to secure high speed internet access for off-campus students and nearby underserved communities. To figure out if this little-...

In Wyoming, the state's school funding model recaptures money from affluent districts and reallocates it to districts with fewer resources. This unique and heralded system has allowed Wyoming to keep the doors of its ...

The MAIA Impact School, inspired by New York City's well-known KIPP charter schools, gives scholarships to ambitious indigenous girls in Guatemala with the aim of "propel[ing] them from poverty and isolation into the ...

Innovation is the key to resilience. In Branson, Colorado, the community of only 55 residents and with volunteer town council has taken on the massive task of bringing its water system up to compliance with the Colora...

For the past four years, several rural Colorado school districts have experimented with alternative forms of evaluation that don't rely solely on the results of educational testing. Now, a proposed bill, with wide sup...

In some schools in rural South Korea, grandchildren and grandparents learn side by side. In recent years, a declining birthrate in South Korea has led to empty seats in many elementary schools. Many elder women, who m...

In the North Luangwa National Park in Zambia, a conservation team worked with local communities to bring the rate of elephant poaching in the area down to zero in 2018. Poaching had surged in the Luangwa Valley in 201...

Renewing distressed economies can be done through reinvesting in arts and culture. By building successful partnerships with rural Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) like the Woodlands Community Lende...

Though small towns are often overlooked when it comes to transportation innovation, a company called Koloni brings an affordable bike share system to the small town of Pocahontas, Iowa. The town, with a population of ...

In rural Alabama, where the nearest grocery store can be more than 20 miles, residents are finding that robust community gardens are helping to improve general wellness. Even beyond offering free and healthy meals to ...

In Kentucky, sex education offerings in rural districts is often inconsistent across schools. The “Sexy Sex Ed” workshop aims to provide students with information and resources about consent, safety, and anatomy. “If ...

Uganda has some of the most progressive refugee policies in the world, and as a result it is now home to the second largest refugee camp in the world. Bidibidi houses a quarter million people, many of whom come from t...

When big box stores shutter, communities can suffer: vacant buildings deter investment and sites can encourage vandalism and other crimes. Because demolishing the stores can prove prohibitively expensive, three cities...

A rural town in North Carolina brings community members together to foster a welcoming environment, both for the community itself and for outside visitors. The town, Elkin, created a program that trains engaged locals...

At the Bamboo School in rural eastern Thailand, students have direct control over their learning and complete coursework that emphasizes the importance of leadership and empathy. The hands-on curriculum, which include...