23. Rural Housing and Transportation with Farah Ahmad
Michelle Rathman: Hello and welcome to another Rural Impact Extra episode. I'm Michele Rathman, and as always, thank you so much for carving out some time in your very busy and interesting schedule for another conversation that helps to connect the dots from policy to the rural issues that touch your life daily. Okay, so we've just come off of our road trip to DC, our policy palooza, where I spoke to many in the know on a wide variety of rural health legislative priority matters. This is an ongoing situation, very fluid situation. And a thread that you've heard in the episodes we've brought to you to date over the past nine months or so, is that the quality of our lives, all of our lives, everywhere you look is paved by policy. And that policy includes the subject of rural housing.
And I'm talking about safe, affordable, and equitable housing for starters. So in the next episode, we're going to be kicking off a new series we're calling, appropriately so, Housing and Homelessness in America's Rural Places. Now, of course, today, we know that the topic of homelessness is making its rounds and headlines.
It's become quite a political hot button. But rarely do we hear and see the stories about how this American tragedy ongoing and growing as it is, is impacting families of all kinds in places where the data can be, let's be honest, challenging to collect and the root causes well they run deep too.
But before we move on to that series, I am very excited to share that USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development, Farah Ahmad, who also leads the Rural Partners Network joined me here in the Riverside studio to talk to me about the work of the Rural Partners Network, which is really interesting.
If you want to go look them up, and we're going to talk about it some more, so we'll make sure that we include that into our show notes, but it is an all of government programs that helps rural communities find resources and funding to create jobs, build infrastructure, and support long term economic stability on their own terms.
And specifically, we do get into what the network is doing in the space of rural housing. So as always, my thanks to Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development, Farah Ahmad. Here now is that conversation. So let's go!
Michelle Rathman: Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development, Farah Ahmad. Welcome to the Rural Impact again. It's wonderful to have you here with us today. Thanks for joining us. We're so glad that you came.
Farah Ahmad: Thanks for the invitation. It's always a pleasure to be here.
Michelle Rathman: I appreciate that. You know, we've talked before in our first conversation, we were talking about food security. And this time we invited you back because we love having you here, but we're getting ready to kick off our next few series. One is going to be focused on rural housing and homelessness. And then the other one is going to be focused on rural transportation.
And as I understand it, the Rural Partners Network works in these two areas among many other areas. But before we go there, I think it's important for our listeners to get an overview of the Rural Partners Network, because it's not exactly, water cool conversation. But I think it needs to be, they say those kitchen table conversations. So talk to us about the Rural Partners Network. What is it? How is it serving rural communities? Just give us an overview if you will.
Farah Ahmad: Absolutely. And I am so excited to be able to talk about this incredible effort. So the Rural Partners Network kicked off about two years ago. And it really is the flagship effort of the Biden Administration to support rural communities and to build rural prosperity. And USDA Rural Development is the lead agency in helping make sure that Rural Partners Network is a success.
And the goal of Rural Partners Network is really about meeting rural communities and small towns where they are. We know that each rural community is unique and unlike no other, and has unique challenges and opportunities that come with that. And so we know that it takes a unique approach in working with rural communities, figuring out what their vision is for their community, what their community and economic development needs are, their infrastructure needs, their housing needs. And then it's going to take different strategies. And it's going to take more than one agency, which really leads me to what Rural Partners Network is.
which is.
Michelle Rathman: It's like, I saw on the website, I mean, there are so many agencies involved and it's the coordination of it all must be just really awesome.
Farah Ahmad: So it actually is an alliance of 25 federal agencies working together with 36 communities across 10 states and Puerto Rico. And it's really a testament to the fact that government actually can work together. Our federal agencies can work together in service of one community and in service of their specific needs.
And each community has a different priority. There are some communities that are really focused on bringing renewable energy and lowering energy costs to folks in their town, really lowering those housing energy bills. And there are other communities that are focused on, revitalizing their hospital or tackling maternal health care issues.
And so the federal government through this alliance of 25 federal agencies is working with each community as they identify what their top priorities are. And then we have these incredible folks working in the states. We call them community liaisons, and they're really the secret sauce when it comes to Rural Partners Network and those community liaisons are working in those communities.
They're listening to them, and then they're figuring out, 'Okay. If your priority is revitalizing your hospital, I'm going to go to these 25 federal agencies and help figure out what resources there are across all of those agencies to help make sure that you can have your hospital revitalized and make sure it's a success and that your community gets what it needs.
Michelle Rathman: I have a whole list of hospitals that I would like for you to talk to, but on that note, community networks. Can we define that for just a moment? What does a community, if there is such a thing as a typical community network, who is it comprised of?
Farah Ahmad: I think that's what's so exciting about Rural Partners Network is we tried not to put a ton of parameters around it. I think so often when folks think of federal government, they think there are a lot of rules and you got to fit into certain definitions. We sort of flipped that on its head. Because we know that each rural community is different in how it identifies, whether that's a geographic boundary and who's connected into it.
So, we went out to communities and we said, what is your community? And in some instances, a community said, “Hey, we're actually a couple of counties. That's our community. And we work together and try to work together to leverage our resources because we have similar needs and other places.” They said, “actually, we're a county and a town that's working together.” And so each of the 36 communities is defined a little bit different and they're self-defined and that means they're self-determined and they've created their own structures for collaboration. So it looks a little bit different depending on which community and which state that you're in.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah, I love that because so much technical support or funding opportunities come very, it's very prescriptive. You have to have these boundaries. So I really like to hear that. And, one example that I pulled is that there was an RPN Led partnership in the Mississippi Delta region, and it resulted in good paying jobs because it's not just about providing resources for renewable energy or a community hospital. But a big part of the strategy, I understand, is to help build economic mobility, upward mobility through job creation. So talk to us a little bit about that example, and maybe some others that you might have.
Farah Ahmad: Yeah, so, you know, one thing that's really special about the community networks is it's made up of a really diverse group of folks. So we're talking about, local leaders of local nonprofits, elected officials, philanthropic organizations, state governments and just, citizens. So the community networks themselves have a lot of diversity for who's at the table to make sure that there's a lot of different perspectives being represented.
And that's equally true in the case of Mississippi and the Mississippi Delta region, where we have one of the community networks you mentioned and their focus is really on revitalizing this regional airport. And like I said, that project was really important and identified by that community because they wanted to create economic opportunity and good paying jobs.
And they'd had this idea for quite a long time, but their regional airport that was there didn't meet Department of Defense standards, and so they needed to upgrade their hangar. And in doing so, they, they did an analysis and they thought that it would help increase economic activity, increase access to doing more commerce.
And actually, they've estimated that it'll create 200 jobs in that region, which is nothing small. And when you're talking about a rural community, that's huge. And what's really great about this project is the jobs that it's going to create are good paying jobs. So, in that county, the median income is about $38,000 or so, but the average salary of one of these new jobs that are coming as a result of this regional airport revitalization is going to be closer to $49,000 plus.
And that makes a huge difference. It means that there's more money in the hands of folks in that community, in their households, that they can reinvest in their families, their communities, and their businesses.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah. And the secondary impact spending. I mean, this is what I, this, what excites me. It's the same thing with the hospital. People don't understand. It's not just having the healthcare there or the airport. It's the secondary impact spending that gets, fed back into local businesses, main street and so forth.
Okay. Now let's just shift really quick to housing because. I know you know this. Housing is a significant challenge in many rural remote, frontier, tribal communities, and safe and affordable housing have to go hand in hand. We have challenges with respect to even for businesses to recruit new people because they don't have housing available to them.
So can you talk to us a little bit about how USDA Rural Development and RPN are working to address and fund solutions because of this really weird dynamic that we're seeing right now? I mean, I don't think we've ever seen such a deficit of housing as we do have today.
Farah Ahmad: You're absolutely right Michelle. And you know, I have the honor of traveling around this country and visiting with rural communities, and it is the thing that I most often hear, no matter if I'm in a Rural Partners Network community in Alaska, or one in Kentucky or in Puerto Rico. Affordable housing and housing for the workforce is so critical.
And, we are trying to come up with innovative solutions because we know it's not easy to figure out how to build high quality affordable housing. So one example that I'm really excited to share with you is a pilot that we launched several years ago that we've recently expanded because of the success.
And that is a native CDFI relending pilot. So, at USDA Rural Development, we have a direct loan program for folks looking to access homeownership. So these are home loans, but we knew that we wanted to reach further into tribal communities, and we needed help doing that. We needed a trusted partner.
And so welooked to Native CDFI, actually two in South Dakota back in 2018 and said, 'Hey, maybe we can work together. Maybe you can help be an ambassador for this program, help work with folks on tribal lands who want to get into home ownership, and you can help kind of broker a really good relationship so we can get that much needed home loan into the hands of folks who need it most.'
And so we were really excited and working with the Native CDFIs. They actually did relending for us. And it was wildly successful. And so, just this a few months ago in 2023, we expanded that pilot out of South Dakota and we're now working across many different states through nine different native CDFIs.
In fact, I was in Alaska a few months ago in a Rural Partners Network community in Southeast Alaska. And I got to announce a new award that we made there to a native CDFI called Hayakawa Financial Corporation. And it was really exciting to be there and see the efforts of a pilot that's succeeding and say, Hey, we've got a great proof of concept.
Now we're going to use that innovative solution and expand it to other places as well.
Michelle Rathman: Oh, my gosh, I just see us someday going on the road and you taking us through what those communities look like, kind of the before and after. I would love to. I have two more questions for you.
So just some other examples of rural community successes. Because again, I think it's important in the areas of housing and transportation.
We just closed off our Arriving at Thriving Series and the authors of the book, 100% Community said the number one challenge they see in a community assessment, not a health assessment, but an assessment is transportation challenges. So, what are a few success stories that our listeners can listen to and plant a seed for what might be possible for them to address those particular areas.
Farah Ahmad: Yeah, transportation is such an interesting challenge, and I think people don't always think about it as maybe being one of the primary places where we need to think about investment in rural communities and small towns. One thing that I think brings me a lot of hope in this space is just a real recognition of that.
So I think, there is the agency most folks go to when you think of transportation needs, and that's the Department of Transportation. And, recently through the bipartisan infrastructure law, which was signed into law by President Biden, they actually authorized a group that is dedicated to rural transportation.
And so what we've done with this group, which is, you know, it's, there's an acronym associated with it. It's called. We're it's called ROUTES, which is kind of transportation lingo, which is good, but it stands for Rural Opportunities to Use Transportation for Economic Success. And really, it's a team of folks at Department of Transportation, dedicated to rural communities who have their unique transportation challenges.
And they're working with those communities to think about how they can stack different transportation and transit programs together in a rural community to meet their unique needs. So, for me, that's really heartening because it's a dedicated rural team in the in Department of Transportation, which I think shows a recognition that we do need to have sort of unique offices positioned to help rural communities with challenges that are really different than what you see in urban areas.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah. That's so true. Cause there's not, you're not going to establish mass transit or, you know, like there's readily Lyft or Uber systems, but I really appreciate that. Because if you don't have access to transportation, it's a barrier for healthcare. It's a barrier for working, education, and higher education.
Okay. So the Rural Partners Network, you can go to the website and learn all about it, but how does, I know you're working in a number of states. Not sure about plans to expand that. What are some opportunities that you foresee down the road for other states, other community networks to take advantage of the good work that you're doing there?
Farah Ahmad: Absolutely. So, as I said, right now we're operating in 10 states and Puerto Rico. And you know, we are sort of thinking about, what the future might look like, and if there is a plan for expansion. At the moment, though, what we are trying to do, since we're not expanding today, is make what we're learning accessible to all rural communities.
So our website, we tried to make it easy. It's called rural.gov. Tried to make it simple in the name is a place where we're doing a couple of things that I think are really important to help all rural communities. Even if you're not in a Rural Partners Network area. One is we've created a search tool and we're working on adding more opportunities to it every day.
And really what it is it's an amalgamation of federal grant and loan opportunities that we think are, really well suited for rural economic development. And some of them are even rural specific or rural only. And if there's a rural only program and department of energy or department of transportation, it's going to be on that site.
And that's really important because if it's a rural only program, it means that there's less competition. Right? And it's designed for rural communities to access it. So we've created a search tool on rural.gov and you can go in and say, hey, I have an energy. You can click on energy of an energy need and all the specific opportunities for rural communities around energy will be there.
Or it could be agricultural, health care. You name it. The second thing we were doing on that is, we are putting best practices and case studies on there. You know, in, in my experience, sometimes a rural community needs to see another community that looked just like them was able to access federal resources to bring high speed Internet to their town.
And if someone else like them can do it, then they can do it too. So we're actually telling stories on their website to talk about those best practices, to talk about which resources they used, and what partners they brought in to do it. So those are some things that we're doing today that hopefully benefit all rural communities, even if you're in a Rural Partners Network area or not.
Michelle Rathman: Well, I'm here to attest to our listeners. I've been to the website. It truly is that simple to do the search and the stories are fantastic. I agree. Seeing it is believing it and planting that seed thought, you know, as always Deputy Undersecretary Farah Ahmad, we thank you so much for bringing this information.
I'm just going to say, this is an open invitation. You can come back anytime there's something that we should learn about. that helps us, help our listeners connect the dots between policy and the assistance that comes from policy to improve the quality of life for frontier, rural, and tribal communities.
We really do appreciate your time. You're a very, very busy individual.
Farah Ahmad: Thank you so much, Michelle, and I look forward to coming back again.
Michelle Rathman: Thank you. And to all of you, we hope that you will subscribe to this podcast, share it with others. There's a lot of great stories to be told. There's a lot of bad news out there, but you know, we are really working to make sure that these not so light subjects end up enlightening you some and again, we're going to start a new series focused on housing and homelessness.
And after that transportation, and we've got some great things coming up after that. So lastly, before we sign out, I just want to thank the Rural Impact team. We're small, but mighty. Brea Corsaro, our associate producer, Sarah Staub, she does all of our great graphics, editing, and to Jonah Mancino for his original music.
Until then, take good care of yourselves and we'll see you again on a new episode of the Rural Impact.
