"The infrastructure of our communities is not just physical; it is also social and economic,” said Caitlin Cain, the new director of Rural LISC. In a wide-ranging conversation, she talks about the impact of COVID-19, the importance of investing in communities of color and the tremendous range of rural innovation that already exists—and needs appropriate capital to grow.
Q: You’ve spent the last 20 years helping lead various local, state and even international economic development efforts. What is it about this field that compels you to keep at it, developing new strategies and seeking new opportunities?
A: I think of economic development as cultivating a passion for people. It’s about strengthening opportunities for economic viability, building resilience and—in everything—driving equity. From my vantage point, there is no better place to pursue that than in rural communities. They represent a milieu of diversity, complexity, beauty and culture.
Why do you think those rural assets and opportunities are sometimes overlooked?
People can be quick to judge what they think “rural” means. They don’t realize how much innovation exists in rural communities all across the country. I have visited rural nanotech facilities and research labs cultivating everything from crawfish to new vaccines. There is so much potential to drive opportunity in emerging sectors, alongside more traditional sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and the arts.
The other thing that we too often overlook is how much of what is distinctive to urban communities is really rooted in the culture of rural areas. For instance, I live in New Orleans, and a lot of the music and food we think of as part of our local culture really comes from rural areas throughout the Mississippi Delta and Gulf Coast. New Orleans would not have its unique sounds and flavors if places like New Iberia, Thibidoux, Beaux Bridge or Ferriday did not have theirs. Our strength as a country is in the complexity and interplay of different geographies, urban and rural, working, jamming, cooking and innovating together.
Earlier this year, LISC announced its Rural Promise to support 20 percent of its community development impact in rural communities. It’s a bold gesture; what do you think it really means?
It’s a fundamental vision and call to action for the country. Efforts like the LISC Rural Promise help to keep a lens focused on rural so that we can catalyze opportunity for rural communities. We have to recognize that there is no thriving “urban” without an equally healthy “rural.” Rural is fundamental to the nation’s GDP (not to mention our cultural identity). Rural is multi-faceted and highly diverse and the needs are equally complex, encompassing everything from international trade to community-based development. My hope is that the Rural Promise amplifies the message of rural opportunity and encourages funders and impact investors to envision and adopt a rural investment strategy. And we are here to help do just that!
How does COVID-19 change the outlook for rural communities, or your plans for connecting with local partners to spur growth
COVID…it’s just a different world right now and we would be remiss to pass it off as anything but. It requires us to pivot and look at new opportunities, especially when it comes to disparities in resources. COVID entered, and we immediately became a largely online society—schools, telemedicine, nearly everything had an online component. But, that’s doesn’t work in communities without reliable broadband infrastructure, online tools, and internet aptitude. So, the most important thing we can do to ensure the viability of rural economies is to invest in digital access. It is not an option; it is a necessity. The next-generation workforce will need to compete in a highly integrated global world. They can’t do that without access to technology.
What other infrastructure concerns are on your radar?
The infrastructure of our communities is not just physical; it is also social and economic. One of our biggest infrastructure challenges is to invest more in our workforce, especially in the people behind the jobs. We simply need more creative workforce solutions. That means investing in an ecosystem that connects workers to emerging fields, but also recognizes what it takes for individuals to be able to take advantage of those opportunities. For instance, we just celebrated the grand opening of a new Financial Opportunity Center (FOC) in Lufkin, Texas, operated by Partner Legacy Institute for Financial Education (LIFE) and funded by the T.L.L. Temple Foundation. The center not only provides financial coaching and employment training, but offers wrap around services like childcare, healthcare, and transportation, so an individual can succeed in both life and in work.
FOCs are part of our ongoing efforts to help local organizations prepare people for work in emerging sectors that are directly related to their geographies. So, in some rural communities, this may translate to providing training in digital media or coastal/water management and technology. While in other communities the need may be for training in more established sectors like health care, logistics and manufacturing. Identifying career pathways and aligning people with resources and employers with talent is not a perfect process, and it does require constant calibration and innovation. But this type of investment also sows greater opportunity and more sustainable growth.
Rural LISC has been investing in small towns, agricultural communities and coal country since 1995. How do you connect the work that has already been done to what is needed now?
We have established an incredible foundation of partnership over the last 25 years. However, we are now experiencing a demographic shift in rural communities, characterized by younger families and immigrants. Given this, Rural LISC and our partners are working to expand our reach, addressing a range of challenges related to housing, policy, workforce, infrastructure, access to capital and climate change. As we look toward the future, we need to continue to support our partnership network while fostering new collaborations and creative investment that can drive innovative and future-oriented solutions.
Take disaster assistance as an example – always top of mind as I live in an area where we lose an exorbitant amount of land mass daily. Whether we are talking about man-made, natural, or even economic disasters, we have to be creative about how we plan for future crises in order to help communities pivot and become more resilient. Because of this, our programs, focus areas and corresponding resources are intentional and purposefully dynamic, so that we can address immediate issues (like housing) while simultaneously helping communities imagine and plan for the future.
The last few months have highlighted the country’s ongoing struggle with racial discrimination and the deep divisions that remain. How does that inform your work in rural communities?
I want to be very clear here: communities of color are a focal point of our work. Because LISC serves the dual role of being both an investor and key connector of individuals and organizations, we can help break down silos and stregthen relationships—from Appalachia to the Midwest to rural Arizona and the Mississippi Delta.
The Rural Promise will build on 25 years of LISC's investment in and partnership-building with rural people and places.
What’s really exciting is that we are now seeing an acceleration of resources being invested in communities of color. For LISC, this includes new commitments from corporations like Lowes’ and Truist Bank, both of which are targeting COVID-19 funding to rural communities, with a clear intention to support minority-owned and led businesses. These kinds of targeted investments can be life-altering for individuals and communities.
Rural LISC is also starting new initiatives, like the ROAD Sessions, virtual discussions focused o elevating stories of rural communities of color conducted in partnership with the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group, the Housing Assistance Council and the Rural Community Assistance Partnership. I think we have arrived at a time where organizations want to be more intentional about work on racial equity, acknowledging a need and desire for a new path forward.
Why did you choose to do this work, in this moment, with Rural LISC?
LISC is one of those organizations that really gets it, that understands strong communities come from investing in people, place, and resilient local economies. When I had the chance to be part of that national scope, and to really hone in on rural communities, I jumped at it. It’s clear to me that an investment in Rural LISC is an opportunity to impact communities in ways that are locally derived and game-changing, and I am excited to be a part of it.