All I can think while I read about the new Rural Impact initiative is that broadband is the solution. Broadband is a new avenue for delivering services. It’s a means to media that reach younger generations. (Do you have teenagers? Do they watch TV? Mine don’t they watch their devices!) It’s a way that people can take classes from anywhere! And it opens the door to/for remote workers!
Rural Impact is a new effort from the White House Rural Council to address the challenge of rural child poverty by bringing together federal agencies and public and private resources. Rural Impact focuses primarily on a multi-generational approach to how public and private resources are invested in rural families and communities. With support from the President, Cabinet officials, universities, foundations, non-profits and community groups, Rural Impact will focus primarily on three major areas:
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Innovation: Developing new approaches of program delivery, including integrated services and remote health and learning technology, to address rural challenges and barriers;
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Awareness: Enhancing public awareness of rural child poverty and its impact on the future of rural communities and our nation’s global competitiveness; and
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Investment: Improving access to high-quality child care, early learning, and continuing education, and making work pay.
Reading though the White House initiatives some are more clearly linked to broadband than others (see opportunity below) but it seems like broadband could be part of the solution for a lot of the goals…
Piloting telehealth and distance learning technology to connect rural children with health services. Rural children living in poverty face a range of health and human service needs and often lack direct access to quality clinical and social, human, child development and family support services. HHS’ Office of Rural Health Policy will award up to three pilot grants for a total annual investment of $945,000 in FY2015 (and $2.8 million over three years) to test new ways to use telehealth and distance learning technology to link rural children living in poverty with specialized health and human service that may not be available locally.