Building Assets: Strengthening Community in Low-Wealth Rural Areas

Learning Communities offer a meaningful opportunity for practitioners to come together to better understand practices, contexts and trends related to their work. When it comes to advancing work in rural areas facing persistent poverty, opportunities for peer exchange can be critical to identifying and understanding new and innovative models to help address these unique conditions and find ways to bring isolated assets together in order to strengthen and revitalize these communities.

This report shares the journey of a cohort of five NeighborWorks organizations that participated in a six-month Learning Community focused on strengthening community in low-wealth rural areas. The report details the cohort's approach, consulted resources and final recommendations.

The topic was selected as a priority by the network in consideration of NeighborWorks' strategic commitment to the least advantaged rural communities; the selection was also informed by recommendations presented by the Persistent Poverty Working Group in a white paper released by NeighborWorks in 2017.