What it takes to save rural America

Small towns: where everybody knows everybody. The place where your kids walk to school, you invite your neighbors over for dinner, and you share a laugh with your friends watching your kids play t-ball. From afar, some romanticize small-town America as the heartland, the sacred backbone of our nation. Others crassly call our neck of the woods fly-over country. Upon closer examination, however, one finds rural America much more complicated than the stereotypes.

Many of us know rural America is getting older, not younger. The median age of  people in rural areas is 43, seven years older than city folk. And with rural areas commonly higher in poverty and losing population, counties like ours are going to need a new generation to step up to the plate. But there’s a problem: Many millennials and their Generation Z counterparts — my peers — don’t want to live in their hometowns.

Some adults may think that the “bright lights, big city” draw kids away from their hometowns, assuming that towns like Iola are doomed for never having the wealth and industry the suburbs and cities have. I don’t agree. Many of my friends and I value many aspects of small-town life. What we can’t stand, however, is to see things decline. If we want Iola and other towns in our county to have a future, we’ve got to fight for it.

Easy enough to say, right? So what can people in small towns do to help their community?

In my opinion, education needs to be a priority. All of our kids need to have the tools they need to realize their dreams. 

We can also teach children that, dare I say, a four-year college degree isn’t necessary to live a fulfilling life. People everywhere need to have the oil in their cars changed, their heaters installed, our wind turbines maintained. It’s time we start appreciating and training our children to do the things that make our society function smoothly. The single-minded focus of pushing triangle students into a square mold cannot continue if we want students of all shapes to want to stay here. Our schools can balance a focus on college with training and vocational pathways for the jobs our post-industrial economy demands. 

And when they have careers, men and women of all ages need to be protected. How do we ensure those of us who stay live long and healthy lives in our hometowns? Health care is also a major concern for rural America.

Let’s look at some facts:

Every day, 130 people die after overdosing from opioids. Rural America’s adults 45 and older die at the rate of 10.8 per 100,000 population, higher than the national average. It’s abundantly clear we have an opioid crisis in America, but what are we doing about it? 

Rural areas also have among the highest cigarette smoking rates in the country and a 18-20 percent higher lung cancer mortality rate than those living in urban areas. Adults who smoke also leads to others — especially kids — being exposed to dangerous secondhand smoke.

Almost 9 percent of Allen County residents cannot afford or are unable to apply for health coverage. How do we expect our workers to keep their businesses and workplaces afloat while they struggle to stand on their own two feet, both financially and physically?

Having nearby opportunities for fitness, along with education and communication about why healthy habits matter will be key to ensuring that youngsters who stay here live healthy lives. Let’s work to provide services to those experiencing addiction. Let’s keep tobacco —and e-cigarettes — out of young people’s hands, and let’s help make it as easy as possible for our community to be physically active. We can all advocate for proper legislation promoting community health and wellness, including Medicaid expansion. And let’s reach out to potential business owners to keep investing in Allen County.

And last, but certainly not least, rural America will have to learn to accept that some things will change. 

I listen to different music than my parents. Young people floss instead of twist. We may work on computers instead of a factory, and we like foods you might have never tried. There’s a momentous shift going on in America, as we see with each generation. 

Rural areas such as Allen County must adapt to new ways of life. The cost of not adapting to change could result in our youth not feeling welcome and thus leaving. And as strange as young people’s music and clothes may be, harsh judgment is something we should all work to avoid. There is plenty in rural America worth fighting for!