Hello from OCP's third Rural Progress Summit!

Our first day of panel discussions focused on rural families' health, wealth, and educational opportunities.

When it comes to helping rural Americans stay and work in their hometowns, as Senator Angus King (I-ME) said, "There is no silver bullet, but there is a silver buckshot." Sen. King and Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) joined us to discuss their Paid Family and Medical Leave Tax Credit Extension and Expansion Act, which would create greater certainty for small businesses seeking to provide paid family and medical leave for their employees. Sen. Fischer said her bill will help Americans not only "love your job, but love where you do your job."

Did you know? $22 BILLION in wages are lost every year when workers have to take leave without pay. Molly Western Williamson, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, Hon. Jennifer Williamson, partner at Swift Public Affairs, and Joshua McCabe, director of social policy at the Niskanen Center, provided insight into existing paid family leave policies in the states and why it's costing the U.S. more NOT to have a federal paid family and medical leave framework.

If you couldn't make it, here are some other highlights from Day One of the Summit:

• Childcare is not an extraneous social program – it's just as critical an infrastructure as roads and bridges in helping parents get to work! Our childcare panel discussed policies that create high-quality and affordable programs that take good care of kids, while providing employees a living wage and essential benefits – AND stimulate small businesses' economic growth.
• Teresa Tyson and Dr. Paula Hill-Collins' work with The Health Wagon was featured in the documentary "If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis." Providing critical primary, specialty, dental, and vision care in Southwestern Virginia, they've been working to fill gaps and keep communities healthy.
• Beyond mobile healthcare clinics, our rural healthcare panel explained what challenges rural patients face – and how rural providers can collaborate to get them the care they need.
• Michael Running Wolf and Ian Her Many Horses, co-founders of the Lakota AI Code Camp, shared how their student-centered approach to computer science education is opening tech careers for Native students.

Watch the panels here!

Tomorrow, the conversation continues with Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, who will join Heidi to talk through her Farm Bill Priorities. Plus, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1) and Rob Larew, President of the National Farmers Union will speak to former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy about the future of agriculture.

Register now and join us for an exciting Day Two!

Hope you'll join us tomorrow,

Tessa

Tessa Gould
Executive Director, One Country Project