"Rural" Americans number about 60 million people. And it's actually a much more diverse population than you might think. Rural America can be small towns, college towns, exurbs far out from a nearby city, and, of course, anywhere you'd call the "middle of nowhere."

Our job here at One Country Project is to go to bat for rural Americans who don't always get the top priority in Washington, but we make sure our values are heard, understood, and reflected in real world policy.

To do that, we need to meet folks where they are.

Like many other like-minded people like you, we've done some serious thinking since the election. We've been around advocating for rural folks for 6 years now, but we often still don't break through the noise.

So, as part of our commitment to meet folks where they are, have the hard conversations, and get out of our comfort zone, we're moving a large part of our work over to Substack.

Don't worry though – if you prefer hearing from us via email, we'll be right here!

But we believe that moving to Substack will help elevate our work even more and provide a bigger platform to support the research, outreach, and engagement work we're already doing.

As we build out our presence on Substack, here's some of what you can expect from us:

• The Rural Lookahead – a news and analysis column written by one of our board members or upcoming guest authors.

• Our regular "Talkers" newsletter series.

• The Rural Response – a midweek look at news and policy + a new episode of The Hot Dish podcast every other Wednesday.

• Plus, plenty of info on upcoming events, follow-ups to previous stories, and short reads on major takeaways from the week.

We're thrilled to go down this new road, and we'd love to have you along for the ride. Consider joining us on Substack! And if you're already over there, make sure to subscribe.

Join our Substack

Talk again soon,

Heidi

Heidi Heitkamp, Former U.S. Senator for North Dakota
Founder, One Country Project