Spring
2006
 Dear
Friend,
The
Carsey
Institute is pleased to send you the first installment
of our Carsey Rural Forum.
This
quarterly newsletter will help us keep you informed about
the ongoing rural work of the Carsey Institute. Part of
the University of New Hampshire, the Carsey Institute is
a policy research center working to develop fresh thinking
about the complex challenges confronting the rural communities
and small cities of America. Many of these communities are
grappling with a range of critical issues that demand new
policy responses. We play an important role in that effort
by bringing together leading scholars in economics, demography,
public health, sociology and other fields to build knowledge
grounded in practice. This knowledge will help generate
thoughtful responses to the challenges facing these rural
communities.
In this issue, you will read about new reports and policy
briefs on demographic trends in rural America and the challenges
facing low-skill rural workers, and we describe Avoiding
the Money Trap, a new video resource from the Annie
E. Casey Foundation. There also is a list of upcoming Carsey
events and a summary of policy briefs we will be releasing
in the next few months.
One
of our goals for this newsletter is to provide you with
helpful resources. Please feel free to download our work
and share it with others. We also welcome your feedback;
send your comments or questions to carsey.institute@unh.edu
In closing,
I look forward to continuing the important work of our team,
and I hope you will look to the Carsey Institute as a valued
source of information about the issues facing rural and
small town America.
Sincerely,
Cynthia 'Mil' Duncan
New
Report on Demographic Trends in Rural and Small Town
America 
New realities are facing rural America, according to a new
report from the Carsey Institute. The demographic makeup
of rural America is changing as some places grow with the
migration of retirees and baby boomers into amenity-rich
areas, while other places lose young people and grow older.
Racial and ethnic diversity, meanwhile, continue to increase.
The report, written by Kenneth Johnson, sociology professor
and demographer at Loyola University-Chicago, is the first
in a series of reports on rural America.
Download
the report
Read the AP story
Back
to contents
Policy
Brief: Low-Skill Workers in Rural America Face Permanent
Job Loss
 A
new policy brief from the Carsey Institute finds that global
competition displaced 1.5 million workers from jobs in rural
America between 1997 and 2003. In response to the problem,
the brief recommends better education and training, as well
as innovative, community-based economic development
approaches to keep small towns and rural areas economically
viable. The report, written by professor of economic geography
at Penn State University and visiting Carsey scholar, Amy
Glasmeier, and associate director of the Carsey Institute,
Priscilla Salant, is the second in a series of policy briefs
on rural America.
Download
the report
Read the press coverage
Back
to contents
Mil
Duncan Participates in Panel on Money Traps in Rural America
Mil Duncan provided an overview of issues affecting low-income
rural families at a policy forum in Washington, DC, hosted
by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The forum included the
premiere of the documentary Avoiding the Money Trap.
The documentary examines money traps such as payday loans,
high-interest car loans, tax refund anticipation loans,
and other predatory financial practices that affect rural
America. Jean Ann Fox from the Consumer Federation of America,
Margy Waller from the Center for Community Change and Alan
Berube from the Brookings Institution also participated
in the panel discussion.
To
order a copy of Avoiding the Money Trap please
download
and fill out this order form.
Back
to contents
- New
Hampshire Public Radio interviewed Mil Duncan about the
Demographics Report >>LISTEN
TO THE INTERVIEW
-
Mil Duncan was interviewed on why poverty persists in
Appalachia and rural America as part of a three-part PBS
Frontline special. The documentary series "Country
Boys" examines the life of two boys growing up in
rural America. Her interview is part of the PBS online
readings to support the film series. >>READ
MIL'S INTERVIEW
- The
Economist reflected on poverty in rural America and Africa.
>>READ
THE STORY
Back
to contents
Spring
Brown Bag Series
The Carsey Institute hosts a monthly seminar series on the
campus of the University of New Hampshire. The next seminar,
Empowering Low-Income and Disenfranchised Groups through
Community Economic Development for Economic Gain and Social
Progress, features speakers Ross Gittell, James R.
Carter Professor of Management and Phillip Thompson, Associate
Professor, Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. The event will take place on Wednesday, May
3 from 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. at the Elliot Alumni Center, room
1925. For more information, please call the Carsey Institute
at 603-862-4650.
Back
to contents
Carsey
Institute to Co-Host a Special Screening and Discussion
on Avoiding the Money Trap at the Tuck Library
in Concord, NH
The Annie E. Casey Foundation documentary, Avoiding
the Money Trap, features two successful New Hampshire
programs that are working to help build family economic
success. A screening and discussion of Avoiding the
Money Trap will be held at the Tuck Library on May
10th from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. If you will be in the Concord
area and would like to attend, please RSVP to susan@avoidingthemoneytrap.com
Back
to contents
Upcoming
Briefs and Reports:
Predatory
Lending Policy Brief Coming in Late Spring
Carsey is working with two nonprofit organizations - the
Housing Assistance Council and Coastal Enterprises of Maine
- to document mortgage-related predatory lending practices
in rural America. The groups are developing a policy brief
that will include an analysis of the most recent Home Mortgage
Disclosure Act data for rural America, as well as a more
in-depth case study of predatory lending and policy options
in Maine.
Report
on Substance Abuse in Rural America
Karen Van Gundy, assistant professor of sociology
at University of New Hampshire, examines data from the National
Survey on Drug Use and Health on alcohol and substance abuse
and dependence in rural America.
Policy
Brief on Child Care for Working Mothers in Rural America
Kristin Smith, family demographer at the Carsey Institute,
looks at the child care arrangements of rural working mothers.
Women in rural areas may have less choice and less money
for child care and relatives often become the caregivers.
Back
to contents
Carsey
Institute, University of New Hampshire
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