Smart Start Featured Session: Rural Needs & Strategies
“Rural is not a problem to be solved, it is an opportunity to be unlocked.”
Smart Start Conference attendees heard this important statement from Todd Brantley, vice president of Public Affairs for NC Rural Center, during the conference’s first Featured Session: Rural Needs & Strategies in Early Childhood.
The panel discussion focused on early childhood, equity, ways to influence systematic change for young children, and uplifting voices in rural communities. The panel included Brantley’; Khari Garvin, former executive director of Head Start/Save the Children; Mallory Warner-Richter, a research scientist from Child Trends; and Magda Baligh, executive director of Hailfax-Warren Smart Start. Seth Saeugling, co-founder of the Rural Opportunity Institute moderated the panel.
Ensuring that rural community voices are heard is very important—especially in North Carolina, where 80%of the state’s counties are recognized as rural. To truly ensure each child in North Carolina can thrive, the needs of our rural communities need to be addressed. The Smart Start rural panel did just that, as the panelists explored the strengths, challenges, and opportunities for early childhood within rural communities.
“Rural in North Carolina is not like rural in North Dakota,” Brantley said, noting that we must understand each of North Carolina’s communities at a deeper level. The panel’s discussion highlighted that we must uplift rural voices, understand rural communities, and, as Brantley emphasized, “tap into the next generation of rural leadership.” One way, according to Baligh, Executive Director of Hailfax-Warren Smart Start, is by meeting “people where they are…in an equitable fashion based on strengths and assets” and by focusing on what works organically.
You can watch the entire panel discussion to learn more about the strengths, challenges, and opportunities for early childhood within rural communities. view the panel here.
Additional resources on the challenges facing rural communities can be found here:
- Early Care and Education in Rural Communities– Child Trends
- Rebuilding with Care: Advancing Quality Childcare in Rural Places– Aspen Institute
- Home Visiting Programs Address Rural Health Challenges Head On– Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
- The Reality of Broadband in North Carolina– EdNC
- North Carolina Rural Health Information Hub
