Episode 69. Finding Common Ground in Community Engagement with Meredith Dean
Michelle Rathman: Hello, one and all, and welcome back to a brand-new episode of The Rural Impact. I'm Michelle Rathman, and we are grateful that you are joining us for another conversation that works hard to connect those dots between policy and rural everything. Now, as I was preparing for recording this opening message, I was also thinking about today's topic and guest, and I reflected on where I was a year ago today.
And that was just over 10 days before the 2024 presidential election. And I had just finished recording a conversation with a high-level HUD official, and we were talking about policy and investments in affordable rural housing. And at that same time, I was also having quite a few conversations, really kind of “what if” scenario conversations focused on the future of public health.
For example, the plight of America's rural hospitals, contemplating what it might look like depending on the outcome of the election. Maybe you can relate, maybe not. But there are days where I feel like I have aged about a decade, because we have been bearing witness to in many scenarios, the worst-case scenario unfolding daily, and that goes from defunding many of our rural safety net programs, cuts to Medicaid as a result of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. We know that there's been elimination of protections for many rural programs, including public radio and Head Start and nutrition programs, housing assistance, broadband, and a very real and disturbing and potentially really dangerous probability unfolding right now.
And, it's not from my opinion. These are from the words of Land O'Lakes, CEO Beth Ford, when she said last week, a Black Swan event is before us. And of course, a Black Swan event is referred to as a highly improbable and unforeseen event that carries significant impact. Ford raised this concern citing the growing labor shortage among American farmers and cautioning that tighter immigration policies could lead to significant disruptions in US food supply.
In her words, Ford said about farmers. 'These folks are oftentimes trying to get American labor but are struggling to do so.' Also stating, 'they absolutely need labor and if they don't have it, that's yet another element, and it could be a black swan event for a farmer if they don't have somebody who can help them be on the farm.'
So, we are watching these events. We are going to be bringing you an episode focused on America's farmers in the coming days and so be on the lookout for that. Again, if you're new to the podcast as a reminder to all, we do really focus on connecting the dots between policy, quality of life, and with that, having meaningful conversations with those who can shed light, unpack these issues, and bring us really important ideas and strategies for how we can advocate for better rural policy.
Okay. And so while what I've just shared with you kind of depressing, a partial list of things that I worry about daily, I'm also reflective of what happened over this past weekend on Saturday, October 18th. Well, I, along with a very dear friend of mine, sat in the Norfolk, Virginia Airport waiting for a flight that was seven hours severely delayed. But as I was kind of watching on my phone and watching on the screens, I saw millions upon millions of Americans and thousands of small towns and big cities gathering for a common cause in peace and in unison, they came together as one community, put a dot on that word, one community to raise their voices in support of protecting our sacred democratic system and strongly advocating for a return to policies that protect freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, whatever that looks like or means to you.
So, in today's episode of The Rural Impact, we're focusing on the theme of community and how finding common ground through community engagement is making a significant impact in rural places across the United States. So, for this conversation, we reached out to someone who knows an awful lot about community organizing.
Her name is Meredith Dean and she is the Director of Community Works at the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative. Now, in a nutshell, the mission of Community Works is to build trust and relationships across political differences by working together to address local needs. And I have had the privilege of watching this unfolding in many communities across the country this year. And so, for that, I am extremely grateful.
I spoke with Meredith just before a few days before yesterday's very first Nationwide Community Works event. It's a community works summit, I should say. And I am so eager now to have you hear my conversation after you tune out that background noise 'cause it's gonna be there for you, waiting on the other side. Get yourself in a solutions frame of mind to think about ways that you can help bring your own community together. And listen to my conversation with Meredith Dean, Director of Community Works. I know you're ready. I sure am. So let's go.
Michelle Rathman: Meredith Dean, National Director of Community Works at the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative. I mean it when I say welcome to the Rural Impact. I'm so glad you finally could join us here today. Welcome.
Meredith Dean: Thank you. I'm very excited to be here and very much an admirer of the work that you're doing through this podcast and rural impact in general.
Michelle Rathman: Oh my gosh, I really appreciate that. And some, a lot of days we feel like we're swimming upstream, but we do hear feedback that what we try to do here is connect the dots between policy and quality of life. We're gonna talk about the quality-of-life things today, but first, Meredith, I want to start off by just kind of big picture of where we're at because there are a lot of major policy shifts that are impacting real people and rural communities across this country. And I wanna say that we are recording today on October 9th, and so by the time you hear this, of course, there'll be policy shifts one way or the other. But you know, just some high-level things.
I am a news junkie always, you know, look following what's happening in national policy. And as of yesterday, as I understand it, President Trump said that he's preparing to bail out, prepare a bailout package of at least $10 billion that could provide relief to farmers facing the financial pain of his tariffs on China, for example.
And I read something during an interview that aired on PBS, an Ohio farmer, and there were plenty of farmers who participated, his name is Chris Gibbs, talked about the issue, and our farmers are so deeply important to our rural communities, and he said this. "I think what folks need to realize is how much of our soybean crop gets shipped overseas and is purchased by foreign buyers. That's about 50% out of that portion. Half of that gets sold historically to China, and China this year has purchased zero amount of our soybeans, which is unprecedented. And I wanna go on, he went on to say certainly kind of bailout will help agriculture. It'll help farmers. It'll relieve what we are currently in, which is a major cash flow and working capital crisis.
But that's not what farmers want. Farmers and ranchers, men and women that work in agriculture, these are independent folks, and they're not interested in bailouts. They're interested in our markets." And Mr. Gibbs, as I said, was one of many farmers who participated, even though they're, they're feeling the pain of the financial pieces, the immigration pieces.
I bring this all up to say, because major policy shifts are making headlines, but what's not being talked about, and we talk about the big headlines is how communities are working together on the ground to improve their conditions and their own quality of life. Because life after all must continue no matter what's happening on the federal or state policy front.
And that's why you are here. You are a head of an arm of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative that focuses quite on simply Community Works. So, Meredith, for people who are not familiar with you and your work, you have the floor. I want our listeners to understand the impact that you're making.
Meredith Dean: Thank you. Well, it was really interesting that you brought up that particular issue and the farmers speaking to that because I think it illustrates part of what we're trying to do with Community Works. If you, when I've seen things like that posted on social media, if you scroll down, a lot of the comments are around, well, this is what they voted for, this is what they deserve.
You know, just so negative. And that, of course, is very much the case in our local communities because our politics have gotten so nationalized that it's become harder and harder for people to talk to each other. So, just from my background, part of what attracted me to the Community Works approach, which is very much boots on the ground, working side by side with neighbors to address concrete local needs.
I had; I live in a place where my family goes back seven generations. I actually did not grow up here. I grew up outside of Atlanta, and then I chose to move here as a young adult and then have lived here for 40-something years. And in that time, I've done a lot of organizing in Appalachian communities, where in the Appalachian region, around issues of poverty, issues of race, and racism.
Issues of domestic violence and just the general disempowerment of women in these communities, our communities. But I've also, my son grew up here, born and raised here, right? And so, I've spent a lot of time just sitting on hard benches, watching basketball games with, you know, watching my son play basketball with my neighbors, all of whom are conservative, all of whom, you know, most likely voted Republican. We never really talked about that. Right? And, and it was okay. And we were working together on these common needs. Because I also helped to found a local nonprofit working on health and wellness for kids in our local schools.
So, we were always able to come together around those those issues and just the, you know, watching our kids play ball until 2016. And I kind of call that the great estrangement of 2016 because suddenly, woo. You know, I was angry. And I wasn't willing to just sit there side by side anymore with people who I, who I, who I knew had, had voted differently from me.
And of course, that only got worse in 2024. And so that's what Community Works is trying to address, is it's addressing that sort of break of trust and break in our communities where, we are no, we're no longer able to just, talk much less work together on common things that are gonna help our local communities.
'Cause we're getting so caught up and a lot of this is 'cause of social media of course, but, you know, so caught up in the, what’s happening in Washington, and the partisan battles going on. And, um. Yeah. So anyway, I think that Community Works is trying to restore trust, just person to person.
I'm gonna stop there and...let.
Michelle Rathman: You were, everything you say, I'm nodding my head. You know, for those of you who are not watching us on YouTube, I'm nodding, nodding my head. 'Cause I've had so many of these conversations where you are you, you know, if you, you could actually put a pin in it when it first started, but I am of the belief that even though it surfaced in 2016, all of this was it was seething. We know I could point to the resources, a whole file full of clippings that I've taken over the years to kind of build that timeline. And I think you bring up the most important word, which is the T word, which is trust.
I mean, we've lived next to our neighbors for all this time, and you needed to borrow sugar or milk, and look at each other as a reliable source for if you needed assistance, and now, you know, through the lens of suspicion. And we had an episode that we just dropped not too long ago with Brooks Williams, who's a city manager in Ferris, Texas. And he wrote a book called Performative Outrage. And I think that can kind of get in the way of the important work that needs to be done on the ground.
So, let's talk a little bit about the framework because it's easy to say in words, maybe not so much in deeds, that can't we all just come together and find the common good? So, I mean, there's a framework for it. This is not without a thoughtful process for how to bring people together who have different views politically. Talk to us about that.
Meredith Dean: So, one of the things again that attracted me to this work is that when 2016 came around, and I actually, as so many people did, I realized, wow, I can't ignore electoral politics. I'm gonna have to get involved on that level as well. And I start, I became the field director of our congressional campaign here, Ruby Red.
I live in the reddest county in Virginia. Like historically, we never voted Democrat even for Kennedy or FDR. So, got involved with that and became a field director and we did everything right. We, you know, we did all the traditional electoral activities and the way that we were supposed to do, we did a hundred town halls.
We're reaching across, trying to bring in moderate voters. And we still lost just miserably and, you know, really had to step back and say, well, what's a different approach than what we can't just keep doing this the same way. So, the framework of Community Works is saying, well, we need to think, talk, and act differently, and we need to do that in a way where we're also willing to have nonpolitical conversations and that we can work together on nonpolitical projects.
So, but, but doing that as political people. So, I'm trying to think instead of just, you know, going and volunteering with a local food bank, for instance, but doing that as Meredith, you know, myself, a good person. That I would do that with a group of folks who are all willing to identify at least as Community Works, if not as Liberals, Progressives, and Democrats.
And we sort of lead with the community service, the volunteerism, and then we move to, you know, yeah, well, I'm coming, I'm a Democrat, right? And sort of outing ourselves. So, I think part of the framework is that we try to do things that are simple, concrete, immediate, and public. We try to do it as groups of folks who are willing to ultimately identify as liberals and progressives.
We're hosting things like forums, just, you know, in a much more in a listening way rather than saying, 'Okay, we're bringing you here to persuade you to think like we do and, do this policy in the way that, you know, we want to see it happen.' Just starting with listening, talking, you know, hosting things with groups that you wouldn't really think normally would work with Democrats or the Democratic Party, or Liberals and Progressives.
So, reaching out to the Rotary Club, reaching out to the Sheriff's department, say for a, just a food drive for, for the pound. You know? Just kind of hooking in with partners who in the past would not have, we would not have worked out with, they would not have worked with us necessarily.
But again, trying to hit these needs that are just kind of nonpolitical across the board, gives us that opportunity to work side by side.
Michelle Rathman: I just find that there's more of that. You know, Meredith, one of the things that I really, and I to my core, I, when people wanna get into politics with me, what I say to them is that would be a conversation for somebody else. 'Cause I wanna talk about policy and the impact that policy has on your quality of life.
And so, when you talk about organizing groups of people, regardless of your political affiliation, when the mission is to come together as a community to address unmet needs, I find that that helps to maybe diffuse some of that seething anger that people have. And we are, we have allowed, quite frankly, to your point, social media to prescribe exactly who we are, what we think, what we know, what we feel, versus kind of owning ourselves.
I'm so curious. So, you've got chapters of different Community Works. Let's talk a little bit about the chapters, and because it's not a one-and-done, right? This is you, you know, to build a chapter, presumably, there's activity. It's not just one specific focus. You want the work to be sustainable. So, talk to us about that.
Meredith Dean: Okay. Yeah, we have chapters now in six states, and we're very excited about that. That's all local leadership. Chapters start out, many of them start out with, their democratic committees or maybe an indivisible group, you know, saying, hey, we wanna try not taking away from the approaches they're already trying, but something additional.
And we want to do this community outreach in this way. And so they pulled together a leadership team, and at that point, we start reaching out again to the kind of partners in the community that I was naming. So, in one community, we're working with the Red Cross, for instance, and helping to do not only blood drives, but they did a smoke alarm installation.
And when they came up with that project, I mean, the Red Cross was thrilled to be working with, you know, the Democratic Committee basically is what that was, to do the smoke alarm installation. It also, but we were also able to bring in a lot of folks who had never been involved in any way politically.
Certainly not progressively politically into that process. At the same time, our progressive folks who feel kind of isolated from the rest of the community and, and more and more so, it got them out in the community. It got them out doing something positive and good for their neighbors. That wasn't just about resisting or protesting, which I totally, I've got my Workers of a Billionaires poster back here, so I'm out there too.
But, you know, I think we have to take this other approach as well. So, we've got, chapters in Southwestern Virginia, in Minnesota now, in Georgia, central to southeastern Georgia, in Maryland.
I know I'm forgetting Alabama, and all of 'em are starting out with just really simple things like just basically again, reaching out to their local food pantry, because food insecurity right now is on the rise across the country. Funds are getting cut for food pantries. They're reaching out, they're saying, "Hey, what can we do? Can we, you know, do a donation drive? Can we come and volunteer?"
Of course, the pantries are saying, yes, all of that, please, we need you. So, as simple as just, you know, funneling volunteers to your local groups that are already doing good work that need help, to then creating some of our own projects and forums, that also are addressing things that ultimately are policy issues.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah, you know. I love on your website, it says, "While, politicians in Washington are fighting partisan battles, we are finding common ground." I love it just, boy, it rolls right off the tongue. And I wonder if you've got maybe an example of how the work that you're doing has been able to expand reach of those who are joining the chapters. Obviously, we talked about, you know, Progressives and Democrats. Are you finding people coming in from across the aisle, as they say, and getting curious about being a part of something that's than politics, and bigger than politics because it focuses on hyperlocal meeting hyperlocal needs.
I wonder if you, if you have any examples of people who said, yeah, we actually found common ground. Because to find common ground you have you had to bring people into the fold that might not think like you, and I'm just curious how, in this climate, how you're able to, how the chapters are able to do that, accomplish that goal.
Meredith Dean: Rallying around our local institutions, such as our public libraries is one good example. In one county, the funding for the library, the board of supervisors there is completely cut the funding to their local library. Well, anybody in a rural area. I mean, I started out taking my son to wiggles and giggles.
Right? And now I'm all the way up to Senior Scrabble. Right. But it's like the such a, you know, a coming together place in our community, across the board, right? And so, something like that saying, yeah, we need to get together and do something to support our library. Again, from just helping to volunteer for programs that are already going on to helping to raise funds.
You know, maybe if you don't have a friends of the library entity there, then creating one, all sorts of possibilities around that. And we are, we're seeing that happening in one of our counties in Virginia, and really being able to bring people just across the board because everybody needs the library.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah. Like their hospital or
Meredith Dean: Yeah.
Michelle Rathman: some, something of that nature.
Meredith Dean: Yeah.
Michelle Rathman: I know that this episode is dropping a day after, so we'll kind of fast forward if we had a crystal ball after you guys have a really big Community Work Summit. And I'll make sure that we do a follow-up so we can talk about what the outcome of that was. So, talk about the event and kind of what the agenda looked like, looks like for those who, who just attended. What are some of the goals of the summit? Who's invited? Tell us all about it.
Meredith Dean: Okay. So, the summit is, we're inviting people just again, across the board, sort of nationally. Got about 200 people so far registered, hopefully, you know, we'll get 500 to a thousand by the time we get there. We are hoping to have some national speakers, some from the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Party, also others.
We have a lot of candidates right now, you know, that are reaching out to rural and working-class communities, but in a different kind of way, the way we're talking about here. And so, we've asked a couple of those.
We, a lot of it, the focus of the event will be hearing from our local chapters. So, I wanted to actually raise up one other issue, like you were asking about right then. So, in another place, they're hosting a rural healthcare forum and they're specifically talking about what the cuts are gonna do to, you know, substance abuse treatment possibilities in their community, or medic, you know,
Medicaid, how people are gonna navigate that.
Yes, so it's an educational forum. Again, we're not coming at it from a policy point of view, but obviously it's about policy, but it's sort of being laid out as, okay, people from across the board come to this, learn about how this is gonna affect you. And then we tied it to an action, which is with Remote Area Medical that,
Michelle Rathman: I saw that you were working with them.
Meredith Dean: yeah.
Michelle Rathman: Wonderful
Meredith Dean: So, and we always try to do something. So, if we're gonna do something that's more on an educational or listening level, then we also tie it to an action. So, we've got volunteers, across the political spectrum who came together to help with that when Remote Area Medical came to their community.
So just another example of what you were asking, and I think that we will be raising up all those kinds of projects that people are doing around food insecurity, around healthcare, around, like I said, the libraries, around broadband, because some of our, even places where we have it, they're being, it's being threatened now, with the buy-up of things like Starlink.
So, we'll be lifting those up, and a whole lot of the summit will be around that. And then it will be going into breakout rooms where people can really get into the nuts and bolts of how they might be able to start a chapter in their area. Or if they're not interested in starting a chapter, just, you know, what, how to put together these kinds of events.
How to promote them, how to reach out to neighbors, how to reach, build strong collaborations and partnerships. Again, across political ideologies.
So.
Michelle Rathman: Just working on how to have that initial conversation. Okay. So, Meredith, before I let you go, I think it’s, I wanna make sure I pick your brain a little bit so our listeners can benefit from it. Maybe a few pieces of advice if you could give a very quick masterclass, if you will, on how someone who says, you know, says, well, listen, I'm not a leader per se. I don't hold a position, but I work in a rural community, or I live in a rural community.
We have listeners across the board, both, you know, from all different sectors. And what would be the first step? I mean, obviously, you know, even thinking, having the idea, what's the first step to starting a chapter, and how do you start to get people into the fold?
What are some of the secrets to success?
Meredith Dean: Well, a very practical step is that we hold an Introduction to Community Works monthly. Every fourth Wednesday at 6:30 PM Eastern Time, and you can find that registration link on the RUBI website. So, I would suggest coming to that, and you'll kind of get an overview of the whole approach.
And then, and then again, we'll begin into the nuts and bolts of how you could start a chapter. But from that, I'd say reaching out, reaching out to your neighbors, reaching out to people you feel are allies politically, but also allies in terms of their concerns in the community. Like I said, I've got a whole host of people that I work with around health and wellness issues that I know vote differently than me.
Listening, huge pieces listening, because I do think we tend to kind of come in wanting to persuade people to our point of view. And, oh gosh, I did, wanna speak to the whole stereotypes issue because. Yeah, I mean, I, I think one of, the problems with that, we wanna persuade people where it's a been proven statistically that people who are college educated, are the most sort of intolerant of people with different political points of views.
And I think that leads us then into sort of embracing some of those stereotypes of rural folks. Even those people that have moved into rural areas tend to hold those stereotypes about, you know, rural people in general. And I had taught Appalachian studies at two universities in Southwestern Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Radford. And one of the segments I, you know, felt was most important was talking about the whole development of the Appalachian stereotype and what that was used for, because it started out just trying to get people to read.
There was these travel writers who came into the region, and they, you know, saw some folks who talked and acted differently than the people on the East coast, urban areas. And they developed this sort of stereotype and caricature. And, you know, at first it was just to get people to read their books, but it really got picked up by, you know, by major corporations who wanted to come in and actually exploit the resources of the Appalachian area and specifically West Virginia, and buying up the timber rights and the coal rights and the mineral rights. And it was a way of othering, you know, rural people, Appalachian folks at that time, and I just, I so that they would be able to do that and nobody would care.
I think we all need to look at what's happening now with this whole, you know, stereotype of rural people. It's not serving, who is that serving? It's not serving rural people, but it's also not serving, you know, working-class folks. It's also not serving middle-class people. What is doing is dividing all of us from actually looking at, okay, where's, you know, who is that serving? And we're the 98% that should be working together. And this is just one more way of dividing us and keeping us from doing that, you know to challenge the 2%.
Michelle Rathman: We have, you know, wholesale manufacturing of disinformation on certain populations, and I experience it all the time everywhere I travel. And I tell people what I do, that I work on rural health.
You said it eloquently at the very top of this episode, which was, you know, people have people pegged and yet they don't. And I agree. You know, listening is, is a matter of curiosity. And if we could just be more curious about people versus in our minds fabricate what, you know, what we believe they are based on what we've heard. We would be in a much different place.
And again, focusing on the quality of life issues that matters to everybody. I mean, I we all need clean water. all wanna have clean water. We want our children to be educated. We want quality healthcare in our communities. We want our farmers to do well. I mean, you know, I’m very much looking to being on a different side of all this.
When, when and if we can get there. And I think that the work that you do certainly does help, but it's one community at a time. Right. Meredith? It's not gonna happen overnight.
Meredith Dean: Yes.
Michelle Rathman: Wow.
Meredith Dean: Yeah. This is definitely a long-term process and approach, but it's time that we sort of buckle down and be willing to do that, not just look from election cycle to election cycle.
Michelle Rathman: Yes. Because really right now, I, I encourage people to think about how you will improve the quality of the life for everyone in your rural community. And, Meredith, one other, if I may, I, I think if one thing that people could do is they could turn through local health organization, whether it's a hospital or a, community health center or Federally Qualified Health Clinic because they conduct a community health needs assessment. And it takes all the guesswork out of identifying what the health disparities are in your community. And then that could be something that everyone focuses on because it's not about one group or another, it's about a percentage of our community that, is experiencing housing issues, hypertension, diabetes and so forth.
And that gives us the roadmap, food insecurity, it gives us a roadmap, and that's so long as the data is being collected. That's a good place to start. Oh my gosh, Meredith, I wanna have you back, and I would love to hear from some of, we're gonna take the podcast on the road, folks, so if you're interested to join us.
Meredith Dean: Yes.
Michelle Rathman: and partner with us, you know, we need, uh, I gotta stay somewhere. But if you, we'd love to visit some of your chapters.
I, you know, invite me to your house, and we'd like to make sure that we follow up with you and have a look at the work that you're doing. Let's just say next year, 2026, are so fortunate to be blinking and breathing.
Meredith Dean: I would love to have you, and I'm sure our chapters would as well, and a lot of exciting work going on. That would be really wonderful.
So.
Michelle Rathman: Meredith, thank you so much for joining us, and although we have to bid you farewell, I want the rest of you to stay tuned because I'll be back in just a moment with some parting words. We'll be right back.
Michelle Rathman: My thanks to Meredith and to each of you for carving out time in your very busy schedule to join us. But before we close out, a really quick friendly reminder to subscribe to the podcast, and you can do that very easily by visiting our website, theruralimpact.com. Again, super easy to remember theruralimpact.com.
Hit that subscribe button, and when you do, you'll be sure to get our e-blast with our recaps of our shows and previews of what we got coming up next, and some really interesting things that, articles and resources that we like to share with you as well. So that's also the place, the website that is, where you can explore a partnership with us and explore how we can help you expand your rural reach.
And that may even be bring our podcast to where you are. We are taking the show on the road in 2026, and we would love to join you at your rural-focused event and make sure that we can amplify your work to our vastly growing community, if you will. Again, that was a theme of today's show was community.
So, with that said, real quick, a thank you to Brea Corsaro and Sarah Staub behind the scenes for all their hard work. And a very special shout-out to all of you who have shown us your support through your generous donations. I mean it sincerely. We really do appreciate that. And if you'd like to make a donation, you can find that little button on our website as well.
Be sure to follow us on social. I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. You can find us on Facebook, BlueSky as well. We're still on X from time to time, so be sure to follow us wherever you'd like to get your social media feed until we are together again, I am willing you good health, many, many moments of joy, and I invite you to take really good care of yourself, and to the best of your ability, those around you.
We will see you again in a brand-new episode very soon on The Rural Impact.
