April 2011

"Rural Geography Matters: Understanding Different Rural Needs through Definitions and Data" will be her subject when Jocelyn Richgels, Associate Director, National Policy Programs for the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI), reports to the meeting of Organizations Concerned about Rural Education in April.

There are numerous definitions of rural, which classify different people and geographies as rural — and ultimately impact federal funding decisions. RUPRI has a long history of describing the implications of different definitions for rural populations and has expanded upon this understanding by identifying different areas of need in rural areas through the use of Census and American Community Survey (ACS) data. Jocelyn Richgels will describe different rural definitions, who becomes "rural" through those definitions, and how a wealth of new Census and ACS data is being used to identify high areas of need in rural regions.

OCRE will convene at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 21, at the offices of the American Farm Bureau Federation, 600 Maryland Ave. SW, # 1000W, (10th floor, West building.)