Measure Up: A Call To Action Released

Featuring new perspectives for measuring rural development progress

“Community-centered measurement! Measure a community’s progress against itself, not against an elusive set of data points from somewhere else.”
-Ines Polonius, CEO Communities Unlimited

Measure Up: A Call To ActionThere are no easy solutions for the many challenges that rural Americans face, but it’s clear that rural communities must drive change and transformation. Local people must set the priorities and determine what constitutes success and do so in ways that build networks inclusive of marginalized people.

The current methods of measuring rural and Native nation communities have led to incongruencies in the most impactful amount and kinds of investment. To truly gauge the initiatives in these communities, rural communities must define success. This type of equitable measurement is an opportunity to lower the barriers to rural prosperity and accurately determine what success in these regions looks like.

That is the main thrust of Aspen Community Strategies Group’s new report:
“What (and Who) Counts? Defining Rural Development Success” (PDF)