It's only been out in the world three days, and already the enthusiasm surrounding RuralNewsNetwork.org from member newsrooms, funders and the general public is immense. My hope, as editor of this ambitious sustained collaboration from the Institute for Nonprofit News, is for the website to serve as a town square, of sorts:

A place for people to discover the nonprofit newsroom in their neck of the woods and start following and supporting them directly.

A venue for philanthropists to realize – with just a glance of the coverage areas tagged on the homepage – that these independent, often, tiny newsrooms contain resident experts on a wide range of issues that extend far beyond feed lots and 4H.

An opportunity for the more than 500 RNN journalists to see how fellow remote news operations are covering similar beats and maybe even lead them to organically collaborate.

The journey started long before I arrived at INN last June. Jonathan Kealing and Bridget Thoreson, INN's chief network officer and director of collaborations, respectively, started hearing from members back in 2021 about the importance of covering rural areas and acted on it – conducting a survey and brilliantly spearheading five editorial collaborations as pilots projects that brought about real change for the communities served by the participating newsrooms.

With solid proof of concept, our development team went to work securing dedicated grants from Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, as well as general operating grants from other funders.

This site is largely the product of countless conversations with INN-member news leaders who, like us, wanted something to point to that shows the scope and diversity of RNN. And we're not done yet. We intend to continue adapting RuralNewsNetwork.org to fit both members' and the market's changing needs.

Bookmark the site to get new locally sourced, collaborative reporting from and for rural America from 68 newsrooms across 46 states, all in one place online.

Thanks for your interest and support!

Editor, Rural News Network

Long drives to reach big-city medical help are common in rural America, where populations are too small to support specialized doctors who diagnose and treat serious and chronic health issues. But on an isolated island, it’s more complicated.

Residents of Molokai and Lanai rely on airline travel for emergency and even routine medical care. Boarding a plane is essential to see a dermatologist or cardiologist. Lanai residents must also fly for colonoscopies, mammograms, any kind of surgery — even an ankle fracture.

Women can’t give birth on Lanai, a 140-square mile isle with roughly 3,000 residents. On Molokai, which has a population of about 7,000 residents, only low-risk patients who forgo an epidural can deliver a child.

This has for generations been the norm, a widely accepted way of life on islands with more dirt roads than paved ones. But then the pandemic hit, slashing flights.

Last October, Lyte traveled to Lanai as part of Breaking Point – the RNN editorial collaboration that examined health inequities in rural communities across the country. Her reporting highlighted the lack of mental health care available to its 3,000 residents and led to meaningful change.

When Brendalyn King and her partner, Osei Doyle, quit their jobs and left Brooklyn, New York, in 2020 to buy land, they had high hopes of entering the growing industrial hemp industry.

They moved to Salem, Illinois, to farm on a family friend’s land until they were able to buy the property. However, they never got a chance to purchase the land. After a year of some failed crops and financial losses, the couple moved from Illinois to Missouri, King’s home state, in search of property to restart their farming operation.

The promise soon faded as they struggled to find affordable land, funding opportunities, and a buyer for their products. Ultimately, they suffered financial hardship, so last year, they stopped farming.

King and Doyle are among the thousands of hemp farmers who lost money during the pandemic. The high labor costs, supply chain issues, and regulatory barriers are compounded for Black farmers who struggle to access capital and technical education because of present and historical discrimination by the government. Additionally, Black farmers say the confusion over the difference between hemp and marijuana has hurt sales of hemp-derived products — which include cannabidiol, or CBD, oils and lotions.

As a result, some farmers have been forced to destroy their hemp crops or grow less or none at all. Experts say this contributed to the drastic 71% decline in all industrial hemp production in 2022 from the previous year, according to a recent report from the United States Department of Agriculture.

While industrial hemp production has tumbled, experts are hopeful the market will improve.

An effort to build a huge gun range and shooting complex north of Rapid City has created divisiveness and hard feelings between two of South Dakota’s most iconic populations.

The values run deep and histories stretch long among people in the two groups – those devoted to hunting and shooting, and rugged ranchers who have run cattle on the same rangelands for generations – but they are at odds on the gun range issue.

Other players include a well-heeled business owner who’s a frequent donor to the governor and the dominant Republican Party and a family that runs a rural Bible ranch for children.

It has all the makings of an epic battle that has raged for more than two years and will likely cause consternation that lingers long after the first rifle round is fired.

“We have a big stake in this,” said rancher Joe Norman, who lives closest to the proposed gun range site. “This is about our quality of life, and our livelihood.”

So far, no dirt has been turned on the proposed South Dakota Shooting Sports Complex.

It would include 175 shooting lanes and be the largest gun range in the state and possibly the nation. The project was proposed by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department with strong support by Gov. Kristi Noem.

As part of the Rural Newswire project, Grist and the Center for Rural Strategies are offering $100,000 in reporting grants for stories that focus on and serve rural communities in the United States.

Interested newsrooms and freelancers may apply using our online form. The deadline is June 1, 2023. Applicants can request up to $5,000 per project for freelancers and up to $10,000 per project for newsrooms.

Rural News Spotlight is a biweekly newsletter featuring reporting from INN members on the ground in rural communities addressing their most pressing issues and possible solutions.