Partnerships between urban and rural municipalities, educational institutions and corporations are beginning to create opportunities to address urban-rural gaps in transit, food security and broadband access.

Why it matters: The rural-urban divide, particularly with regard to broadband access, boils down to a mismatch in where resources are allocated, and these programs strive to distribute resources beyond urban cores.

By the numbers: According to the OECD, 80% of rural populations live close to cities.

Per the Brookings Institute, only 18% of Americans live in neighborhoods where 80% or more of the households have high-speed broadband.

According to the nonprofit Feed America, food insecurity affects 2.3 million households in rural communities in the United States, and 84% of the counties with the highest percentage of children at risk for food insecurity are rural…

Metro21: Smart Cities Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and Waynesburg University are collaborating to develop tech-driven interventions to address food insecurity and mobility in nearby rural areas.
More>>