Work Projects II: Revitalizing Rural America

Take a drive through rural small towns in every state in America. These beautiful communities are filled with good people who have lived and raised families there for generations. However, they have been largely abandoned, their schools and historic downtown buildings now hollowed-out husks.

We can bring them back.

The Work Projects program (WPA) under FDR built, improved or renovated 39,370 schools; 2,550 hospitals; 15,100 auditoriums, gymnasiums and recreational buildings; 12,800 playgrounds, 900 swimming pools; 1,200 skating rinks, plus many other structures.

I propose Work Projects II: Revitalizing Rural America.

Work Projects II would function as a grant program, not a new federal agency. It would focus on three parts of infrastructure crucial for healthy rural American communities:

1 - Schools

2 - Health care facilities & providers

3 - Community gathering places

  1. Re-open as many previously closed schools as possible in rural America. Schools are the lifeblood of small towns and the families that live there/will live there.

  2. Invest in & improve rural health care systems to make them not only properly resourced & solvent, but attractive places for providers to work and raise their families. Rural health initiatives already exist in the form of grants for loan forgiveness and/or in exchange for years of service – these should not only be vastly expanded, but made permanent.

  3. Finally, in every small town in America with a population over 500, fund building & operating costs (staffing & maintenance) for the following:

  • A splash pad at the local public park for children in the summer
  • A restaurant/café (if one does not exist) – OR – as there are often existing restaurants/cafés in these communities – funding should go to them for renovations. If there are multiple such businesses in the town, funding may be split among them.
  • Attached (or in close proximity to) the community’s choice of:

-Bowling alley;

-Skating rink;

-Drive-in movie theatre; or

-Community center with games – not arcade games but bags, ring toss, etc – and space for music, movies & art. This could include funding for weekly or monthly shows by local bands, movie showings, and/or traveling family-friendly art displays featuring local artists

Priority should be given to local contractors for building new and/or renovating existing structures.

This program would focus on state and local control and actively avoid extensive federal regulation.