In our line of work, it at times seems impossible to be able to do enough, quickly enough, to make any meaningful difference as the needs are so overwhelming. And that’s harder to deal with some days more than others. But at the end of each day, it comes down to doing what you can do to make things better, and partnering with other people and organizations working toward the same goals – the old saying of “many hands make light the work” comes to mind*.
As I have mentioned before, Partners for Rural Washington is all about partnering (with communities, with funders, with other service providers) because we loathe duplication of effort and inefficiency. No one has the time, energy or resources for that. So without further ado, here are a few things we have been working on of late and the partners coming together to do more, faster, for Washington’s rural communities (I’ll do a separate R.O.A.R community update later this month as this is already approaching novel length):
The Rural Exchange – A Truly Rural Conference
We are delighted to announce our first annual conference focused entirely on rural communities with fewer than 1,500 people – The Rural Exchange. Mayors and clerks from these communities suggest the topics they most want to see addressed and we are searching for content and solutions that fit their capacities and resources while taking their unique and shared circumstances into account. We are also pleased and grateful to be partnering with Evergreen Rural Water of Washington (ErWOW) and holding the inaugural conference with their help and cooperation on THURSDAY, AUGUST 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Yakima Convention Center. This is the last day of ErWOW’s annual conference and they have graciously allowed us to overlap at their venue. We will post more about the agenda and speakers and sponsorships available on our website in the coming weeks.
PRISTINE Water Initiative
We’re following up our in-person workshop in Seattle last November with monthly meetings focused on learning about different programs and entities that can help leverage private and philanthropic investment in rural public water infrastructure. In January, Olivia Rebanal (Ecotrust) and Steven Phan (Craft3) discussed New Market Tax Credits, and February’s meeting will feature Michael Carroll talking about the work being done by the Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC). We are also working on a session to discuss the latest updates to the Opportunity Zones program and how it can be applied to encourage private investments. Our goal is to identify a pilot project later this year and develop a funding package that is attractive to private and philanthropic investors.
Clerking 101
Our 2025 pilot program to provide one-on-one assistance to new town clerks was extremely popular and will move to a permanent program this year with an expanded budget to serve more communities. We are working with the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) and reaching out to the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) to strengthen the support network and services available to rural town clerks. We are also working to identify additional team members to help communities on the western side of the state.
Working on these and other projects is getting a lot of us here at PRWA through these turbulent times. It feels good to help people who are continuously carrying such a heavy load keeping a rural community operating. Many times what we do is minor when compared with what clerks and mayors in these towns deal with on a daily basis, but we are always looking for ways to make their load lighter.
Take care,
Jody
*Because I Google everything, I had to find out where this proverb originated and the first record in the English language appears to be from a book, Sir Bevis of Hampton, a “knightly romance” written in the early 1300s (now I’m going to have to read it if I can find it). This was followed several centuries later by John Hooker’s (also an Englishman) 1575 profundity of “the more cooks the worse the potage.” Which leads to dozens upon dozens of pithy sayings about “walking a fine line,” my favorite of which is “there’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore looking like an idiot” (S. Wright).
