Revitalizing rural communities for a brighter Iowa future

RAGAN REPORT:In her inaugural address, Governor Kim Reynolds said reinvesting in rural Iowa and our small towns is one of her top priorities. I am ready to work with her on achieving that goal.
We must take big biparti-san steps during the 2018 ses-sion to ensure enough highly skilled workers in our small towns and rural communities to meet existing business de-mands and create new oppor-tunities.
A few approaches to start boosting rural Iowa’s small businesses, manufacturers and communities include:
• Ensuring safe, af-fordable housing for families.
• Enhancing cultural and community at-tractions.
• Access to reliable high-speed Internet.
• Encouraging a re-gional approach to economic develop-ment that supports rural revitalization.
We must also focus on workforce training initiatives. In the past, legislators have worked together to craft bi-partisan solutions, such as keeping tuition affordable at Iowa’s universities and com-munity colleges and funding an adult literacy program.
Those efforts have taken a hit this year. Like many Iowans, I am concerned about massive funding cuts to our universities and community colleges that were approved during the 2017 session. Those cuts have a negative impact at a time when we need to invest more in Iowa’s current and future workforce training.
Reinvigorating rural Iowa and small towns is a big job, but we all will benefit from the effort when we have bet-ter-paying jobs and safe, healthy, vibrant, growing communities across our state.
Sen. Amanda Ragan (D-Mason City) serves Franklin, Butler and Cerro Gordo counties in Senate District 27. She can be reached at (515) 281-3371 or (641) 424-0874. Email her at amanda.ragan@legis.iowa.gov.