Bridging the here/elsewhere divide in a country grown accustomed to failure.
Small towns, big change
In the Mountain West, building rural communities to last presents complex challenges: How to foster a robust economy and good jobs; healthy families and well-educated children; thriving forests and clean water; and a high quality of life for all citizens? How can this region prepare for inevitable change without sacrificing what makes it so special?
Over the next six months, seven news organizations in Colorado and New Mexico, including High Country News, will explore these urgent questions, surfacing threats to the long-term health of the region's small towns — and examining promising responses. This project is part of the Solutions Journalism Network and is funded by the LOR Foundation.
In the Mountain West, building rural communities to last presents complex challenges: How to foster a robust economy and good jobs; healthy families and well-educated children; thriving forests and clean water; and a high quality of life for all citizens? How can this region prepare for inevitable change without sacrificing what makes it so special?
Over the next six months, seven news organizations in Colorado and New Mexico, including High Country News, will explore these urgent questions, surfacing threats to the long-term health of the region's small towns — and examining promising responses.
A rural solar movement is growing, which focuses on local resilience.
For some small Colorado communities, recreational marijuana is generating much-needed revenue.
Lea County tries a different formula for rural success.
The disappearance of mining has hit many towns hard. But Raton, New Mexico is getting back on its feet.
How educators brought internet access to New Mexican youth.
A New Mexico principal ponders a tougher approach to keep frequently absent students in school.
The staff of High Country News tackles tough questions about small-town agriculture.
In Rio Arriba County, a community fix for a book deficit.
How rural students struggle to find internet access, and what one small college is doing about it.
Paonia High brings college-level coursework to rural students by partnering with its neighbors.
In the San Luis Valley, migrant workers build community around student success.
In the battle to train the next generation of rural Western leaders, schools are on the frontlines.
How a New Mexico network is building a new generation of native schools.
The staff of High Country News discuss the solutions small towns are trying to patch up their healthcare.
Reunity turns restaurant scraps into soil — and connects Santa Fe with rural farms in the process.
Can a tax break keep New Mexico’s struggling farmers from selling out?
In the region’s most impoverished rural areas, food pantries fill gaps of grocery stores.
New business models bring food to towns too small for big box stores.
To build a new generation of farmers, one nonprofit wants states to forgive student loans.
In Colorado, potato-farming brothers are saving water by using cover crops innovatively.
Can blackberries and tilapia help New Mexico’s small farmers thrive?
Reforming America’s broken food and agriculture systems is possible, but it won’t happen overnight.
A group of ten New Mexico hospitals is making a go of it in tough times.
In Colorado, a new movement aims to provide an alternative for people experiencing mental health crises. But does it work?
In New Mexico, an experiment in treating stroke victims at a distance.
In Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, alcohol claims more lives than other drugs, but now an alternative treatment program could help.
Could an innovative new program help turn the tide on opioid addiction in rural New Mexico?
Healthcare providers are trying to get on the same page across diffuse networks of providers.
Rio Arriba’s health care providers are pulling together to treat patients and prevent overdoses.
Interventions intended to reduce over-prescription of pain medicine may unintentionally be feeding a rise in heroin use in southwest Colorado.
The approach taken by Gloucester, Massacusetts, might falter in New Mexico, where it’s desperately needed.
What we can learn from the fight against addiction in a small New Mexico town.
Local leaders contemplate a program to address drug-associated health risks with a rocky history.
State agencies are having success countering New Mexico’s overdose epidemic by increasing access to opiate antidotes.
Hidalgo Medical Services puts patients first, builds healthcare teams and attracts providers.
A new movement aims to provide an alternative for people experiencing mental health crises in Colorado.
Veterans are getting faster care, but new programs aren’t reaching everyone.
A program to connect urban specialists with rural doctors saves time and money on stroke treatment.
Will a new network be the difference for remote hospitals on the brink of financial collapse?
Rural healthcare solutions focus on connecting patients and providers.
A new project looks to answer how small towns can survive a new era.
How an over-taxed basin is getting its water use under control.
Centuries-old traditions offer guidance for water managers seeking resilience in an uncertain future.
How mobilizing a small army of locals could nurture grassroots support for large-scale thinning efforts.
A new collaboration seeks to ease wildfire’s impacts by thinning overgrown forests.
Cutting timber on a billionaire’s land could boost the San Luis Valley’s economy.
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