Reducing Rural Poverty in the Region and Worldwide

Rural poor in the North Central region are generally the working poor. They are employed in low wage jobs—often several at a time. Poverty in the North Central region is also hard to see because of the cultural context. Poverty is viewed as being equal to moral failure.

But ignoring or stigmatizing rural poverty does more than disadvantage the rural poor. It helps perpetuate the current model of industrial attraction of low wage industries at substantial local expense. It shifts emphasis from increasing the productivity of workers to increasing the number of jobs.

The NCRCRD and researchers throughout the Midwest are addressing this issue by linking analysis of labor markets and cultural perceptions of poverty with economic development models to reduce poverty and increase local residents’ assets. Members of this regional research committee presented their work at the 53rd Annual North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association. The presentation set the context and state of knowledge about working poor and offered a multi-variate, cross-sectional model of the working poor in the North Central region. Case studies were then presented using the model with particular focus on outlier counties for seven states.

While the NC 1100 regional research committee is focusing on the unique context of poverty in the North Central region, a former student worker at the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development is focusing on addressing rural poverty worldwide. Amber Herman, who worked at the NCRCRD prior to her graduation last month, has been very active in working on problems related to hunger in the United States and in Africa.

As a freshman in college, Amber spent six weeks teaching English in a rural village in Kenya and witnessed children succumbing to starvation. That memory, and the knowledge that thousands like them perish everyday, left her with a sense of urgency about addressing rural poverty.

In 2003, Amber was a keynote speaker on the North American Leaders Today Take Action Tour, where she spoke to 24,000 students about international poverty and youth empowerment. In 2005, she represented Oxfam America at the G8 Summit in Scotland and at the United Nations Youth Assembly. In spring 2006, she attended the School for International Training Uganda Development Studies Program to conduct research for her senior Honors Project on youth farmers in Uganda. Amber wrote about her experiences in Kenya for an SIT newsletter. Read the article at
http://ourworld.worldlearning.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=8551.

In March 2006, Amber was selected as a Harry S. Truman Scholar, for her exceptional leadership potential and commitment to careers in government and the nonprofit sectors. She received a $30,000 scholarship, leadership training, and is part of a network of other students who are committed to making a difference through public service.

Amber graduated from Iowa State University in December 2006 with a degree in public service and administration in agriculture, with a secondary major in international agriculture. She plans to pursue a master’s degree and doctorate in food policy and international rural development.

At the NCRCRD, we share Amber’s passion for reducing rural poverty, both in the North Central region and worldwide. We wish her well in her post graduate endeavors.

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North Central Regional Center for Rural Development
Iowa State University
107 Curtiss Hall
Ames, IA 50011-1050
(515) 294-8321, (515) 294-3180 fax

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Last updated September 3, 2004.