What is “Rural Community Transformation”?

“Rural Community Transformation” is NRFC’s theory of change for rural areas of persistent poverty, in large part discerned from its early work to learn from strategic investments funded.   
This theory argues that rural poverty persists because of decades and generations of

• Environmental & Economic Disinvestment;
• Cultural & Social Isolation; and
• Barriers of Race & Class.

Changing these longstanding, generational patterns, then, can only occur through regional, community-based and sustainable strategies for achieving the opposite outcomes:

• Building Community Wealth;
• Increasing Family Self-sufficiency; and
• Creating More Inclusive Leadership Structures.

The tools for implementing these strategies for bringing about Rural Community Transformation are found within rural communities themselves – namely, six capitals upon which this asset-based theory of change is built: human, natural, cultural, political, social, and financial/built. 

NRFC’s work to confirm or verify this theory of change occurs through its funding of and capacity-builidng for its strategic regional investments.