Rural Revitalization Commission Wants To Tackle Local Capacity Problems

(The Center Square) — A state commission for revitalizing rural Pennsylvania has almost filled out its members, with plans to hold listening sessions to figure out which issues to prioritize.

“We’re going to need input from as many experienced stakeholders as possible,” Kyle Kopko, chairman of the Rural Population Revitalization Commission and executive director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, said. “I’m really looking for ways to engage with as many folks as possible.”

The 15-member commission will tackle population change and what rural parts of the state will look like — and deal with — in the coming decades. Eight positions have been filled, with seven more open. Kopko expects several more applications to roll in before they start reviews on August 30, and the Center encourages the public to apply for a slot meant for “a young adult selected from a statewide general farm organization.”

Finding someone to represent rural youths matter because this contingent is shrinking.

“I think population loss is really the priority, but more broadly speaking it’s population change,” Kopko said. “It’s not just the raw numbers — the composition of our population is changing. Even if a community were to have a stable population, generally speaking, Pennsylvania’s becoming older, there’s fewer young people.”

More senior citizens in the countryside has implications for health care, transportation policy, workforce availability, and education. The expected “silver tsunami” affects the state budget too, as demand for state services will rise but tax revenue is expected to fall.

State officials have taken the lead on some rural issues because if they don’t, there may be no one else to do it.

“Local capacity is going to be a major, major issue,” Kopko said. “We’ve heard this through various hearings and meetings of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania Board of Directors. A lot of the municipal officials in our most sparsely populated communities simply do not have the resources and bandwidth to address long-term policy issues like population change.”

Giving out grants to small townships and boroughs doesn’t solve the problem either, as it’s hard for local officials to keep up with what’s available.

“We need to think very carefully about how we level the playing field because these communities are ones that need the resources the most,” Kopko said.

As for what is to be done, the commission has looked at rural workforce development councils and what rural offices have done in other states like Georgia, Iowa, and Maryland, and Michigan, along with rural projects in other countries.

“The challenge with rural is multifaceted. I don’t want to claim it’s easier to solve problems in urban areas, but in rural, there’s a different set of considerations to address those same problems,” Kopko said. “We don’t have the economies of scale.”

A diverse topography, a lack of philanthropic or nonprofit groups, and infrastructure gaps all contribute to making the problem difficult.

“But a lack of access is a lack of access — no matter where you live, whether it’s rural or urban,” Kopko said.

Kopko wants to approach those problems pragmatically to, if nothing else, reduce the costs and problems created by population changes.

“We won’t be able to solve this overnight, it’s a complex policy, sociological, and economic issue all in one,” he said. “ I’m trying to instill in commission members that we’ll have a multifaceted approach to policy areas and geographic areas — one-size-fits-all doesn’t always work in Pennsylvania.”