Rural Voices. Rural Votes. Real Change.
Building a future where rural Indiana is never left behind.
Rural and small-town Indiana is at a crossroads. Too many families struggle to find good jobs, affordable housing, childcare, accessible healthcare, and well-funded schools for their children. Rural hospitals are closing. Teachers are stretched thin. Young people are leaving hometowns that once promised a future. In place of thriving town squares and expanding small businesses, these communities are offered chain dollar stores and gas station mini marts. Indiana is becoming a string of shuttered small towns in the wake of economic boom and bust cycles that threaten to repeat with corporate data centers and warehouses offering limited opportunities while risking environmental harm. These are not just challenges—they are defining struggles that shape whether our communities survive and thrive.
But here is the truth: Rural Indiana matters. Our voices matter. Our votes matter. And when we stand together, we can change the story.
Our Story
In 2024, the Committee for Rural Engagement launched the Indiana Rural Summit, a statewide initiative designed to elevate rural voices and create real pathways for collaboration. What began as a tour organizing 12 House candidates across 30 counties in south-central Indiana quickly grew into something bigger: a movement.
The Indiana Rural Summit candidate cohort focused on key community issues like healthcare, housing, education, and jobs—the very issues that determine whether rural Hoosiers can stay, work, and thrive in their hometowns. Along the way, we also confronted how gerrymandering has reshaped Indiana’s political map, creating not only rural districts but also “artificially rural” ones that dilute and isolate voters.
Instead of allowing division to weaken us, we turned it into a source of strength. By connecting across overlapping counties, candidates and community members built a regional coalition—one that reflects the shared challenges and shared hopes of rural communities. Together, we created opportunities for collaborative, regional conversations that go beyond district lines and political divides.
Our Vision
The Indiana Rural Summit is about more than a single tour or election cycle—it’s about building long-term political power for rural and small-town Indiana. We are committed to:
- Supporting strong candidates rooted in rural experience and aligned values.
- Strengthening collaboration between communities facing common challenges.
- Expanding civic participation so that rural voices are heard at every level of decision-making.
- Shaping solutions in economic growth, education, healthcare, and housing that meet real community needs.
This work is about people, not just policy. It’s about ensuring that every Hoosier—no matter their zip code or what's in their wallet—has the chance to live, work, and raise a family with dignity and hope.
Why It Matters
The future of Indiana cannot be written by leaving rural communities behind. When we join forces, we prove that rural Indiana is not silent, not forgotten, and not powerless. We are a collective voice with the power to shape a stronger, more inclusive future.
Join us. Stand with us. Let’s build the Indiana our rural communities and small towns deserve.
