A majority of rural nonprofit leaders are planning to leave their jobs in the next five years, and an ever-increasing number of underemployed young professionals are clamoring for meaningful work. Each of these is a crisis in waiting, but together, these converging trends frame up an opportunity that cannot be missed.
This post lifts up one example of an effective program investing in young leaders – the Rural Fellowship at Rural Support Partners. As current Rural Fellows, we are learning tremendous amounts every day (check out our video for a taste of this). The beauty of the Fellowship program is that it is a sound business choice as much as it is a social good: young practitioners are an investment that starts paying you back from day one.
Bridging a Gap
After conducting 267 surveys with organizations from rural communities across the Southeast, Rural Support Partners and the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that 63% of executive directors responding to the survey planned to leave their job within five years, while 7% were currently in the process of leaving. According to the study, “the nonprofits that we surveyed are doing some things to attract young leaders, but not many… Our findings suggest that collectively, as a sector, we may not yet be ready for the generational shift that is occurring”.
If nonprofit organizations in the rural South neglect to attract and develop young talent, they could soon be desperately short of the skilled and trained leadership needed for their future work.
Meanwhile, every year, a large number of graduates (1.5 million in 2011 in the U.S. alone) exit university with high hopes of putting their educational achievements into practice in their respective fields. However, the cutting-edge skills, innovation, and energy that carry young professionals through school are being dulled by a lack of opportunities to do meaningful work in their fields when they graduate.
You don’t have to be an economist to see that there’s a market failure going on when the need for young practitioners in rural organizations has yet to be met by this oversupply of un/underemployed young talent.
Rural Fellowships
The Rural Fellowship was created by Rural Support Partners, a social venture in Asheville, North Carolina dedicated to helping leaders, groups and networks achieve better results through collaboration.
It is a year-long paid position intended to simultaneously teach young practitioners and get them working at a high level in the field of sustainable rural development.
In our daily work as Rural Fellows, we are encouraged to think deeply about how to influence lasting change in Appalachia. We are learning to think strategically about the power of networks, use innovative communication techniques, analyze and effectively present data, and work to align people’s common goals and agendas to solve complex social, economic, cultural and political problems in rural communities. We are matching the above techniques with our own unique skill sets and knowledge, sparking new innovations and challenging ourselves daily.
Creating Opportunities from Uncertainty
We can speak firsthand about the incredible value and importance of programs like this one. Mary’s story offers a glimpse into the world of a young professional looking for meaningful work.
After university, I juggled multiple jobs as a freelance writer and waitress before traveling across the globe to fulfill my passion for working across diverse cultures. This quest to continue learning about the complexities facing our world lead me to a Masters degree in Human Rights and Cultural Diversity from the University of Essex in England.
As a native of Appalachia, I wanted to put the skills that I had developed from my cross-cultural studies to work at home. However, despite my resume full of international charm, I still felt the weight of my ambition lost in a cluster of job applications. Once again, I found myself waiting tables, which is not to suggest any lack of merit in that field, but I felt that I had all of this energy, knowledge and passion lying by wayside as I waited (excuse the pun) for an opportunity to put the skills that I had crafted from my studies and travels to good use.
As a Rural Fellow, I’m grateful to be involved in meaningful and engaging work on a daily basis, where my perspective as a young practitioner is stretched, challenged, nourished, and valued by my colleagues.
Sixty qualified candidates applied for this position, which highlights the sizeable pool of talented young individuals striving to immerse themselves in this field. It is imperative that this opportunity for developing young professionals be extended to other organizations working in rural areas. Investing in the next generation of leaders is a smart, strategic decision that will harness the energy of young practitioners, while developing the future pool of skilled, experienced leaders needed to work for the long-term betterment of rural communities.
What prevents nonprofits and grant-makers who are working in rural communities from hiring and training young professionals? How can we begin to overcome these barriers to offer more meaningful opportunities to young leaders?
About the Authors
Noah Wilson is an unabashed jack-of-all-trades who’s been living in the Appalachian Mountains for as long as he’s had a choice about where he calls home. A recent graduate of Warren Wilson College with a degree in Sustainable Economic Development, he can either be found in the office, in his kitchen, on a dance floor, or somewhere up in the Blue Ridge Mountains hiking with a big grin on his face.
Mary Snow is a native of North Carolina and grew up under the tall shadows of the Appalachian Mountains. Her southern roots stayed close to her side as she traveled from the far corners of Southeast Asia to South America. After dusting off from her travels, she earned her Master of Arts in Human Rights and Cultural Diversity from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom and joined Rural Support Partners shortly after in July 2011.
For more information about the Rural Fellowship program and our work with leaders, organizations, and networks, please visit www.ruralsupportpartners.com.
Visit the Rural Futures Lab at www.ruralfutureslab.org.
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