For years, Garrett Snuggs questioned why the predominantly white town council of Wadesboro, North Carolina, didn’t reflect its population — 69% of which is Black.

In the rural town of 5,000, about 52 miles away from Charlotte, he noticed that many Black folks, particularly youth and men, were disengaged from the political process. 

That changed in 2022 when the 45-year-old met Cynthia Wallace, co-founder and executive director of New Rural Project, a civic engagement nonprofit. Wallace conducted a rural listening tour and focus groups in the eastern part of the state, and learned that many rural voters there simply felt “unheard and unseen” and didn’t have power. 

The conversations sparked a collaboration between Wallace and Snuggs called the Barbershop Conversations: F.A.D.E (Fruitful African American Discussions on Empowerment), which brought nearly 60 Black men together to discuss their top concerns and voting challenges. It prompted them to attend community meetings and join school boards. Last November, Snuggs, the longtime barber, instructor, and sports bar owner, won a local council seat and garnered the most votes of any candidate. The town also made history in that election, electing its first majority-Black council.

“There has never been more than one African American on our council at one time ever, and we currently have three,” Snuggs said. “We’re getting out there — engaging folk, [and] informing them of just how important and how impactful local politics and government plays into their everyday lives.”

Black rural voters in Wadesboro illustrate the influence that engaged and informed rural voters can have, especially in local and state elections, which matter just as much as federal ones, if not more. While Black rural voters have a desire to become a more influential voting bloc nationally, obstacles exist, including the lack of trust in local and state officials in the red states where many live, misinformation, the Democratic Party’s messaging, and a noticeable absence of candidates actively campaigning in rural areas. 

“The strength of Black rural voters lies in their power on the state and local levels,” said Dara Gaines, rural researcher and visiting professor at the University of Arkansas. “The race at the top of the ticket has inspired a lot of people who were previously planning to sit out, and they are looking for a way to do something. The down-ballot races are going to feel the weight of the rural Black vote.”

Despite their loyalty to the Democratic Party, rural voters often feel overlooked and neglected by both major parties, especially on the national level. While they’re making marginal gains, they still haven’t achieved full political power, meaning the candidates they vote for — often Black or Democrats — don’t get elected. The GOP still has a stronghold in rural counties. This dynamic exacerbates feelings of disengagement, resulting in low voter engagement.

Capital B spoke to rural organizers, candidates, and elected officials in two battleground states — North Carolina and Pennsylvania — as well as in Arkansas and Virginia to discuss the opportunities and barriers facing rural voters.

“Blue dots in a red sea”

It’s often cited that rural voters tend to lean conservative and Republican. Since the 2000s, several rural states shifted their support to the Republican Party on all levels of government, from state houses to Congress. Today, the Republican Party holds a 25-point advantage over the Democratic Party among rural voters, according to the Pew Research Center.  

However, a recent study by Cornell University found that this is not the reality for rural Black voters who, like most urban Black voters, supported Democrats at rates of 90% or more in the last four presidential elections — even though Black support for the party has waned nationally. 

In some places, the diversity of rural America hasn’t been reflected in local and state elections. Paolo Cremidis, former rural caucus chair for the New York State Democratic Party, saw this, and between 2015 and 2020, the caucus was able to elect 85 Democratic candidates (who were either LGBTQ+ or people of color) across upstate New York. 

“We noticed that folks who won were able to lean into their diversity to overcome culture wars and outran the top of the ticket because of it,” he said.

Cremidis and five other Democratic officials from upstate New York started The Outrun Coalition in 2020, which is now a network of over 500 local Democratic elected officials across 17 states, he said. They started the coalition to ensure elected officials better reflect the growing diversity of rural America. In August, the organization hosted a Rural Americans for Kamala Harris call, where thousands joined and raised more than $22,000.

In the 2022 midterm elections, where states saw record high voter turnout, rural voters helped usher in candidates, most notably in Georgia, which elected its first Black U.S. senator, Raphael Warnock; and in North Carolina, where Diamond Staton-Williams, a Black nurse, and Ray Jeffers, a Black farmer, secured seats in the state House. It’s these races that can help “purple states become a lot bluer, and more Democrats get elected to Congress, state legislatures, and local public offices in red states as well as blue ones,” as one author and professor wrote.

“Oftentimes, rural Americans are told they’re blue dots in a red sea. That’s not true. At the end of the day, one blue dot in a red sea might look like one blue dot, but enough blue dots together form an ocean, and enough oceans put out fires that make our reality better for our communities,” Cremidis said. “This isn’t just about making sure Vice President Kamala Harris becomes president; it’s about breaking super majorities in red states.”

If rural areas are making gains, why are rural counties overwhelmingly Republican? Well, the answer depends on who you ask. The number of rural Black voters turning out is not enough to improve the odds for Democrats. White progressive voter turnout would also need to increase for Democrats to win more.

Republicans dominate because of a combination of nonvoting and restrictive voting laws, said Chris Jones, co-founder of Dirt Road Democrats PAC, a political action committee for rural areas. When he ran for governor against Republican Sarah Huckebee Sanders in 2022, about 900,000 people voted — whereas 1.2 million people didn’t, he said. Last year, Arkansas had the lowest voter turnout and registration rates nationwide. 

While voter registration is up by 12,500 across Arkansas, a federal appeals court dealt a recent blow to voters when it reinstated Arkansas’ wet signature rule, a law that mandates voters to submit their voter registration forms with handwritten signatures with pen and ink. This legislation was in response to an online voter tool, created by Get Loud Arkansas, a civic engagement organization that registered hundreds of young voters. Separately, the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld four voting restrictions passed by Republicans, which includes changes to a voter ID law and deadlines for voters to return absentee ballots.

Similar election-related laws have been passed in other states. This year, in at least 21 states, voters will face restrictions they’ve never encountered in previous election cycles, whereas voters in 28 states will face new restrictions that weren’t in place in 2020, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Additionally, Republicans in battleground states have filed multiple lawsuits challenging aspects of mail-in voting, which is popular among rural voters.

Unfortunately, the efforts to stymie Black political power won’t stop, Gaines, the rural researcher, said. For example, in Florida, the state director of elections instructed local officials to investigate voter rolls based on a list emailed from an election denier. Officials in Travis County, Texas, filed a federal lawsuit against state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Secretary of State Jane Nelson for blocking voter registration efforts. And in Arkansas, there was an attempt to completely shut down one of the busiest early voting locations in Crittenden County and only have Election Day voting. 

“If you know you’re a person that has experienced some type of political violence before, or you’ve seen what political violence does in a place like where you might live, then you might be less likely to step out and go vote or step out and be vocal about something,” Gaines said. “We also have to be very aware that people don’t live in these places in a vacuum, right? Everything is connected to the past and what people’s former experiences have been. If we’re serious about supporting and protecting rural Black voters, we have to make sure that they will be protected and supported all the way up from registration to the time they cast their vote.”

Going back to “old school” politics

In the words of Dwan Walker who became the first Black mayor of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, in 2011, “You got to be in these places in order for you to affect change. You got to go back to old school politics. You just can’t court us in November, and think we’re going to turn out for you.” 

Beaver County, where Aliquippa is, had been a Democratic stronghold, but that changed in 2008. Still, Walker, who served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, believes Harris and running mate Tim Walz visiting Aliquippa in August will pay off at the polls. This week, both Harris and former president Donald Trump campaigned in Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, Walz formally unveiled the details of Harris’ agenda for rural America at a campaign stop in western Pennsylvania. 

“I can’t remember another presidential [candidate] that ever paid this much attention to rural America as this campaign is doing; it’s a beautiful thing to see because I don’t feel forgotten right now,” Walker said. “[They told us] we want all rural communities to have a seat at the table. And no one has ever invited us in like they’re inviting us in.”

If candidates, or their representatives, don’t meet directly with rural voters to talk about voting or their vision, those voters may stay home, said Alexsis Rodgers, political director at Black to the Future Action Fund. About 42% of Black urban and rural voters in three states sat out of the 2022 elections because they felt “uninformed about the candidates they were being asked to vote for,” according to a December 2022 report by Black to the Future Action Fund and HIT Strategies. The authors consider this as “another form of voter suppression … the lack of information about elections and the people who are running to represent you.”

“Rural Black voters across the South have the power to deliver the White House. They have shown up in margins before,” Rodgers said. “But, they just don’t feel like they’ve seen the Democratic Party necessarily deliver on the ideas, and they know Republican candidates have been talking about issues they don’t agree with. The real power of Black voters is that they want to see elected officials or candidates deliver on results.”

Showing up is only part of the battle. Messaging is another.

In the case of organizers and candidates, there is a lack of resources to build a strong infrastructure to support Democratic candidates and rural voters.

Jade Harris, a 26-year-old substitute teacher who ran last year as the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s newly drawn 3rd Senate District, agreed it’s difficult for candidates to run without infrastructure or resources. 

Before running for Senate, Harris served as a city council member in Glasgow, Virginia, a 76% white town of nearly 1,400 people. At the end of the term, she ran in a special election to secure a seat for the state House of Delegates. She campaigned for three weeks with limited campaign resources. Although she lost, she performed better than both parties thought she would, she said.  

“Everyone said I was going to underperform, but it turns out that election was kind of the first one post-Dobbs [the U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision overturning Roe v. Wade] and we saw that trend of Democrats overperforming,” Harris said. “I was like, ‘Wow.’ This little special election in rural Virginia gave the nation a forecast of what to expect.”

Following that race, she gained more resources, so she decided to run for Senate, which she lost, but still overperformed for a Democrat. She also served as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention, an honor bestowed on by the state and congressional leaders.

Gaines, the professor and researcher, mentioned the record-breaking $1 billion the Harris campaign has raised, but the funding doesn’t trickle down to the local parties or civic engagement groups. She referenced how people spend resources on registration drives, but “consistently drop the ball” when it’s time to get them to the polls. Additionally, the “show up when it’s time for elections” strategy isn’t working, she said. 

There must be long term strategies to build up viable candidates. 

That’s Wallace’s mission. Whether through front porch talks or Beauty Salon Conversations: C.U.R.L.S (Cultivating Unified Relationships with Ladies for Success), she wants to equip voters with tools and resources to step into their power.

“A big part of the work we’re doing is to empower these rural communities of color to change their own communities and know that they have that power,” Wallace said. “If you’ve been in a town for decades, even though you were the majority that was being led by the minority, you kind of feel, you don’t have power.”

As a citizen, Snuggs is concerned about the potential outcome of the upcoming election. But, he won’t allow the obstacles to stop him from engaging and educating others.

“It’s ridiculous to think that we have arrived as a people and still have work left to be done,” Snuggs said. “The fight is still ongoing, and we got to do something to reverse this.”

Correction: A photo caption in a previous version of this story misidentified Garrett Snuggs.

The post Why the Political Power of Black Rural Voters Is Often Invisible appeared first on Capital B News.

MARLINTON — Tourism is rapidly growing in Pocahontas County, where the headwaters of eight rivers flow and miles of trails attract hikers and bikers. But, while many locals embrace the influx of visitors, it has created some challenges. 

Mountain State Spotlight visited Pocahontas County as part of our initiative to talk to voters in all 55 counties in the lead-up to the 2024 Election. In each county, reporters are asking a simple question: What do you want to hear candidates talking about as they compete for votes?

From Hillsboro to Bartow, residents said they need a solution to the lack of affordable housing in the area, additional resources for county public schools and more grocery stores or places to shop. 

In Marlinton, the county seat, business owners and longtime residents say they’ve seen a daily uptick of visitors since the pandemic brought people from urban areas to the state. 

“We’re just average-joe people living in a tourist town,” said Anne Walker, owner of the Handmade WV Market.

In the back of her store, displays house colorful artwork, patterned quilts and tie-dyed shirts from local artisans. Near the entrance, handmade beaded bracelets and jewelry sit adjacent to fresh vegetables and jars of jam. 

Walker said business has been steady since the market opened three years ago, but that changes with tourism seasons. Most tourists visiting are stragglers from Snowshoe Mountain Resort or bikers on the 77-mile Greenbrier River Trail. 

Next door at Greenbrier Bikes, owner Scott Geyette sees bike riders from all over the country who come to town for biking gear or repairs at his shop. 

With new bikes lining both corners of the shop, Geyette said that since moving to the area in 2011, he’s seen the town transform. Many new businesses opened following the pandemic. 

“We’re trying to be a destination for people to come and spend their tourism dollars,” he said. “And it’s working.”

Nicknamed “Nature’s Mountain Playground,” Pocahontas County boasts activities including riding the Cass Scenic Railroad, skiing at Snowshoe Mountain Resort and hiking at Watoga State Park or the Cranberry Glades. 

However, like in nearby counties, the strong tourism investment has led to a housing shortage and rising prices for residents. 

Housing prices, available inventory remain an issue for many 

Back at the market, Walker assisted her next customer and said finding housing has been a big issue for people in the area. 

She said local landlords are turning rental properties into Airbnbs as demand has grown, further limiting supply for long-term rentals. 

“The price of land has gone up, while the availability of housing has gone down since the pandemic,” she said. “Rural areas have become a sanctuary, and we’ve become a sanctuary for people living in the cities.”

Her customer, Marty Giddings, who is a real estate broker from Slaty Fork, added that the housing market atop Snowshoe Mountain has affected other markets across the county. She said she most recently closed on a $1.8 million listing there. 

“Housing is incredibly difficult because of Snowshoe,” she said. “Landlords can get residual income from the resort through rentals. So, locals end up not being able to afford to buy something because the prices are crazy.”

20 minutes south in Hillsboro, at the Hillsboro Public House, visitors are enjoying a menu of salads, burgers and desserts. The pandemic-born eatery had three years of extensive renovations but was opened last year. 

Owner Terrell McSweeney Burns moved to the area in the late 1990s and owns rental properties and businesses in town.

She said she’s struggled to find skilled labor like culinary chefs and the housing market has hindered her search.

“I could recruit from further away if I had housing to offer people, but I can’t,” she said. “I’m limited because there’s not enough housing here.”

Last year, Pocahontas County was designated as a Build WV zone, which is a state initiative to build more affordable housing. Developers can apply, and projects that are approved receive a sales tax exemption on building materials and property tax credits. 

McSweeney Burns said she’s struggled with making rent prices of her properties affordable while also receiving returns on investments and figuring out how to develop land she owns. 

“This tax credit thing they passed is a great start,” she said. “But, it’s not even close to trying to figure out the economics of someone like me actually developing properties.”

County public schools need more funding, resources for students

With a population of a little more than 7,800, the county only has one high school but several elementary schools. 

As a mom of two teenage kids, McSweeney Burns said there need to be more resources for the school system and more pay for teachers. 

“We don’t even have a scoreboard on our baseball field for the high school,” she said. “If we could invest more in the schools so that the kids felt more support and had real sports programs and real music programs, that would be great.”

In March, high school students walked out of classes in protest of proposed budget cuts that would’ve eliminated multiple teaching positions. 

The county Board of Education voted to save a position in April but cited rising costs and decreased federal and state funding as reasons for the cuts. 

On the northern end of the county, Dunmore resident Teresa Lambert works as a culinary arts teacher at the high school and runs the Mountain State Cakes Bakery. 

She said the school system could use more supportive programs for struggling students as more than half of them do not live with their parents. 

“It’s sad because we have lots of students who could do a lot of wonderful things, but when you have that kind of home life, that’s your focus,” she said. 

More grocery stores, places to shop in the county

Residents also said they’d like more local places to shop or pick up household supplies and groceries instead of driving out of the county. 

Up north in Cass, the scenic railroad gift shop features a range of items for thousands of visitors riding the train every year. From branded baseball caps to toy train whistles and playing cards, new souvenirs are stocked daily.  

Amanda Bennett, who works as the receptionist for tickets, said she lives in Bartow but doesn’t mind making the 25-minute commute for work as she makes an even longer one just to pick up a loaf of bread. 

“It’s not very crowded here, and it’s peaceful, but the worst part is going to buy groceries,” she said. “I have to go almost an hour away to Elkins.”

Even in Marlinton, resident and local craftmaker Cheryl Cane said she loves where she lives and how close-knit the community is but wishes she didn’t have to travel so far for her essentials. It would be nice to have some of the stores in the cities, she said. 

“We have one grocery store, one dollar store and one pharmacy.”

Tourism is booming in Pocahontas County. It’s causing problems for some locals appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.

EMPORIUM — In early August, Sheetz announced plans to shutter its only location in rural Cameron County, and the closure was all anyone could talk about.

The small north-central community in the heart of the Pennsylvania Wilds would lose the only 24/7 gas station for miles. Residents, who’ve watched industries come and go over the years, thought this was just the latest economic blow. Meanwhile, local leaders tried to sway the company into staying by proposing other properties. They worried the gap would damage traffic and tourism throughout the region, which is known for its outdoor recreation and dark skies.

A $10 donation and a group of seven determined people helped keep the building people call ‘Geneva’s heart’ beating until its 100th birthday. What started as one of the first school buildings in Seminole County, The Rural Heritage Center has become a community hub, hosting everything from weddings and yoga classes to plays and birthday parties.

This year marks the 100-year anniversary of the schoolhouse, which at the time housed a library and three classrooms that served 80 students in 12 grades.

Located on Main Street in the center of the 2,900-population town of Geneva, the Center is tucked between the thick trees that line the two-laned road, which hosts important community activities, such as the 4th of July Parade and Festival.

But the Center was very close to being demolished not too many years ago.

In 2008, when the Seminole County School Board decided it was time to let go of the building, it was set to be demolished and turned into a school bus parking lot.

Longtime Geneva resident Mary Jo Martin was one of the original board members of the nonprofit Rural Heritage Center who objected to this plan. Members of the board put together a PowerPoint presentation detailing the vision they had for the building to convince the school board to sell them the property.

“The community said that building is still good,” Martin said.

Since the school board had already planned on demolishing the building, they willingly handed it over to the Rural Heritage Center for just $10.

“And the rest is history,” Martin said.

Martin and a team of longtime Geneva residents banded together to bring the building back to life. Throughout the process, the board members relied heavily on help from other community members who donated their time and skills to redo the floors, build furniture and donate money.

While the purchase of the building itself cost less than a meal, the restoration and upkeep cost the Rural Heritage Center thousands.

“We’ve put a lot of money and sweat equity into the building to restore it to a good condition,” Heritage Center finance director Richard Creedon said.

Creedon said the board put $50,000 into the restoration of the building and continues to contribute about $20,000 per year to keep up operations.

Bob Hughes, owner of the Ole General Store in Geneva, donated the wood, and Geneva resident Tracey Stebbins laid the floors. The tables in the center were built by a woodworking class hosted at the center.

Martin said the Rural Heritage Center was built up by the community for the community. The center’s original seven board members decided the building would serve as a place for groups to rent for events.

One day the center is a square dancing saloon where boot taps on wood floors echo through the halls and the next it serves as a theater where over 200 folks can view old movies in the auditorium. From churches gathering on long red pews to soap-making classes on the front porch and homeschooling meetings in front of wide chalkboards, the center has seen it all.

Now retired from the board, Martin teaches a mountain dulcimer class at the center, bringing people together through Appalachian folk music.

“They’re unemployed or retired people who have always loved music but never knew how to play anything and so they learned how to play dulcimer,” Martin said. “And we have such a good time.”

A bit of history

Behind the red brick walls and white pillars that frame the white double doors, designed by architect Elton Moughton, lives a space that brings Geneva’s spaced-out houses built on large acres of land of together.

What is now known as the Rural Heritage Center started as Geneva Elementary School. The original name is preserved in time, still displayed on the front porch of the building above its wide double doors.

Although it was small, the building had everything it needed to provide education for its 80 students. With three classrooms, a library and a partnering school that shared its cafeteria, Geneva’s old schoolhouse made do.

From its humble beginning, the building’s purpose grew.

In 1988, after Geneva Elementary school moved next door to First Street, the building served as a water management office, a sheriff’s office and a resource center while still under the school board’s ownership.

Answering today’s needs

While the building has served many different roles throughout time, it has held onto its original structure and purpose to serve the community.

During the Great Depression, while the Heritage Center was still known as the Geneva School House, a program teaching home economics to women and agriculture to men was designed to help meet the needs of families.

Eighty-one years later, the center took the initiative to help the community recover from devastation again after Hurricane Ian left the city flooded and without power.

Facility Use Coordinator Trish Deer recalled the center’s 2022 recovery effort.

“We just decided we’re opening,” Deer said. “We don’t care what happens, we are opening, and that was a huge blessing to the community.”

In partnership with FEMA, Seminole County and the American Red Cross, the center provided cleaning supplies, baby diapers and food for residents in need for nearly a month after the storm.

As the Rural Heritage Center continues to grow, Creedon requests that the community continues to support its initiative by offering donations.

The board plans to use the money to remove termites from the building, build a new roof and repair the air conditioning, which Creedon says will cost approximately $85,000.

“If you want to donate, the money is going to go actually to what you want it to be donated for and it’s not going to just go into any kind of pet project,” Creedon said.

Now, the meeting rooms that once served as classrooms are named after local lakes and are open to anyone in the community who needs to rent a space for an event.

“We’re ready if you’re ready to have an event,” Deer said. “No matter how small or how big, we’re there to help you.”

Annual memberships cost $25 and lifetime memberships cost $200.

When Martin reflects on the progress the Center has made over time, she said the success of the Rural Heritage Center was unexpected but it somehow “just worked.”

“I never thought it would continue but it does,” Martin said. “And the people who are the board members now are still doing the same thing we were doing, and trying to keep it up and keep it healthy…It’s still alive and serving the community of the rural area.”

Community members can look forward to the center’s Trunk or Treat event at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31, which will give kids in the community the opportunity to dress up and celebrate Halloween. Learn more.

The post A century of connections: Geneva’s Rural Heritage Center celebrates its 100th year appeared first on Oviedo Community News.

Exposure to humid conditions has caused some NC absentee ballots in 2024 to arrive with return envelopes already sealed. Here’s what do to.

What if your NC absentee ballot return envelope arrives already sealed? is a story from Carolina Public Press, an award-winning independent newsroom. Our breakthrough journalism shines a light on the critical overlooked and under-reported issues facing North Carolina’s 10.4 million residents. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. 

After being incarcerated for 19 years, most people would be happy to never step foot in a prison again. But Jesse Vasquez returns week after week, flashing his state-wide security clearance to guards who know him by name. 

Vasquez leads the Pollen Initiative, a non-profit organization that supports the development of media centers and newspapers in prisons. When he was incarcerated, he was sent to 12 different prisons before ending up at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, located just north of San Francisco. There, he got involved with the prison’s long-running newspaper, San Quentin News. He served as the paper’s editor-in-chief before he was paroled in 2019. 

Now, he’s working to bring similar media projects to other prisons in California, especially more rural ones that don’t have the same programming opportunities as San Quentin.

“It’s not necessarily that people don’t want to provide the programs, it’s proximity [to the prison],” Vasquez said.

Vasquez’s sights are currently set on the Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF), one of California’s two women’s prisons located just outside of Chowchilla, a small city in the Central Valley. Since March of 2024, Vasquez and his colleague Kate McQueen have made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from the Bay Area to Chowchilla to teach a journalism class to CCWF’s incarcerated residents. 

In mid-September, they printed the first edition of the Paper Trail, a monthly newspaper written and edited by incarcerated journalists at CCWF. 

“We want to have media centers and newsrooms flourish inside these institutions primarily because for the longest time they’ve been closed institutions with no transparency, no accountability, and no exposure,” Vasquez said. 

Geography Matters

For those incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility, San Quentin News has long been a source of both awe and exasperation. 

Megan Hogg is a regular reader of San Quentin News and a member of CCWF’s inaugural journalism class. Though she looks forward to reading the newspaper every month, she said she can’t help but notice the difference between the opportunities available to her at CCWF compared to those at San Quentin.

California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation “has provided so much for San Quentin, but they just ignore us,” Hogg said. “It’s frustrating to open the San Quentin News and see that they have athletes, musicians, and artists coming in. There are no resources like that for the women.”

CCWF is one of the largest women’s prisons in the world, with a population of over 2,100 incarcerated residents. It is one of two facilities for women in California, though it also houses trans men and nonbinary people. 

The nearby city of Chowchilla has a population of 19,000 and is in Madera County. Madera County comprises a small, single-county metropolitan area. 

Although certain programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and basic education are available across all of California’s prisons – rural and urban – access to other educational, vocational, and therapeutic resources varies across institutions. 

Many of these programs rely on support from local volunteers and nearby organizations. For example, San Quentin, which is located in the Bay Area, benefits from 500 active monthly volunteers who implement 160 different programs in the prison, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). 

In comparison, CCWF has 100 monthly volunteers who come in at least once a month.

In more rural prisons like High Desert State Prison, located in Lassen County, a nonmetropolitan county with a population of 32,700, just 36 “long-term program providers and religious volunteers” provide programming to the incarcerated, according to the CDCR. Approximately 10 providers with statewide prison clearance provide services to High Desert “a few times throughout the year,” the corrections department said. 

These differences are not lost on Vasquez. While he’s extremely proud of San Quentin News, he said, he’s also “ashamed that we’re not representing the 32 other [California] prisons, many of which are in rural areas and have fewer resources and programming.” 

The Fourth Estate Behind Bars

The Pollen Initiative’s effort to support prison newspapers builds on a long history of prison publications in the United States. 

The first prison newspaper was published from a debtors’ prison in New York in the year 1800, according to archives from the American Prison Newspapers collection. Printing presses were commonly used for vocational training in prisons during the early and mid-20th century, which allowed for a vibrant prison press to flourish.

Since 1800, more than 700 different newspapers have been published at prisons across the country, with the number of publications peaking in the middle of the 20th century. 

But in the 1970s, attitudes towards incarceration began to shift. Punitive, tough-on-crime policies replaced efforts at rehabilitation, and the prison population exploded from 200,000 in 1973 to 2.2 million in 2009, according to a report from the National Resource Council. 

This change in attitude also affected educational and vocational opportunities within prisons. For example, the 1994 Crime Bill excluded incarcerated people from using federal Pell Grants, which had previously helped them access college education. Without funding, few prison college programs survived. 

Most prison newspapers met a similar fate. Punitive attitudes and legal challenges over censorship and the first amendment rights of the incarcerated caused the majority of prison newspapers to disappear by the end of the 20th century. 

Now, it seems a revitalization of the American prison press is underway. At least 25 prison newspapers in 12 states are currently published, and incarcerated journalists are increasingly collaborating with outside publications.

The presence of electronic tablets in prisons and jails across America has also drastically increased the distribution of prison newspapers among incarcerated people. For example, the San Quentin News – and now CCWF’s Paper Trail – are available in print at every California prison, as well as digitally in 950 prisons and jails around the country. Both papers have websites that outside audiences can access. 

This reemergence of the prison press could itself be an indication of shifting attitudes toward criminal justice. In combination with state-level reform, federal policies and legislation have reduced prison populations and expanded rehabilitative opportunities over the past 15 years.

While these reforms are promising for the Pollen Initiative’s work, Vasquez says there is no guarantee that such support for prison reform will continue. 

“When you look at the pendulum of criminal justice reform, it shifts so slowly in the way of progress and so quickly in the way of ‘tough on crime,’” he said. “So when you have a prison administration open its doors to you, you have to strike while the iron is hot because you don’t know when that door is going to close.”

At CCWF, it took nine months of meetings with prison officials before they began working inside the prison. That’s because starting a media center requires approval from the prison’s administration and buy-in from the incarcerated population – a trust-building process that takes time. 

In the spring of 2024, McQueen began teaching a weekly journalism class to the first cohort of students. The program held a celebration for the 19 graduates in mid-September, the same day the first edition of the Paper Trail was published. The Paper Trail’s editorial board was selected from members of this class and has directed both the content and vision of the new publication.

McQueen and Vasquez said the enthusiasm of the prison’s acting warden, Anissa De La Cruz, has made all of this possible. 

“I have made it my mission to give the population of the women’s prison a voice,” De La Cruz wrote in the first print edition of the Paper Trail, which was published September 16, 2024. “Part of that means making space for a newspaper at CCWF, its own newspaper.” 

The Paper Trail in Print

In late August, CCWF’s inaugural journalism class laid eyes on the first physical printing of their newspaper – a mockup that Vasquez and McQueen brought in so the editorial board could finalize the design and layout of the first edition. 

Though it was just a sample draft on regular printer paper, this first look at their newspaper was emotional for many of the writers. Sagal Sadiq, features editor for the Paper Trail, said seeing his first byline was “surreal.” 

“I don’t even know what to say,” Sadiq said, shaking his head. 

The writers hope that in addition to providing information and building community among the incarcerated at CCWF, it will also lead to more attention – and therefore more resources – for the prison. 

One article in the paper’s first edition highlights a peer support program at CCWF for incarcerated people, the first of its kind in the country. The program, which involves 82 hours of training, equips its participants to help new arrivals as they adapt to life in the prison. They’re also trained to facilitate support groups focused on things like personal health and reentry.

Paper Trail contributors say the newspaper is one way to highlight the innovation happening at this rural prison. “We’re doing things that are groundbreaking here, but we don’t have the same coverage as San Quentin,” said Amber Bray, the Paper Trail’s first editor-in-chief. “So we’re leveling the playing field.” 

Bray believes the newspaper can strengthen CCWF’s programming by helping Chowchilla residents see the incarcerated residents as part of their community, which could encourage more volunteers to get involved. 

Everyone incarcerated at CCWF is counted as a Madera County resident in the U.S. Census, Bray pointed out. And the first edition of the Paper Trail includes coverage of one of the many fundraisers put on by CCWF that directly benefits the outside community. Some local publications have shown interest in republishing articles from the Paper Trail, which would further expand the newspaper’s audience and influence.

“Hopefully the newspaper will motivate people to ask questions, and think about how they can help our community by volunteering and getting engaged,” Bray said. 

Nora Igova is the Paper Trail’s art and layout designer. She shares Bray’s hope that the newspaper will bring the inside and outside communities closer together. 

“The Paper Trail will humanize us, humanize this community,” Igova told the Daily Yonder. “There is still an instilled fear in the outside community around prisons. We want people to not be afraid to believe in transformation and rehabilitation, and to see us as potential neighbors.”

For Vasquez, the Paper Trail is an example of something he’s always known: every incarcerated person has a story to tell. 

“There are thousands inside the prison system who are brilliant thinkers, writers, artists,” he said. 

Vasquez knows he was lucky – when he ended up at San Quentin, the resources that were already there allowed him the opportunity to flex his own writing muscle. “I just happened to be at the prison with the most exposure, with the most proximity,” he said. 

No matter where a person is incarcerated, he wants them to have similar access to this opportunity. Vasquez and McQueen hope the Paper Trail can serve as a model for what could be possible at other prisons, rural and urban alike. 

“We want to show people that it is possible, and this is how you can do it,” Vasquez said.

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The post A Prison Newspaper Hopes to Bridge ‘Inside’ and ‘Outside’ Worlds in Rural California appeared first on The Daily Yonder.

The staff of the Asheville-based Manna Foodbank tried their best to prepare for Hurricane Helene. 

Workers at the nonprofit’s primary distribution site just feet from the Swannanoa River moved tens of thousands of food items onto tall shelves ahead of the storm’s arrival. The shelves, they thought, would be high enough to protect the food if the building flooded. 

But after the storm’s catastrophic lurch through western North Carolina, the region’s largest and most wide-reaching food bank was almost fully submerged in rippling waves of brown water. Its stockpile of food, now more badly needed than ever, was gone.

“We weren’t even able to go in and rescue any of the top-shelf food or anything because of how severely damaged everything was,” said Micah Chrisman, director of communications for Manna. “We lost everything. Our forklifts, our warehouse, all of our computers. The whole operation, basically.”

That operation served more than 150,000 people a month in western North Carolina, which struggles with worse levels of food insecurity than other parts of the state. About 20 percent of adults in the region have limited or uncertain access to food, according to the WNC Health Network. 

The area’s hunger issues arise from several economic, geographic and social factors: Poverty and unemployment are more pervasive there than in eastern and central North Carolina, and many residents are unable to afford food. The predominantly rural and mountainous terrain can make a trip to the nearest grocery store challenging for people without transportation. 

“We definitely had an issue with food insecurity already, especially in rural communities where some of these families that I’ve met and talked with have to drive over 30 minutes in any direction just to get food of any kind,” Chrisman said. “There were a lot of food deserts that already existed here. People might have been able to get junk food from a gas station, but they didn’t have access to actual groceries.”

Helene, he said, has “only exacerbated the need” for nourishment. In the days after the deadly storm, western North Carolina went from being one of the most food-insecure parts of the state to being, arguably, one of the hardest places to find food in the nation.

Wiped out 

Fortunately, Manna moved its fleet of trucks to higher ground before Helene barreled through the area. The vehicles were undamaged, which allowed the food bank to quickly establish a pop-up distribution site with supplies donated by Feeding America, a nonprofit national network of more than 200 food banks, and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

“All of our inventory was completely wiped out at the start of this, and so we had to replenish the supplies,” Chrisman said. “Since then, some incredible efforts have come together where grocery chains and different places that are coming back online are able to give us some of their food resources that are still safe to consume.”

Several of the families who have relied on Manna for meals in recent weeks did not struggle for food before the storm, Chrisman said. Some may have had refrigerators loaded with food that went bad after days without power. Others might have been forced to flee their flooded homes and were unable to find food elsewhere.

“There are people from the hardest-hit communities who are coming to us in need of food assistance that maybe would not normally need assistance because they might have been laid off from their job because the business was flooded,” Chrisman said.

Many people in the area, he added, have been “humbled by this whole ordeal of having no running water for all this time and not having access to food.”

Chrisman said some of the food bank’s employees and volunteers “lost their homes and everything else” to the hurricane. Undeterred by their own hardship, they have continued working throughout the crisis.

“They’re still showing up every day helping deliver food or distribute food to families in need,” he said.

Manna has leased a shuttered FedEx facility near the Asheville Regional Airport to serve as its new center of operations. The food bank has also been rebuilding its stockpile with donated goods.

“As the word’s gotten out, people have been sending orders from Amazon and Instacart or driving up with bags of groceries because they had extra and just wanted to give to the people who need it most,” Chrisman said. 

Road to recovery 

Other efforts are being made to address food insecurity in Helene’s wake. 

Last week, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office said FEMA and other “federal partners” had delivered 9.7 million liters of water and 7.7 million meals “to support both responders and people living in the affected communities.” Writing in a news release on Sunday, the White House said FEMA “continues to send commodity shipments and voluntary organizations are supporting feeding operations with bulk food and water deliveries coming via truck and aircraft.”

“Mobile feeding operations are reaching survivors in heavily impacted areas, including three mass feeding sites in Buncombe, McDowell and Watauga counties,” the release said, adding that the “massive operation” is being bolstered by The Salvation Army, which has deployed mobile kitchens to the area. 

William Ray, director of N.C. Emergency Management, said his agency is assisting with “feeding operations in concert with our local partners.” 

“This is a historic disaster, the magnitude of which we have never experienced before in our state,” Ray said during a recent news conference. “The road to recovery will be long, but North Carolinians are strong and resilient, and together we will recover.”

At the same conference, Kody Kinsley, secretary of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said more than 10,000 cases of baby formula had been delivered to the region. The department, he said, had also increased the flexibility of its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, allowing recipients to buy hot food, which is ordinarily not covered, from participating vendors through Nov. 3.

On Oct. 6, NCDHHS reissued 70 percent of the previous month’s SNAP benefits to help people in the disaster area replace food that had been lost or was no longer safe to eat. More than 227,000 beneficiaries across a 23-county swathe of western North Carolina automatically received the reimbursement, totaling $24 million in benefits. 

Beginning Tuesday, storm victims who are not currently enrolled in SNAP can pre-register for a one-time stipend to buy food through the Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or D-SNAP. The program is open to people who “suffered losses/damages related to Hurricane Helene,” according to NCDHHS. 

Pre-registration can be completed online through the state’s ePass service. Registration will be available by phone and in-person at designated offices in the affected counties beginning Friday. 

“Much is underway, and there will be much more to do,” Kinsley said. “We all remain committed to the health and well-being of everyone in the region, in mind and body, for the long haul.”

The post Food bank bounces back from Helene to tackle hunger crisis in western NC appeared first on North Carolina Health News.

A busy rail corridor through northwest Montana was closed over the weekend after a train derailed and spilled hundreds of tons of grain on the southern edge of Glacier National Park. 

On Saturday morning at approximately 5:42 a.m., a westbound BNSF Railway grain train derailed near Bear Creek, about four miles east of Essex. Nobody was injured in the derailment but 12 rail cars went off the tracks, with two sliding down a steep embankment above U.S. Highway 2. BNSF officials told Montana Free Press that the cause of the derailment was under investigation. 

The derailment blocked both main line tracks for hours and forced the closure of BNSF’s busy route between the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Passengers aboard Amtrak’s Empire Builder, which connects Chicago with Portland and Seattle, had to ride buses between Whitefish and Shelby to get around the derailment. One of the main line tracks was cleared and rebuilt by late Saturday, enabling some rail traffic to resume through the area. The second main line track was expected to reopen by Monday. 

While no hazardous material was spilled in the wreck, the hundreds of tons of grain that did will likely concern wildlife officials in northwest Montana. Grain spilled along Glacier Park from leaking rail cars or derailments has been an issue for decades because when the grain ferments it attracts bears to the railroad right-of-way. 

According to a lawsuit filed earlier this year by two environmental groups, BNSF trains have allegedly “killed or contributed to the deaths” of more than 50 bears between 2008 and 2018, between Shelby and Sandpoint, Idaho. BNSF has been working with wildlife officials to come up with a plan to address the issue, most notably by thoroughly cleaning up derailment sites. On Saturday afternoon, at least two vacuum trucks were spotted at the derailment site ready to begin picking up the spilled grain. 

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, more than 1,000 trains derail every year in the United States.

The post Train derails near Glacier, spills hundreds of tons of grain appeared first on Montana Free Press.

Eighth-generation farmer Ben Edwards hustles from his family’s seaside Machias farmhouse at Schoppee Farm each morning, often with one of his two toddlers on a hip, his lanky legs moving swiftly, first to the greenhouse where he cares for tender organic hemp plants, and then to the fields to bring in the harvest and put in cover crops for winter. 

Down the road at Welch Farm in Roque Bluffs, sixth-generation farmer Lisa Hanscom and her seven-year-old grandson survey the family’s guest cabins and iconic wild blueberry barrens as they reach full splendor after the harvest, the cool ocean air transforming the tiny green leaves into shimmering hues of crimson, copper, and magenta. 

In neighboring Aroostook County, trees are splashed with another blaze of carnival color, framing thousands of acres of rolling potato fields, dotted with tractors as farmers and laborers toil from dawn to dusk harvesting the last of this year’s crop.

But some of Maine’s bucolic landscape might soon be ceded to help meet the state’s desperate demand for housing. 

A new bi-partisan bill introduced in late September by U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) would pour an additional $200 million into an existing federal program to incentivize rural property owners to build rental housing on their land, such as an attached apartment unit or a small home nearby.

The Farmhouse-to-Workforce Housing Act is just one piece of a patchwork effort to create a flurry of housing around the country after decades of lagging construction, aging stock, zoning restrictions and local resistance to building collided with a dramatic change in migration patterns post-pandemic, leaving rural communities in particular struggling to deal with a lack of places for people to live.  

A study commissioned by Gov. Mills and MaineHousing found that Maine will need upwards of an additional 84,000 new housing units by 2030. The state currently has about 741,803 housing units, nearly a quarter of which were built before 1940.  

In a press release, Sen. King said the bill aims to make it cheaper and easier for Maine people and residents across the country to renovate their homes or build new ones on their land.

“Maine is one big, small town connected by long roads, and when I drive those long roads, I see potentially available properties in the same communities that are facing crisis levels of housing availability,” King said. 

The biggest push to increase residential and workforce housing is in Washington and Aroostook counties, where the need is greatest due to historically lower housing production, coupled with an influx of wealthier new residents and property investors buying up already meager housing stock.

According to housing trends based on permits issued, the MaineHousing study found that Washington and Aroostook counties — two of the state’s four poorest counties — will need to add an average of 50% and 40% more housing, respectively, over each of the next five years to keep up with existing and future needs and hit the state’s lofty goals. 

In Aroostook County that means adding 390 housing units each year, a roughly 333% increase over current production. In Washington County, it will require a truly herculean feat — 830 new housing permits will have to be issued each year — a 1,283% leap in production each year over what the county currently manages. 

At a multi-day housing workshop held in Machias last month, about two dozen municipal leaders from ten rural communities gathered to learn about programs, strategies, and available funding to help increase housing and manage growth. The workshop is the second in a three-year series being facilitated by GrowSmart Maine, a non-profit community planning advocacy group. The program is funded in part by a $304,636 USDA Rural Community Development Initiative grant.

Sen. King’s proposed legislation, which is currently under review by the Senate Banking Committee, taps into an existing, under-funded USDA rural housing preservation grant program that was originally intended to help rural property owners renovate their homes. This fiscal year’s funding for the program is $12.2 million. 

According to Senators King and Moran, the program is underused and receives limited funding. If adopted, the legislation would expand the national program for rural housing creation by increasing its funding by $200 million, a more than 1500 percent jump, and expanding eligibility for rural homeowners willing to yield some of their land to create more housing on their property — such as an attached apartment unit or a small home nearby — to be available for rent, according to King’s press release.

Low- or medium-income rural property owners with a primary home that is 25 years or older would be eligible for two grants of up to $100,000 each to construct rental housing in the home or on their land.

King’s proposal follows legislation passed by Maine lawmakers in 2022 that effectively eliminated single-family zoning in certain areas by requiring municipalities to ensure local regulations allow the creation of different types of housing units, including multi-family dwellings and so-called accessory dwelling units.

That prospect of incentives to develop housing on farmland makes Edwards, from Schoppee Farm, more than a little worried.

“Anything that erodes the ability of farms to continue somehow or another as actual farms, I don’t see the long-term gain in that,” said Edwards. “Not get too grandiose about it, but I really think it’s just overall bad for our culture and our communities, period.”

Data from the American Farmland Trust shows that Maine’s already sparse farmland is under significant threat. According to the AFT, from 2001 to 2016, 17,000 acres of Maine’s agricultural land were developed or compromised, converted to residential or commercial use. The analysis found that the converted land could have generated $10 million in annual revenues had it stayed as farmland.

About half of Maine’s remaining agricultural land is considered “Nationally Significant Land,” classified by AFT as the nation’s best land for long-term production of food and other crops, according to the report..

Edwards said he’s witnessed farmland slipping away as many farmers, struggling under the rising costs of farming and roller-coaster revenues, buckle to developers. He’s concerned the proposed incentives for farmers to build housing on farmable land would add one more threat, and points to solar farms, built on agricultural lands, as an example of how fast an industry can gobble up valuable, historic farmland.  

The proposed legislation by Sens. King and Moran could add fuel to the debate over farmland conversion. New federal housing incentives and the already hotly contested solar issue also could pit the state’s climate action plan goals against its housing goals. 

Details of the proposed federal rural housing legislation are yet to be determined, including how funds would be allocated to each state and each county, said Rhiannon Hampson, Maine State Director for USDA Rural Development, in a written response to questions from The Maine Monitor.  

Hampson added that Maine benefits greatly from the Rural Development Housing Preservation Grant program, a total of $169, 658 in fiscal year 2023. The funding was split between Penquis Community Action Agency and Western Maine Community Action to rehabilitate low- and very-low-income, owner-occupied homes.

“It’s a way in which we can strengthen the work of our partners, such as Community Action Partnership agencies like Penquis and others, to do the direct work for folks to create more and safer housing options.”

Maine is suffering growing pains as it struggles to balance agricultural, energy, and housing needs. There has been a flurry of recent legislative actions at the state and local level to either expand or curtail regulations on everything from expanding the areas where modular housing can be built to reining in how much solar and wind power can impact farmland, wildlife and fisheries habitat.

Down on Englishman Bay, wild blueberry farmer Lisa Hanscom sees the issues a little differently than her neighbor, Edwards. Hanscom believes there needs to be a balance.  

Sixteen years ago, Hanscom erected rental cabins on her family’s still-productive blueberry farm, diversifying into agricultural tourism. Her great grandfather fueled the farm with a wind tower and Hanscom would like to add some solar panels to help curb her energy costs. She hopes lawmakers strike the right balance.

“Don’t take away the ways that farmers can make money, to make sure that they can stay there and survive — so they don’t have to sell off the farm to developers.”

BUCKHANNON — A flurry of visitors and volunteers entered the Upshur County Parish House as early autumn sunlight warmed the white rocking chairs on the porch. 

It’s just after 8 a.m., and it’s busy. 

Inside, a bustling waiting room held those seeking help with their bills. Back in the kitchen, volunteers prepared lunches for residents to take home. 

Upstairs, parents were getting formula and diapers for their newborns. In the basement, volunteers prepared to hand out canned goods, frozen meals and bread for families.

As the house filled with visitors, Executive Director Isaac Casto said the charity is expanding to reach residents in other parts of the county and serving a growing number of families.

“We’re really proud that we’re able to help, but it’s also sad,” he said. “We realize that the more we’re expanding, the only reason that’s happening is because people are hurting.”

Mountain State Spotlight visited Upshur County as part of our initiative to talk to voters in all 55 counties in the lead-up to the 2024 election. In each county, reporters are asking a simple question: What do you want to hear candidates talking about as they compete for votes?

Residents said they need the public education system fixed, more investment in social services for those in poverty and facing hunger and a plan to combat rising costs. 

The Parish House has been working to feed hungry children in county schools, especially after programs such as a weekend lunch program were cut last year.

“We understand that for a lot of the students, having breakfast and lunch at school is the only guaranteed meal that they have,” said Casto, a former teacher.

More social services are needed 

Across the street from the Parish House, is West Virginia Wesleyan College’s Center for Community Engagement and Leadership Development. 

The center connects students with volunteer opportunities to work in schools and community centers on issues like poverty and hunger.

Sienna Chenoweth, a sophomore studying biology, said there were not enough resources funneled into education or social services throughout the county. Chenoweth works on a team addressing poverty with other students and volunteers in Buckhannon. 

“We have more and more people who are food insecure and struggling to make ends meet, even with two jobs,” she said.

About a 20-minute drive south, outside the IGA grocery store in Rock Cave, Virginia Ables took a break from her job as an office assistant. She’s worked there for 16 years and lived in the area for three and a half decades. 

It’s a safe and peaceful community, she said. Like many places, there are some problems with drugs, but in 35 years, she hasn’t locked her door once.

Ables said she’d like to see candidates talk about the economy and what they plan to do about rising costs. Prices have gone “sky high” at the grocery store, and business has slowed down.

“People just buy basics that they have to buy,” she said. “They don’t splurge much.”

Stronger investment in public education 

Freshman nursing student Matthew Hatfield volunteers at nearby Tennerton Elementary School. On Fridays, he puts together food bags for students to take home and said there are always extra kids who ask for food.

“So many kids come in hungry,” he said.

Hatfield, a native of Oceana, said he’s worried about West Virginia’s steadily aging population and is torn about whether to stay in the state after he graduates. 

His family is here, but there are limited opportunities. He wants to see what’s out there but doesn’t know if he could leave a state that he loves so much. 

“It’s like a teeter-totter,” he said, adding that his best idea right now is to be a travel nurse for a few years to make money before settling down back home.

Coming to Wesleyan has been a big transition for Hatfield. He said his high school education wasn’t very rigorous and he hopes elected officials will make sure that the next generation of kids fares better.

“I really do think we need to focus on the education system — more that prepares us for college,” he said.

Jess Vincent, director of the the Center, said students are underprepared for college courses because educators have struggled with limited resources.

In 2022, Upshur County voters rejected a Board of Education levy that would have provided millions of dollars in increased funding for the district. She said after-school programs, jobs and bus services have been cut as a result. 

“If students can’t even get out of the county, especially on a field trip, how are they ever going to think about college?” she said.

Lexi de Coning, communications professor, said that over nine years at Wesleyan, she’s seen significant changes with first-year students and education funding is the largest factor. 

“Education and poverty are interrelated,” she said. “The literacy rates of my students have decreased dramatically. I’m having to give more leeway with assignments and deadlines.” 

History and political science student Ian Wychoff said he came to Wesleyan because its small size reminded him of growing up in nearby Weston. As he thinks about whether to stay in West Virginia after graduation, he knows he wants to be in a place small enough to make a difference. He wants a place where he is one of thousands instead of one of millions.

“It’s a better chance I can actually help and actually do something,” he said.

Trey Greer, a political science and criminal justice student, said that he’s frustrated by the extreme polarization in politics. After college, he plans to attend law school and hopes to one day become a state lawmaker.

But for current candidates, he wants to know what their positive vision is for West Virginia and the state’s future. “What hope can you provide for West Virginians now?”

‘What hope can you provide?’ Upshur County residents say rising costs are leaving people hungry and schools underfunded appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight, West Virginia’s civic newsroom.