Amy Stratton is the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's Rural Communities Organizer. She works to find viable solutions to economic and environmental challenges rural communities face. "In the Field" is Amy's blog from her travels throughout the Midwest.
These days more and more people are turning to the Internet for work, social activities and starting new businesses. The Internet levels the playing field so to speak. People living on a western short grass prairie near a town of 300 have access to the same web-based information as a Wall Street Investor from the Big Apple, thereby opening opportunities for folks everywhere.
Internet access is especially important to rural youth. They use it as a tool for work and play; it's truly become a necessity for many folks. Ever Young Entrepreneurs, a Boston Globe article, highlights stories of young folks creating business opportunities using their computer.
To keep web-based information open to all, rural places need broadband access. A memo Rural Broadband Internet Use (2/06), reports that only 24 percent of rural adults have high-speed Internet access while 39 percent of urban/suburban adults have this access. This disparity adds to the challenges rural people face, and must be resolved as rural development polices and laws are created.
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