In a wide-ranging interview with Affordable Housing Finance, VP and director of Rural LISC Caitlin Cain lists the top ways to build robust and sustainable rural economies and reveals what keeps her up at night (and her predictions for the next Super Bowl).

Maurice A. Jones, LISC’s CEO, is the inaugural guest on U.S. Bank’s new podcast “Real Good.” He speaks with Emmy-winning journalist Faith Salie about how even systemic problems must be fought at the local level, why broadband availability is one of the biggest problems facing rural America today, and how access and opportunity are one and the same.

In an interview with Shelterforce editor Miriam Axel-Lute, Jim King of FAHE in Appalachia and Bill Bynum of HOPE in the Mississippi Delta, two longtime LISC partners, discuss the challenge of persistent poverty in rural communities. Investing in rural areas—and dispelling stereotypes about them—they argue, is critical for the health of the entire country.

by Suzanne Anarde

When natural disasters strike—as they increasingly have—there are profound differences between response and recovery in rural areas and urban ones. On the eve of the annual Rural LISC seminar (this year in Monticello, New York, June 4-7), vice president and Rural LISC director Suzanne Anarde published an article in Shelterforce about helping community-based organizations better respond when disaster hits, boost rural resilience, and support communities in preparing before disasters befall them.

Check out our top three reads of the week. They cover the challenges and opportunities facing American communities right now. This week, we’re reading an excerpt from Alexander Garvin's latest book, contemplating what constitutes a “good job” and learning about health equity in rural America.