Annie Contractor is the Policy Director at RuralProgress and RuralOrganizing.org. Annie is bridging the gap between community organizing and community development by resourcing rural civic leaders with legislation and advocacy tools. Wins include the writing and introduction of the Rural Prosperity Act, passage of the Postal Reform Act, and passage and rural reach of the Recompete Pilot Program. In past lives, Annie has designed and led four social justice research studies on three continents that have directly impacted food security, environmental justice, housing justice, and low-income mothers' access to quality jobs. Annie likes to run slowly and play the same three songs on the guitar.
We asked Annie about her current work and here are snippets of what she shared:
- What is the focus of your current work and/or subject of your current research?
grassroots power-building in rural communities of the United States
- How has your GRID minor helped you in your career?
The GRID minor helped me, during my graduate studies and after, to keep a global view and to zoom out and notice the patterns on a macro level into which my day-to-day practitioner experience fits. This global view allows for more innovative solutions than a heads-down view would. A case in story: A local community has identified childcare as a key barrier to economic stability for many area families. An opportunity arose in the last few years to subsidize childcare with government funds. When the elites in the community redirected the funding to a traditional, trickle-down economic development approach, we were able to learn from patterns from other economies to understand the influences that led to this outcome and to re-strategize how to continue seeking this investment in people.
- Do you have any advice or suggestions for current GRID Students?
Power-building starts with listening—take the time to hear the stories of those you seek to support, and use your academic knowledge- and your position of academic privilege and visibility- to amplify their voices.
Lean into the expertise that is here. Each academic talk is an opportunity to turn an idea into action that can tangibly change a community, if you connect the people with technical expertise to the people with the lived expertise. Let's take academic lectures into action!
- How can we learn more about your work through social media? (Twitter? Facebook?Instagram? LinkedIn? Personal website?
- Annie (Gierhart) Contractor | LinkedIn
- RuralOrganizing | Matt Hildreth | Substack
- As an organization, we are divesting of Twitter.