Voices from Rural America
Kevin Miskell is a fifth-generation farmer, raising corn and soybeans on 700 acres in Stanhope, Iowa. He works the land, makes all the decisions on how it is used, and directs the farm's day-to-day operation.
Miskell receives government commodity payments but says that he and other farmers "want a farm program structured so that we get our money from the market, not from the government."
In Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, Ben and Leonora Newell are working, through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), to bring hope to a county that is one of the 20 poorest in the United States. In this community of 15,000, more than 28 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The Newells work with Together for Hope, CBF's rural poverty initiative.
One of the project's programs is Kingdom Enterprises, a new effort that will focus on attracting small and large businesses to Helena.
“If you can bring 100 new jobs to the community that can pay livable wages, benefits and child care, you’re offering something very valuable…that can change the whole outlook of the community,” Ben said.
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In Helena, AR, programs run by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship minister to rural children. "Reaching kids at an early age is more effedtive for their log-term development," says Ben Newell. |
