We were honored to welcome Sarah Jaynes, Executive Director of Rural Democracy Initiative and Jess Piper, Executive Director of Blue Missouri. Our conversation focused on rural America and what they are feeling about the November elections.
Rural Democracy Initiative is the first funding collaborative building power toward a thriving democracy and shared prosperity across diverse communities in rural areas and small cities. As a funding collaborative, they bring together resources from leading philanthropic organizations and individual donors to implement a coordinated strategy.
They invest in civic infrastructure in small cities and towns to impact public opinion, elections, and redistricting processes. RDI also fights for policies that make a difference for rural people. They build sustainable organizations that support rural people working to transform rural America — and therefore our national politics — for decades to come.
Sarah Jaynes grew up in a small town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state and began her career organizing on climate issues in rural communities. Sarah is recognized for her expertise leading innovative campaigns integrating field experiments, digital platforms, and transformative narrative, and manages to stay relentlessly optimistic and obsessed with winning.
Jess Piper is a mother to five and grandmother to three and lives on a small farm on the Missouri/Iowa border. She was born and raised in rural America. She was an American Literature teacher for 16 years. After the 2016 election of Trump, Jess became politically active. Jess ran for office in 2022 for State Representative in HD1 in Northwest Missouri. Jess writes well known newsletter: The View from Missouri.
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📚 Read Jess Piper’s Newsletter
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BigTent Podcast: Sarah Jaynes and Jess Piper