Rural Ain’t What It Used To Be

As Institutions Crumble, Predators Profit

What happens to communities after everyone leaves? As urbanization rages on, what is life like for those left behind? Dare we speak of hope in widow places?

I live in the coalfields of Appalachia. For the last 30 to 40 years, our population has been shrinking. The effect is more pronounced in the most isolated areas, places furthest from an interstate highway. McDowell County in West Virginia, over this time frame, has seen its population go from over 100,000 to 18,000. Buchanan County is roughly half the size it was in 1980.

Fight For Survival

This drastic loss of population puts great strain on the institutions that served the common good of the communities in their prime. The types of institutions I have in mind are churches, schools, civic organizations, banks, etc. It is hard for once proud institutions to admit that the future looks much different than the past. The maintenance of large outdated facilities becomes a burden with which many institutions must reckon. These facility expenses consume the budgets, and institutions lose their ability to follow their vision and serve the community. Many try to project an image of stability in the face of insecurity and thus grow irrelevant, overly burdened, and ultimately collapse under…