Economic Mobility for Rural Workers Resource Guide

This section brings together trusted tools that help chambers better understand their rural economy, workforce and population. They help you tell a more accurate story, make informed decisions and communicate local needs and opportunities

Static and Contextual Data

Most of these tools provide two types of data. Static data show a snapshot in time, such as current education levels or population size. Contextual data help explain trends over time, such as job growth, population change or shifts in industry.

Tool	Rural Economic Development Tool Center on Rural Innovation	County Health Rankings and Roadmaps  University of Wisconsin	Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America  U.S. Department of Agriculture	Rural Data Explorer   Rural Health Information Hub	Rural Data Central  Housing Assistance Council	Educational Attainment in Rural Areas  National Center for Education Statistics	Labor Market Data Hub  Southern Regional Education Board	Interactive Dashboard  Midwestern Higher Education Compact
Best for	Workforce and education benchmarking for rural economic development.	Understanding factors that affect workforce and economic mobility. This tool looks beyond health to include housing, income, education, broadband and social factors at the county level.	Mapping county-level economic and population data. This interactive map includes more than 60 indicators covering jobs, income, population and county types.	County comparisons across education, workforce and demographics. This tool includes a wide range of data on population, workforce and community conditions. It allows users to compare metro and nonmetro counties at the state and national level.	Housing, poverty and demographic data in rural communities. This tool provides data on housing, income and population across rural, suburban and urban areas, with a strong focus on rural communities.	Understanding the education baseline of your adult population. This resource focuses on education levels for adults age 25 and older in rural areas, with breakdowns by geography.	Aligning education programs with employer demand in Southern states. This dashboard connects labor market data to education and training programs across 16 Southern states. It includes detailed information on occupations and workforce demand.	Tracking the path from education to workforce. This tool brings together data on education, completion rates and workforce outcomes, along with equity gaps.
How Rural Chambers Can Use	Compare your county to similar rural communities instead of metro areas  Identify gaps in workforce skills or education levels  Support economic development and talent strategies with clear benchmarks	Explain barriers to workforce participation  Provide context for economic challenges  Build a broader story about community conditions	Visualize how your county compares to others  Map trends in jobs, income and population  Download data for reports and presentations	Compare labor force participation and education levels across counties  Understand how your community differs from metro areas  Track demographic and workforce trends over time	Understand local housing challenges and affordability  Connect housing data to workforce issues  Support planning and policy discussions with clear data	Understand the education levels of your current workforce  Identify gaps that may affect employers  Inform partnerships with schools, colleges and training providers	Help schools and colleges align programs with local job demand  Identify high demand occupations in your region  Support conversations between employers and educators	Understand how students move from education into jobs  Identify gaps in completion or workforce entry  Support strategies that strengthen the talent pipeline
What to Know	The tool is designed specifically for rural comparisons. It is most useful when benchmarking against peer counties rather than national averages.	This is a summary tool that brings together many factors.	The tool is map based, which makes it especially useful for visual presentations and storytelling.	Despite the name, the tool goes beyond health and includes strong workforce and education data.	This is one of the few tools that centers housing data alongside economic and demographic trends.	This tool focuses on adults, not current students, which makes it especially useful for workforce planning.	The tool is focused on Southern states.	While centered on Midwestern states, the framework can be useful for thinking about education and workforce alignment in any region.

 

Real-Time Labor Market Intelligence 

Most real-time data tools are not built for rural areas as the primary audience. The Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group’s report In Search of Good Rural Data (2020) found that the most used national datasets fail rural communities in four ways:  

1. Data suppression at small geographies 
2. Wide margins of error for small populations 
3. Urban-designed survey methodologies 
4. Long lag times between collection and release.  

Chambers should pair a quantitative tool with local qualitative sources like hospital community health need assessments, community foundation reports and employer surveys, instead of relying on a static tool only and treating it as authoritative. 

Tool	Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics	Economic Profile System  Headwaters Economics	Distressed Communities Index Economic Innovation Group
Best for	Understanding which industries in your county are adding or losing jobs. This dataset shows how many people are employed and how much they’re paid in different industries in your county. It’s based on real payroll data from employers, so it’s reliable.	Getting a full snapshot of your community’s economy and population in one place. EPS is a free tool that creates easy-to-read reports on your county’s economy, workforce, and demographics. You don’t need advanced data skills to use it.	Showing where your community stands in terms of economic health. The DCI gives each place a score (0–100) based on factors like employment, income, poverty and education. It helps show whether a community is thriving or struggling.
How Rural Chambers Can Use	Identify which local industries are growing and declining  Back up workforce or economic development priorities with data  Show employers and partners where job opportunities are increasing  Track whether local efforts like training programs align with actual job growth	Create quick data reports for grants, strategic plans, or board meetings  Understand trends in population, income, jobs and industries  Compare your county to nearby or similar rural areas	Clearly explain local challenges to funders, policymakers and partners  Support grant applications with a simple, credible measure of need  Compare your community to others at the state or national level  Identify specific issues, like low employment or population loss, to focus on
What to Know	Data is about six months behind. Very small counties may have some missing data to protect employer privacy.	You’ll typically pull data at the county level for rural areas.	Data is updated once a year and is usually easiest to use at the county level for rural areas.

Chambers and their partners need to understand the current state of their communities. Gathering data to assess the landscape is a critical first step. In rural areas, it can sometimes be challenging to aggregate data or identify which data sources accurately reflect your community. Chambers that don’t have in-house resources to do this can work with local economic development organizations or higher education institutions. They may have access to additional data sources and/or expertise in analyzing this data.

Workforce Data

• Understanding Your Community: Labor Market and Workforce Development System Data Toolkit, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce
• A Guide to Accessing and Using Workforce Data, Abt Associates
• Data-Informed Strategy and Continuous Learning, National Fund for Workforce Solutions
• The Essentials of Disaggregated Data for Advancing Racial Equity, Race Matters Institute

K-12 Data

• Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework, Mathematica
• Future of Data in K-12 Education: A Comprehensive Analysis, U.S. Chamber Foundation
• The Florida Scorecard and Florida Gap Map, Florida Chamber Foundation

Postsecondary Data

• Postsecondary Outcomes for Nontraditional and Traditional Undergraduate Students, National Center for Education Statistics
• National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

Other Data

• Research, mapping and data analytics, Center on Rural Innovation
• Opportunity Atlas, Opportunity Insights
• National Equity Atlas, Policy Link
• Community Index, Fourth Economy
• Livability Index, AARP
• The Demographic Drought, Lightcast

With a snapshot of the current state, chambers and their partners can now start considering what might need to change within their communities to provide greater opportunities for economic mobility. While specific programs or projects might offer some small-scale progress, it is helpful to understand the larger, more structural changes that might be necessary to address the community’s challenges at scale. The tools and resources in this section provide an overview of systems change and the mindset needed to address complex problems. They also offer some practical tools for identifying stakeholders within a specific ecosystem.

Systems Change and Thinking

• The Water of Systems Change and an accompanying action learning exercise, FSG
• Community Engagement 101, Visible Network Labs
• CivicLab, Community Education Coalition

Mapping Local Ecosystems

• Equitable Credential Attainment Toolkit, Preparing for the Work, ACCE Foundation
• Partnering with Higher Education to Support Economic Mobility: Ecosystem Mapping, ACCE Foundation
• System Mapping: A Guide to Developing Actor Maps, FSG
• Workforce Ecosystem Mapping Guide, Third Sector Capital Partners, Inc., Hope Street Group

Understanding Other Systems Related to Workforce

• Understanding the Alignment of Economic Mobility and Community Development, Esri
• Introduction to Benefits Cliffs and Public Assistance Programs, National Conference of State Legislatures
• WIOA 101: Counties and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, NACo

Through the ACCE Foundation, 11 communities piloted different approaches for supporting economic mobility for rural workers. Click on each approach below to learn about the work in these communities and access tools and resources to replicate these efforts

• Work-Based Learning
• Establishing One-Stops
• Aligning Credentials
• Creating a Community Vision

Best Practices

K-12 Education

• Find opportunities for career-connected learning. This can start as early as elementary school, though starting in middle school is more common. Think about programs that provide career awareness or exposure for earlier grads, like career fairs or industry days, then transition to career exploration as students get older. This might include job shadowing, employer tours, or even project-based learning. Ensure that students in your community know about the jobs available locally and about the training they need to access those jobs.
• Explore earlier ways for students to gain necessary credentials, degrees and skills. Dual enrollment, co-credit and early college pathways that are aligned to the needs of local industries provide a great way for students to get a jump start on their careers. Rural areas are seeing growing demand for Career and Technical Education (CTE), so consider how you might act as a link between employers and school districts to ensure that the right skills are being taught. Employers can also play important roles in providing instructors for CTE programs, but it can be more challenging to break through the restrictions on teaching requirements at the K-12 level. As employers increasingly look for career readiness in entry-level talent, skills like problem solving and communication are also important. Ask your school districts how they are incorporating the development of those skills, and work with employers to determine where they are still seeing gaps.
• Consider how regional collaboration might help overcome scale and staffing challenges. As a chamber, you may sit at the intersection of several districts. What can you do to enable collaboration across schools or districts? If there is not sufficient demand or capacity for certain in-demand programs at every school, can you facilitate conversations about what it would look like to collaborate on those programs across schools or districts? What role could the chamber or other partners play in things like teacher pipelines? How might the chamber be able to coordinate employer engagement across many schools rather than every school reaching out individually to employers? There is no single right way to approach this, but consider the role you might plan to help meet employer needs for skilled talent

Case Studies & Resources

Implementing College and Career Pathways in Rural Communities, Jobs for the Future

A Case Study of the River Valley School District, AASA, The School Superintendents Association

Understanding Flexible Rural Career Pathways, U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Innovation and Early Learning Programs

A Model of Rural Collaboration: Strengthening College and Career Pathways Through the Rural Schools Innovation Zone, Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research

Postsecondary Education

• Consider your role in supporting the alignment of post-secondary systems with local employer needs. Does your local community college or university offer programs that meet the needs of your employers? Do students have to travel outside the region to get the relevant skills or credentials to work in in-demand jobs locally? These are some of the questions that rural chambers can ask to determine whether their post-secondary systems are aligned with workforce needs. Chambers can play a role in coordinating employer voice and finding solutions to some of these challenges. For example, would it be helpful for a community college to offer instruction on-site at a particular employer to provide upskilling opportunities? Chambers can help convene these types of conversations. 

The most successful post-secondary institutions are also getting more flexible in their program delivery, whether that’s through how the courses are structured (online, hybrid, etc.) or when they are offered (evenings and weekends).

• Encourage post-secondary options for all types of careers. Working with post-secondary systems may mean focusing on two and four-year degrees, but it also includes stackable credentials and micro-credentials that may better serve working adults. Since not every job requires a degree, work with your employers and post-secondary systems to ensure that there are multiple pathways and options available that help students access family-sustaining wages and that help employers build the talent they need. This may also include evaluating transfer pathways to help those who want to pursue a four-year degree after attending community college. Making this process more accessible can increase the likelihood that someone will complete their degree. 

To successfully implement this kind of approach, it’s important to have clearly defined pathways that are well communicated. It’s also important to have strong advising and navigator supports at the post-secondary institution.

Case Studies & Resources

Building Pathways to Opportunity in Appalachian Kentucky, StriveTogether

New Pathways for Indigenous and Rural Students, Forum for Community Solutions at The Aspen Institute

Micro-credentials for Social Mobility in Rural Postsecondary Communities: A Landscape Report, Digital Promise

Adapting to the Future of Rural Work: Focus Areas for Innovation and Change, NC State University College of Education Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research

Workforce Development

• Create upskilling and reskilling opportunities that are accessible and valuable to workers. In many communities, workers don’t realize what opportunities are available. This means better marketing existing programs and opportunities, but it also means clearly showing the ROI to workers and employers. If there are short-term credentials for in-demand jobs, show how those programs can lead to higher wages. Consider supporting paid work-based learning and apprenticeships so that workers can earn and learn. While it is critical to work through and with employers to identify their needs, employees also need to be interested and willing to complete these programs. Gather data from workers to ensure that employer and employee expectations are aligned.
• Collaborate with employers in key sectors. Some rural areas have one major employer, while others have many employers within the same sector. Where communities have a single major employer, ensure that the employer is at the table for any major workforce development conversations. Employers may have unique perspectives on key issues, and it can be helpful for other partners to hear directly from them. It is also important for employers to hear directly from other partners who are working with students. In other communities, there may be multiple employers within a key industry. Chambers can play a role in convening these employers and determining their upskilling/reskilling needs. A new program that might not make sense for an individual employer might make sense if enough employers within the same industry express demand.
• Consolidate access to services and support where possible. Employers and employees don’t have time to speak with multiple entities to figure out how to navigate upskilling/reskilling training. This is especially true when it comes to wraparound supports that enable workers to complete programs. The most successful rural communities have a one-stop place, either virtual or physical, where workers and employers can go to figure out what comes next and what resources are available to support their journey. Consider opportunities to streamline how people find out about specific services and how they are referred to other services within the ecosystem.

Case Studies & Resources

Delta Compass: Workforce Development in Washington County, Mississippi, Rural LISC

Grow Your Own Toolkit: A Guide to Implementing Workforce Strategies in Washington State’s Rural Health Systems, Washington State Department of Health Rural Health Workforce

Wraparound Services

Economic mobility is not just limited by access to education and training. In rural communities, access to attainable housing, transportation and child care are significant barriers to student success. Below are some resources and case studies on how rural communities are working to solve these challenges.

Transportation

Innovations for Better Rural Mobility, International Transport Forum

Best Practices Compendium, National Rural Transit Assistance Program

Childcare

Understanding Childcare Challenges in Rural America: Strategic Recommendations and an Action Framework, Foundation for Rural Service

Strengthening Availability and Access to Child Care in Rural Communities, NC Early Childhood Foundation

Joint Resource Guide to Strengthen and Expand Child Care Facilities in Rural Communities, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families

Housing

Housing Solutions Matchmaker Tool, National Association of Counties

Innovative Housing Showcase, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research

Success Story: CheqBUILT, Wisconsin Office of Rural Prosperity

Telling Your Story

Storytelling is an important component for successfully launching economic mobility work. As you may have heard before, data makes you credible, but stories make you memorable. Chambers need to be able to tell stories to:

• Get buy-in for the work
• Secure funding for the work
• Encourage residents to take advantage of existing and new resources

The resources below explain what makes a good story and include templates chambers can use for their own storytelling efforts.

• Storytelling for Good, The Communications Network and Hattaway Communications
• Sharing Your Story: Data Storytelling Toolkit, Effective Educator Development TA Center
• Higher Education Storytelling Toolkit, USAID
• Your Guide to Writing a Compelling Case for Support, CCS Fundraising

For chambers and their partners working to advance economic mobility in rural communities, sustainable progress depends on the ability to identify, secure and deploy the right funding. Resources relevant to rural economic and community development are dispersed across federal agencies, regional commissions, state offices and a wide field of foundations and corporate givers. Small chambers, often working with limited grants experience and minimal staff, can find this landscape difficult to navigate.

The resources below are organized to help chambers move from awareness to action. Each section covers a different category of funding and search tools.

For a quick reference, chambers can download this Funding Overview to share with their teams or boards.

Getting Started

For chambers new to grants, understanding your chamber’s priorities is the first step. Given the many types of funding sources that exist, upfront clarity will help you determine the best path forward. Based on your priorities, consider if your chamber will seek federal funding or foundation/philanthropy funding.

If you are pursuing federal funding, you must first register on SAM.gov. Obtaining a Unique Entity ID and active registration is free but can be tedious, sometimes taking two to four weeks the first time, so chambers should complete this after making a determination to pursue federal funding but before identifying a specific grant. 

The central federal grants portal is Grants.gov, which lists every federal discretionary opportunity with eligibility, deadlines and application materials.

If you are pursuing foundation/philanthropy funding, a 501(c)(3) organization must serve as the grant recipient. The grant recipient can be a chamber’s foundation (e.g. education foundation or community development foundation) or if a chamber does not have a foundation established, consider who in your community or region with existing funding access/capacity aligns with fundraising goals. Often this may be a community-based organization or community college foundation. If working through a partner, the chamber may be included in the grant application as a program partner, sub-awardee or consultant. 

Candid (Foundation Directory Online) is the definitive database of U.S. foundations and their grantmaking history. Free public access is often available through local libraries and many community foundations. The Philanthropy News Digest RFP Bulletin publishes a free weekly listing of open foundation requests for proposals.

Federal Funding Sources

• The most chamber-relevant federal agency for rural communities, USDA Rural Development, administers programs spanning business development, community facilities, broadband, and workforce. Under this agency, relevant resources include the Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG) for business support centers, training, and feasibility studies and the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program, which moves funds through local utility organizations.
• USDA's free Rural Workforce Innovation Network (RWIN) connects chambers, colleges, nonprofits and employers through monthly virtual workshops and the Innovation Matters newsletter, which highlights funding opportunities and emerging practices.
• The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is the only federal agency focused exclusively on private-sector job creation in distressed areas. Most EDA funding flows through regional Economic Development Districts, so identifying the district that covers your counties is an important first step. Programs most relevant to chambers include Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance.
• The primary federal source of workforce dollars is the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration. Most funding flows through state agencies to local Workforce Development Boards, making a working relationship with the local board one of the highest-value investments a chamber can make. Chambers should be familiar with Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) services, Registered Apprenticeship, and the Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) initiative, which serves the Appalachian, Delta, and Northern Border regions.
• The U.S. Department of Education holds the primary federal CTE funding through Perkins V and rural-specific resources through the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP). Chambers are able to contribute employer engagement to these programs through partnerships with school districts and community colleges rather than applying directly.
• Broadband and digital equity funding flows through state broadband offices that re-grant Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) and Digital Equity Act dollars administered by NTIA's BroadbandUSA. Closing the digital divide is foundational to most workforce and economic mobility goals, so chambers should know who runs the broadband office in their state.

Regional Commissions and State Agencies

• Five federally designated regional commissions offer funding streams specifically for rural communities in their service areas, supporting workforce, infrastructure, business development and capacity building. Chambers in eligible regions should connect early with the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), Delta Regional Authority (DRA), Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC), Southeast Crescent Regional Commission (SCRC) or Denali Commission. Each commission has programming aligned with chamber priorities. For example, ARC’s READY program helps Appalachian organizations obtain the skills, knowledge and resources necessary to strengthen their local economies.
• State workforce, commerce, education, broadband, child care and housing agencies are typically faster to access than federal sources. Chambers will find that these awards tend to have lighter applications and a narrower applicant pool. Most states re-grant federal WIOA, Community Development Block Grant, Child Care and Development Block Grant and BEAD dollars while also operating state-appropriated programs. Subscribe to email updates from the relevant agencies in your state to learn about  state opportunities.  In some states, governor's office initiatives can move quickly, and many prioritize visible rural wins. Determine the priorities of the administration and determine if there may be opportunities for funding through these channels.

Philanthropic and Local Funding

• Local community foundations are local in scope, often more flexible in priorities, and frequently aligned with workforce and economic development goals. They offer modest grants on shorter timelines than federal sources and, for chambers without their own foundations, can serve as fiscal sponsors for chambers seeking grants that require 501(c)(3) status. The Council on Foundations community foundation directory is a useful starting point for finding the foundation serving your region.
• National foundations rarely accept unsolicited applications from individual rural chambers but often fund intermediaries that subgrant to chambers. The ACCE Foundation is the highest-value entry point, hosting cohorts like the Economic Mobility for Rural Workers initiative supported by Ascendium Education Philanthropy. Other foundations with documented rural workforce interest include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Lumina Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
• Corporate giving programs are often the fastest dollars to access. These are typically smaller awards that are relationship-driven, and chambers have natural inroads through their own membership. Utility foundations, nonprofit hospital community-benefit programs, bank foundations and major-employer corporate giving all commonly fund workforce, child care, transportation and other wraparound supports.
• Local governments and individual donors are the final key piece of the funding picture. City and county economic development budgets, occupancy or hospitality tax revenue can be deployed for rural chamber-led workforce projects if they have an aligned focus. Individual major gifts can often fund pilots faster than any grant cycle.

When it comes to economic mobility, each community’s needs are unique. This was evident in the Economic Mobility for Rural Workers cohort. The specifics of improving opportunities for students in a resort mountain town are different than in a rust belt region in the Northeast. This is true even for communities that chose the same models to pilot. The approach one chamber takes may need to be adapted and revised based on the context of a different community. The most important tool a chamber can bring to this work is an adaptive and innovative mindset.

The resources below provide additional information on approaches that may be helpful when designing or executing economic mobility pilots in rural areas.

General Rural Resources

• Rural LISC
• USDA Resource Guide for Rural Workforce Development, United States Department of Agriculture
• Rural-Relevant Resources, United States Department of Education
• Small Town, Big Talent: Identifying and Supporting Academically Promising Students in Rural Areas, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation

Organizations 

These organizations are hubs for research on rural innovation and case studies.

• McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility, Rural Economic Mobility
• U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development resources and Rural Workforce Development Guide
• Center on Rural Innovation
• Partners for Rural Impact
• Heartland Forward
• Center for Rural Strategies
• Rural LISC
• Rural Schools Collaborative

Partnerships

• Toolkit for Developing High-Performing Industry Partnerships, National Fund for Workforce Solutions
• Industry Partnership Assessment, National Fund for Workforce Solutions
• A Guide to Working with Rural Philanthropy, Rural Health Information Hub

Economic Prosperity for All

• DEI Resource Guide, ACCE Foundation
• Equitable Economic Development Playbook Initiative, IEDC
• The Business Case for Racial Equity, W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Design, Funding and Operations

• Creating a Workforce Development Plan, Esri
• Federal Sources of Workforce Funding, Urban Institute
• Creating a Sustainability Plan for Organizations or Collaboratives, National Fund for Workforce Solutions