What system conditions will enable all rural children to thrive?

An applied R&D network redesigning how rural innovation is seen, valued, and scaled

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A wide landscape view of green fields with a mountain range in the background and a partly cloudy sky overhead.

What RIDER is

RIDER is a national network-of-networks of public and private peer experts that brings knowledge, systems design, and resources to magnify and grow innovative solutions that build lasting economic resilience for vulnerable rural communities.

Our ultimate goal is to reduce child poverty by half every 20 years.

A young girl with long dark hair, wearing glasses and a red and white striped shirt, holding a blue star-shaped balloon stick, standing in a field with another child riding a bicycle in the background under a clear blue sky.

Who we serve

We serve the rural innovators who serve their local communities.

Together we are committed to discovering, testing, learning, refining, and scaling approaches over as long as it takes to shift system conditions so that all rural families—especially children— can thrive.

Modern wooden house with steps and stone patio, set in hilly landscape with mountains in the background.

What we do

We strive to shift the system conditions that maintain poverty into conditions that drive it out of existence:

  • Make invisible value visible

  • Celebrate the small wins that build to success

  • Grow friendly peer pressure to perform 

  • Inspire funders to compete to end rural poverty

Now is the time

We live in an age of unprecedented wealth and innovation, but the benefits are not reaching everyone. This needs to change.

America is undergoing unprecedented economic change, perhaps unmatched since the Great Depression. Conditions are toughest in our rural places. What if we listen to and learn from the solutions local people have figured out that work in those very places?

We foresee a day when all rural communities thrive– and we believe that the key to this is recognizing that the most valuable investors are the ones already out there putting their lifeblood into the work, who are largely invisible to current systems.

We start by listening

We’re learning from and with those with deep knowledge of America’s rural places, and experience developing solutions to address poverty with proven results.

Community Advisors

Dennis Hempstead, Founder & CEO, Clean World USA

DeWayne Barton and David Martin, Hood Huggers International & Network of Good

Allison Ricket, PhD, University of Ohio

Deputy Advisors to the Undersecretary of Collaborative Affairs

Victor Udoewa, Justice By Design

Bill Fulton, PhD, Civic Canopy

Justin Fier, Timberland Investments

Kathleen Agaton, AirNYC

Mario Moreles, Independent Designer

David Pritchard, SVT Group

Each of these professionals has committed their careers to an economy that works for all of us:

Meet the Rural Innovators

  • Allison Hephner

    Allison Hephner

    Sitgreaves Community Development Corporation

  • A man in a dark suit and white shirt standing outdoors near a brick wall, with trees and cloudy sky in the background.

    Mark Farley

    Upper Cumberland Development District

  • A man standing outside a retail store at night, wearing a black hoodie with the words "Therapy is dope" on it, in a parking lot. The image has a circular overlay with the text "Together for Mental Health" and a logo.

    Jonathan Brunson

    Unafraid to Be Gifted

  • Professional man in a suit smiling at the camera with a light blue background.

    Aaqil Khan

    Connected Communities

  • A woman with glasses, hoop earrings, and braided hair smiling and leaning against a white wall, dressed in a black and white top.

    Christina Lynch

    Edenesque Food Insecurity Initiative

  • Portrait of a young woman with dark hair tied back, smiling, outdoors with blurred greenery background.

    Vichi Jagannathan

    Rural Opportunity Institute

  • Portrait of a smiling man with short dark hair, wearing a brown shirt against a gray background.

    Graham Oberland

    Rural Opportunity Institute

  • Headshot of a middle-aged man with short, brown hair, wearing a dark suit, light blue shirt, and a blue patterned tie, smiling against a dark gray background.

    Richard Taylor

    eTransX

  • A smiling man with dark hair, wearing a gray blazer and light blue dress shirt, standing outdoors in front of a rocky background.

    Doanie Tran

    Center for Innovation  in Education

  • A man taking a selfie indoors, with large windows showing a cityscape of tall buildings in the background.

    Chris Gee

    Shanzhai City

  • A woman with blonde hair smiling outdoors with natural background.

    Sara Olsen

    SVT Group

  • Scrabble tiles spelling "COMING SOON" on a blue background.

Meet the Design Team

  • Logo of the Rural Opportunity Institute with overlapping circles in green, blue, and gray
  • Logo for SITGREAVES Community Development Corporation featuring stylized mountains, pine trees, and curved green and blue lines.
  • Logo with the text 'EMPOWER UPPER CUMBERLAND' and a stylized road and mountain design.
  • A colorful illustration of interconnected human figures forming a circle, with the text "CONNECTED COMMUNITIES" below.
  • Logo with silhouette of a woman's profile composed of abstract shapes, with the text "BE THE LOVE™" arched above her head and the word "edenesque" below.
  • Logo for the Center for Innovation in Education with the tagline "Leading with Learning" in white text on a black background.
  • Logo of SVT Group with green leaf design and gray text.
  • Logo for We TransX, with a heartbeat line and the company name in red and blue
  • Logo with interconnected yellow and green chain links, a red dot above, and the text 'Network of Good' below.
  • A circular badge with a navy blue background and a gold border. The text reads "Unafraid to Be Gifted" at the top and "Established 2020" at the bottom, surrounding a large stylized letter G in gold and white in the center.
  • Colorful, geometric-style illustration of an elephant with the text 'The Liber Institute.org' next to it.
  • Ohio University logo with green text on a white background.

Our Charter

Our charter establishes the foundational framework for our members’ efforts. It defines our mission, governance, operational structure, and strategic priorities to guide a clear, actionable approach to shift the systems that maintain rural poverty into ones that continually reduce poverty.

Have a look and if this Charter speaks to you, please get in touch!

Read

Are you a rural innovator, system shifter, or policymaker? Get involved here!

A Gathering of Comitted Visionaries

In 2023 Rural Opportunity Institute and SVT Group came together with multiple community leaders with deep ties to rural places across America to discuss innovative solutions to address rural child poverty.

This precipitated the formation of a design team of innovators, both those working in rural communities and those with other needed skills.

Together we are RIDER.

See more!