Addressing the Issues of Scale in Rural Efforts for Change
There are regions in the rural South that have many necessary elements for transformative change to reduce poverty and create just and sustainable communities -
elements such as:

• Strong grassroots capacity
• Responsive and accountable mainstream organizations and institutions
• Ongoing work to bridge race and class divides
• Aligned local, state and federal policy and funding
• Clear goals & strategies that are shared across communities
• Local economic markets
• Effective regional networks
• Connections to outside ideas, models, information, and resources
• Local and responsive philanthropic and investment capital

However, in many cases, these elements are disorganized and, therefore, do not work as systems at sufficient scale for high impact. SRDI’s Rural Prosperity and Equity framework catalyzes organized systems of change in multi-county rural regions and takes them to scale by connecting leaders, organizations, strategies and resources.

SRDI’s Role
Our purpose is to support rural communities and regions to:
a) consciously build economies that are rooted in local assets and that effectively reduce poverty, while respecting, honoring, and preserving local culture, heritage and the natural environment; and,
b) acknowledge and work to resolve the crippling legacy of racism.

This model of change depends on the readiness of local leaders in three sectors: grassroots organizations, mainstream nonprofit and civic organizations, and, local government.

What We Offer
Generally, SRDI does not create new organizations. Instead, we increase the power of existing organizations by creating and sustaining strategic networks and opening new connections between external resources and regional work. Our goal is to catalyze dynamic systems of change and to create the infrastructure to sustain those systems by strengthening anchor organizations and developing strong connections to information and resources.

Alignment of vision, action, and policy between the three sectors is critical for countering poverty and creating transformation change in rural regions. SRDI uses its skills and tools to build bridges of communication and partnership across the sectors including deliberate work to bridge continuing divides of race and class.

SRDI is particularly committed to building the capacity and power of its grassroots constituency. Grassroots organizations directly represent communities suffering the consequences of poverty and injustice. However, these organizations often lack strong organizational capacity. It is critical to our strategy that grassroots leaders are empowered with knowledge, skill, organized constituencies, financial resources, and organizational capacity.

Why SRDI?
SRDI is uncommonly qualified to work with leaders in all three of these sectors. Through more than a decade of work, SRDI has earned the trust of grassroots leaders and has established effective partnerships with many grassroots organizations. Moreover, SRDI has credibility with the region’s more mainstream organizations working in philanthropy, community economic development and rural policy. SRDI has provided these organizations with effective tools including the Philanthropy Index and the Realigning Federal Funds database. Recently, SRDI has been called on for policy analysis by local governments and the regional and national associations that represent them.