Portrait of the Rural South

Wendell Berry tells us that “you don’t know who you are till you know where you are. Here we paint an on-going portrait for rural people in the South and their advocates to know where they are through maps and data. We will continue to add maps and data that sharpen our strategic thinking about needed policies and programs.

Photo of the Month

Each month we'll be featuring a photo of the rural South. Our current collection comes to us from documentary photographer Rob Amberg. You can see here a larger version of the featured photo on the homepage.

Philanthropy

For five years SRDI has been using maps to advance philanthropy in the rural South.Here is a PDF of a map showing the most up to date estimates of philanthropic assets across the region.

Manufactured Housing in the Rural South

Manufactured housing, mobile homes, trailers, make up a signficant part of the landscape of the rural South. We see it but take it for granted. This map hows just how much new housing in the 1990s was manufactured housing.

We'll have a second map soon that quantifies the financial "opportunity cost" of manufactured housing financed as personal property instead of real estate.

Other Useful Sources of Information

If you want to learn more on the rural South and rural America generally, the best source for maps, data, and analysis we consult regularly is the Economic Research Service of USDA, and the Rural Poverty Research Center.