News
Tennessee Tech's Rural Reimagined helps reduce distressed counties to lowest number in state history
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced this week that the number of distressed counties in the state has reduced to eight,
the fewest in Tennessee history - a feat that was made possible in part through the
collaboration and support of Tennessee Tech University's Rural Reimagined initiative.
Distressed counties rank among the 10 percent most economically distressed counties
in the nation.
Tech launched its Rural Reimagined initiative in 2019 to leverage the full resources
of the university to support the flourishing of Tennessee’s rural communities. Today,
Rural Reimagined is on the ground in 65 of Tennessee’s rural counties, actively engaged
in nine ongoing local tourism projects, and has helped 200 small businesses in the
last year alone, always at no cost to them. Meanwhile, Tech students involved with
Rural Reimagined have logged a collective 113,000 hours of volunteer service since
the initiative began.
Rural Reimagined has actively helped seven distressed counties with plans in place
to assist each of the state's remaining distressed counties during the course of fiscal
year 2024. The impact of Rural Reimagined is especially pronounced in the Upper Cumberland
region that surrounds Tech's campus where, since fiscal year 2019, Fentress, Jackson
and Morgan counties have been moved off the distressed counties list and DeKalb, Overton
and White counties have improved from "at-risk" to "transitional" counties.
Tennessee's recently enacted fiscal year 2024 budget allocated $1 million for Rural Reimagined, a nod to its role as an invaluable partner in spurring new
ideas and investment in the state's most disadvantaged communities.
"Tennessee Tech students and faculty believe in our state and want to do their part
to ensure its continued success," said Michael Aikens, Ph.D., director of the Center
for Rural Innovation at Tech and administrative chair of Rural Reimagined. "We launched
Rural Reimagined because we know that Tennessee thrives when every community is afforded
opportunities to rise. Our rural counties and towns are rich in talent, opportunity
and scenic beauty that deserve to be explored. Rural Reimagined comes alongside these
communities and their local businesses with our free services and support to help
them put their best foot forward. From tourism branding and marketing campaigns, to
research funding, computer literacy and grant support, Rural Reimagined is deeply
planted in these communities and committed to their success. We count it a privilege
to partner with Governor Lee's administration and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle
to deliver better outcomes for rural Tennessee."
Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham and State Senator Paul Bailey wrote about the
work of Rural Reimagined in a recent op-ed for The Tennessean, explaining "Rural Reimagined has plans to expand its reach into
all remaining rural counties in the state and to partner with more small businesses
in distressed and at-risk counties that need its free services. In each project it
takes on, Rural Reimagined offers the talents of one of our state’s greatest exports:
Tennessee Tech students."
Rural Reimagined was also recently profiled on WKRN News 2. Watch the segment here.
