Rural communities facing challenges
Kevin Bessler The Center Square
June 4, 2021
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SPRINGFIELD – The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to rural communities in Illinois facing questions on how to grow or how to stop the decline.
Some municipalities worry that the community they find comfortable is threatened by development while others find their towns in a slow decay with declining populations and loss of jobs.
A program called Smart Growth is a collaborative policy and planning concept rural communities can adopt to develop solutions that fit their specific wants and needs. Organizers said the program embraces community identity, preserves agricultural and natural areas and protects assets while creating fiscally and socially responsible opportunities in employment, housing and infrastructure.
In her second semester at a predominantly white institution, Robyn Smith decided to transfer to a historically Black school. A tuition increase prompted Arthur Wells to switch from a four-year university to a two-year college. For Amara Jackson, the coronavirus pandemic was behind a late-summer decision to stay in Chicago for her freshman year, since classes were going to be online anyway. .
How has COVID-19 affected college enrollment/,/ and what makes a student successful on the path to a degree? Two recently published reports by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and the To&Through Project get at these questions, providing insights researchers hope can improve college outcomes, particularly among Chicago Public Schools alumni.