The FRCOG participated in the development of the Rural Policy Advisory Commission’s 2019 Rural Policy Plan.
The intent of the Rural Policy Plan is to illustrate the unique attributes and challenges faced by rural communities, inform policy makers of existing best-practices and identify a series of recommendations to be explored and implemented under a proposed new Office of Rural Policy.
The report spans 15 distinct focus areas within the categories of Infrastructure, Economy, Community, Governance and Resiliency. Contained within each category and in each specific focus area are a series of prioritized recommendations for further analysis and implementation. From the roughly one hundred suggestions, the Commission identified a set of top priorities that, along with achievable action items, will assist rural communities in the near term.
The Rural Policy Plan was created through funding from the State’s District Local Technical Assistance (DLTA)
program, apportioned from each of the state’s 13 Regional Planning Agencies.
Rural Policy Plan for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (PDF, 30 MB)