Urban Institute: What Does It Take To Transform Persistent Rural Poverty into Opportunity?Rural areas are underappreciated for their diversity, cultural vitality, and economic innovation and resiliency, and persistent poverty is holding back about one out of seven rural counties. Shaped by histories of slavery, oppression, displacement, and resource extraction, rural and Native communities face multiple forms of exclusion from wealth, education, and health, leaving them without capital, quality jobs, housing, infrastructure, and services that would meet community needs and drive opportunity.