Rural Bridges

Rural Bridges on CNN

Comcast Local Edition host, Steve Mumm, interviewed WSU Extension Rural Bridges, Co-Director, Monica Babine, about our ways to increase information technology-enabled work in rural communities. The program aired in December 2006 to an audience over 100,000 customers in the Inland Northwest during CNN Headline News.

You can view it online using Windows Media, or Real Player.

Program Overview

Urban Meets Rural: Wired for Business Success


As the timber, fishing, mining, and agricultural industries decline, rural community leaders seek to create information-based work ranging from entrance level positions to highly skilled professions. At the same time, businesses look for ways to become more efficient in their operating procedures in order to better compete in a global marketplace. e-Work, or information and communication technology, allows businesses to expand their corporation in rural communities by employing citizens who would otherwise not be employed. Telework employment (e-work performed at a location other than a central office) benefits rural communities by providing needed jobs and helps urban employers by expanding the labor pool, filling positions with hard-to find talent, and reducing operating costs that were a result from facility costs and high turnover rates.

Although some businesses may choose to develop a facility to house operations, telework does not require expensive relocation or expansion costs. A variety of models of rural telework exists ranging from individuals working out of a home-based office to telework centers where multiple employers have employees working in a shared facility. Often times these telework centers serve as community technology resource sites, providing access and training on computers and the Internet.

WSU's Involvement

In 1999, WSU began to explore the potential of telework as an economic development strategy for rural communities as well as a workforce strategy to help urban employers meet some of their business challenges. The year 2000 brought around a comprehensive research and demonstration project on technology-based economic development for rural communities. As a result, the project provided outreach and technical assistance to communities and employers, served as a clearinghouse for rural telework information, researched the impacts on communities and employers, and developed a community resource on rural telework. This project was successful in assisting two employers establish 56 living wage jobs in rural Washington, and received the Governor's Best Practices Award in Workforce Development.

Overall, WSU has provided information assistance to more than 200 employers regarding telework implementation and assisted several other states in developing telework assistance programs.

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