Madeline Matson
Rural Assembly Director

Madeline (she/her) was raised on the Long Beach Peninsula where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean, about 15 minutes from the place she now calls home. Her parents instilled in her a deep love of and responsibility towards community at a young age. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Oregon in Journalism and Multimedia Studies and eventually moved back home to open a small bakery and reset her roots. In 2016 she cofounded a national organization to uplift rural millennials which was where she first connected with the Center for Rural Strategies and Rural Assembly. Since then she has spent much of her career leading and supporting small nonprofits and rural organizations. In addition to serving on a variety of boards she is also an elected Public Hospital Commissioner. She enjoys building community and seeing her two kids dig for razor clams and run on the beach. 

Taneum Fotheringill
Director of Programs and Partnerships

Taneum (she/her) takes pride in being a connector and developing positive relationships with the Rural Assembly communities across the country. Taneum is based in Washington State, where you can find her with her knitting or a book close by. Her work is informed by a lifelong interest in civics and the belief that everyone’s voice matters. She is also proud to be a volunteer advisor for the Washington YMCA Youth Legislature where she mentors teens from across the state to engage in democracy. 

Adam Giorgi, Center for Rural Strategies Chief of Staff

Adam first joined the Rural Strategies team in 2018 to spearhead an expansion of the Daily Yonder and related efforts to build digital media platforms serving rural people and places. Adam received his Master in Public Policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. While at the Kennedy school, Adam worked at the intersections of democracy and media, studying civic engagement and political communication as a student and research assistant, completing a fellowship in political reporting at NBC News, and authoring a playbook on the sustainability of local news for his master’s thesis project. Prior to graduate school, he served as Deputy Communications Director at the Minnesota Department of Administration, where he managed digital communications, government websites, and various other strategic initiatives for the state of Minnesota. Previously, he worked as a communications professional in the office of Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, for public relations firm PadillaCRT, and at the corporate headquarters of electronics retailer Best Buy. He hails from a small town on Minnesota’s “Iron Range,” a rural region in the northern part of the state.

Tracy Staley, Communications

Tracy Staley directs communication and marketing efforts for the Rural Assembly and other projects of the Center for Rural Strategies. A native of Hazard, Kentucky, Tracy now lives in Southwest Ohio. A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Tracy has been published in various news outlets and magazines.

Joel Cohen, Multimedia

Joel leads audio and video production across the organization. This includes a weekly radio newscast, The Yonder Report, as well as the Rural Remix podcast, and other audio and video content.

He has worked with Rural Strategies since its beginning creating video and audio pieces. The work has included documentaries about the recovery of rural areas from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, to a “A Place in the Country” a documentary that looks at community development organizations in rural areas across the country. Recently, the half-hour documentary “East Kentucky Flood” ran on KET and WYMT in Kentucky.