By Whitney Kimball Coe
I came to the Rural Assembly in 2007, fresh out of grad school with very little experience of any kind, in policy advocacy, multimedia, or otherwise. My world was as big as Appalachia and as particular as my neighborhood in East Tennessee. The Rural Strategies team must’ve figured that was a good enough place to start. Over the next 18 years I learned how to build relationships with people across cultures, geographies, and sectors to pursue common cause and friendship.
As Director of the Rural Assembly, I discovered a whole world of kindred spirits: people invested in doing right by each other, their communities, the land. The Assembly began as a gathering of rural leaders interested in pursuing better policy for rural America. It’s still a gathering, but it’s also more than that. It’s like a potluck, a porch sit, a coffee hour where we discover connections, exchange ideas, make good things together, and have great fun.
As I pursue a call to ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church, I carry the Rural Assembly with me. I’ll continue to work with the Center for Rural Strategies on programs that engage rural faith leaders and communities.
As Director of the Rural Assembly, I discovered a whole world of kindred spirits: people invested in doing right by each other, their communities, the land.The Rural Assembly, meanwhile, welcomes a new director, Madeline Matson, who has been a longtime friend, collaborator, and mentor of mine in the rural advocacy field. I am so excited for this next chapter in the life of the Assembly, and for the wisdom, skill, and generosity Madeline brings to the potluck.
Whitney Kimball Coe is a second year Master of Divinity student at Yale Divinity School and a postulant for holy orders in the Diocese of East Tennessee. She is also Vice President of National Programs at the Center for Rural Strategies and a special advisor to the Rural Assembly, a program dedicated to building more opportunity and better policy for rural communities across the country. As an organizer, speaker, moderator, and writer, Whitney has shared her perspectives on community and civic courage with audiences around the world. She has been featured on stage at the Aspen Ideas Festival and the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit, and as a guest on the radio program On Being with Krista Tippett. She resides in New Haven with her husband, Matt Coe, and their two daughters Lucy and Susannah.
