Rural School and Community Trust

Colloquially referred to as the Rural Trust, the Rural School and Community Trust grew out of the Annenberg Rural Challenge, which was created in 1995 to oversee a five-year, $50 million challenge grant to America's rural public schools. In 1999, the Annenberg Rural Challenge became the independent nonprofit organization known as the Rural School and Community Trust and shifted its focus from grantmaking into advocacy, research, and publications that improved student learning and the communities around them. 

Rural Trust works in some of the country's most challenging areas to improve the capacity of rural communities' education systems through a wide range of services. The organization seeks to nourish this relationship in under-resourced communities with a combination of direct services and advocacy. Its Capacity Building Program offers coaching, training, networking, technical assistance, and research to grassroots leaders and organizations to engage in local school reform to support student learning. The Public Policy Program actively engages rural constituencies in education reform and provides a platform for these communities' unique challenges to be heard and recognized. Further, the Rural Trust provides funding in the form of grants and scholarships, and publishes a monthly newsletter to facilitate knowledge sharing. Through this extensive work, the Rural Trust envisions a future in which local, rural educational infrastructure is enhanced, improved, and more equitable.