The Activate Rural Learning Lab is a curated cohort experience for teams of creative entrepreneurs, artists, community activators, elected leaders, and small business owners to cultivate places of connection and creativity (*third places) in rural communities.

The Learning Lab provides grant funding and ongoing curated technical assistance through monthly project check-ins, exchange visits, workshops and gatherings, and allocated staff time to support the development of systems for the project’s operations, activations, and stewardship.

For rural communities, which face heightened challenges of social isolation and disinvestment, revitalized gathering spaces can counter pervasive barriers to civic engagement. Serving as catalysts for connection and economic renewal, these projects foster a sense of hope and belonging. Activate Rural supports the cultivation of creative third places by addressing barriers, which include access to 1) building and project ownership and stewardship; 2) financial capital and resources; and 3) capacity, experience, and social capital.

With an investment of $25,000 per cohort team, a total of over $537,500 in grant funding and private investment was leveraged by the cohort participants in two years (2023-2025). Every $1 of Activate Rural funds leveraged an average of $4.30 from other funding sources for these communities.

*Third place is a term identified by Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place as gathering spaces beyond home or work and are essential for fostering social cohesion and reducing isolation.