University of Wisconsin Law School Professor Thomas Mitchell was one of 300 national rural leaders invited to participate in the inaugural National Rural Assembly in Washington, D.C., in June 2007.

This is the most recent occasion on which Mitchell has been called upon to share his experience with national policymakers. He has done extensive work and research on the ways in which land tenure regimes impact poor and minority communities.

The National Rural Assembly will now become an annual conclave of participants from a wide range of backgrounds working to formulate and advance a national rural policy agenda. Assembly members will work on a broad spectrum of issues including health care, housing, economic development, and environmental stewardship.

The Assembly’s mission is to strengthen rural America by giving its leaders a platform to be heard, raising the visibility of rural issues, organizing a national network of rural interests, and developing specific rural policy initiatives.

Mitchell was one of 25 discussion leaders selected to facilitate interchanges among participants with a wide range of backgrounds and expertise in order to further the development of policy proposals that will have broad impact in rural America. In 2007, approximately 20 percent of Americans live in rural America.

The June conclave included a hearing on Capitol Hill on June 28. Among the active Assembly participants were directors of both the Kellogg Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Three presidential candidates also participated: Hillary Rodham Clinton by live hookup and John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich by prepared videos.

For more information on the National Rural Assembly, see

www.wkkf.org/default.aspx?tabid=75&CID=274&NID=61&LanguageID=0 .

Submitted by on June 29, 2007

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