Home LOCAL PARIS EDITORIAL: The importance of supporting your rural community

EDITORIAL: The importance of supporting your rural community

by MyParisTexas
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Unless you live in rural America, it can be hard to understand the importance of rural journalism and how it can positively affect the wider world. 

I have always known the importance of rural journalism and it is why I sought out to specialize myself in this genre when completing my degree. No matter the location of where you live, rural news has an important place in our society – you just have to understand its importance. 

Whether it’s large or small stories that happen within a community, it all ties together no matter where you live or what your livelihood is. I’ve learned over the years that when it comes to significant issues in regards to community safety, government and even infrastructure, the battles are just the same for rural communities as it is for large cities. 

Money is tight; money has been tight since the 2008 recession and no matter where you travel, we as a society are still building back to where we were before it all crashed and we had to re-build. 

With those issues, of course, comes the value of a dollar, and since then, I have become more aware of how important it is to support local businesses. A phrase you often hear, but not necessarily read about as often as you should.

When you invest where you live, whether or not it is a mom and pop business or a store chain, you are still putting money back into the community. And unfortunately, you can’t always rely on tourism dollars’ to do that for you. 

When a city or county (located rurally) can blossom from local business, you are bringing that money back into the budget. 

I agree that money is still tight; I am still building myself up since I moved back to the USA nearly three years ago. But with saying that, I also do my best to invest my money into the community I live, because the result I am aiming for is for a local council to garner more to their budget by a thriving community rather than having to raise taxes as a last resort. 

Knowing full well that life can have its challenges and finances are a little harder for those in rural areas than it is in the big city; I want to encourage readers to shop local when you can and support businesses of all sizes. As at the end of the day, you are only building up your community in a positive way. 

I’m not saying you have to spend all your money in one place at one time, what I am saying is, try once a week to shop at a local grocer, or boutique store, because when you do you are helping rural America thrive and bringing money back into your community so projects can get done and not be left to the wayside.

Erin Jusseaume

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