Relationships between Reported Pandemic Impacts and Well-Being of Rural Nebraskans

Since March of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has impacted Nebraskans in many ways, including their physical health, mental health, work, and socialization. The 2021 Nebraska Rural Poll examined to what extent various elements of life were affected or disrupted by the pandemic as well as respondents’ general assessments of their well-being. Did rural Nebraskans’ assessments of the impacts the pandemic has had on their lives correlate with their assessment of their well-being

Relationships between Perceptions of Community Leadership and Other Perceptions of Community

Leadership is an important component of rural community life. Effective leaders can help the community create a shared vision which is needed to address community needs. Given that, are rural residents’ perceptions of their community leadership related to other assessments of their community? The 2016 Nebraska Rural Poll asked respondents various questions about their community. Some of these questions measure their perceptions of their community leadership. First, respondents were asked how satisfied they are with various community services and amenities. Among the items listed was “local government.” In addition, residents were asked to rate various items in their community for newcomers. The specific question wording was, “Imagine you’ve been approached by a person looking to move to your community and are giving them an honest assessment of your community. How would you rate the following items in your community for that person?” Two of the items rated by rural Nebraskans were “responsive government/ community leadership” and “leadership opportunities.

Celebrating 25 Years of the Nebraska Rural Poll

In 2020, the 25th annual Nebraska Rural Poll will arrive in mailboxes across the state. For 25 years, the Poll has examined many topics of concern to rural Nebraskans and accumulated a rich dataset for state and community leaders. The Nebraska Rural Poll was first conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Agricultural Economics in 1996 under the leadership of Dr. John Allen and Dr. Sam Cordes. Each year since, 7,000 surveys are mailed to randomly selected households located in the nonmetropolitan counties of the state. The goal of the poll is to give rural Nebraskans and their leaders a better understanding of the issues, opportunities, challenges and concerns of Nebraska’s rural citizens. By understanding what issues rural Nebraskans are most concerned about and how they see the future, state and community leaders can do a better job of supporting citizens and improving the state’s quality of life. Results from the survey are released in a series of three to five reports each year, depending on the number of topics included in the questionnaire. These reports are distributed to state lawmakers, news media, local economic and community development groups as well as rural citizens. In addition, the reports are posted online where interested parties from across the globe have accessed the data. The Department of Agricultural Economics, Nebraska Extension and Nebraska Rural Futures Institute currently financially support the survey. For 24 years, this survey has focused on topics such as agricultural policy, energy, the environment, climate change, government, crime, education, health care, housing, immigration, taxes, community development strategies, technology and work. While these important and sometimes controversial topics draw the interest of the media, another set of core questions on community and well-being provide insights about trends and changes occurring in rural Nebraska. These questions, repeated in every Poll, examine satisfaction levels with an array of community characteristics, such as infrastructure, amenities, services and leadership. Other repeated questions deal with the respondents\u27 level of satisfaction with their current personal or household situation, including employment and income. These questions provide community leaders directions to improve life for its residents. Members of the Rural Poll team have been examining and presenting these trends to community groups to help them make sense of the data and how it affects their community or region

Nebraska Broadband Initiative

The Nebraska Public Service Commission, Nebras-ka Information Technology Commission Community Council (NITC), University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED) and Applied Information Management (AIM) have cooperatively led the effort to address the broadband planning needs of Nebraska’s communities. UNL has led the planning component and is the fiscal agent for the planning part of the grant

Rural Nebraskans’ Ties to Agriculture

A recent report released by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Department of Agricultural Economics and the UNL Bureau of Business Research outlines the economic impact of agriculture to Nebraska. Using 2010 data, the report concludes that agriculture provides over 40 percent of the state’s total business receipts, 26.9 percent of the state’s gross state product and 24 percent of the state’s total workforce. In short, the report concludes that more than a fourth of Nebraska’s economy can be attributed to the agricultural production complex

Living in Rural Nebraska: Quality of Life and Financial Well-Being

Nebraska’s economy growth has slowed this past year, and recent reports show that some of Nebraska’s counties are the poorest in the nation. How have these changes affected rural Nebraskans? How do rural Nebraskans perceive their quality of life? Do their perceptions differ by community size, the region in which they live, or their occupation? How have they responded to the higher cost of living? Are they able to meet their financial goals? This report details 3,199 responses to the 2001 Nebraska Rural Poll, the sixth annual effort to understand rural Nebraskans’ perceptions. Respondents were asked a series of questions regarding their general well-being, their satisfaction with specific aspects of well-being, and how they are responding to the higher cost of living. Trends for the well-being questions are examined by comparing data from the five previous polls to this year’s results. For all questions, comparisons are made among different respondent subgroups, i.e., comparisons by age, occupation, region, etc. Based on these analyses, some key findings emerged: • Rural Nebraskans are more negative about their current situation than they were last year. This year, 32 percent state they are better off than they were five years ago; however, this compares to 40 percent in 2000. This is the lowest percentage reported during a six-year period. Nineteen percent of the respondents say they are worse off than five years ago, while 16 percent felt this way last year. The percent responding that their situation remained about the same increased from 44 percent last year to 49 percent in 2001. • When asked about the future, fewer respondents assert they will be better off ten years from now, as compared to last year’s results. This year, 34 percent state they will be better off ten years from now, compared to 38 percent last year. The proportion responding they will be worse off increased from 18 percent to 21 percent. The proportion saying they will be about the same in ten years remained steady at 45 percent. • Farmers and ranchers are less optimistic than persons with other occupations about their current situation. Only 24 percent of the farmers and ranchers state they are better off compared to five years ago. In comparison, 50 percent of those with professional occupations say they are better off. • Manual laborers are more likely to believe that people are powerless to control their own lives. Just over one-half (51%) of the manual laborers either strongly agree or agree with the statement that “...people are powerless to control their own lives.” In contrast, only 21 percent of persons with professional occupations agree with the statement. • Respondents report being most satisfied with their family, their marriage, and their religion/spirituality. The items receiving the highest proportion of “very dissatisfied” responses include financial security during retirement, current income level and job opportunities. • Manual laborers are more likely than those with other occupations to express dissatisfaction with their job opportunities. Sixty percent of the manual laborers are dissatisfied with their job opportunities, compared to only 32 percent of the farmers and ranchers. • At least one-third of rural Nebraskans have experienced the following economic hardships during the past year: using savings to meet household expenses, delaying a family vacation because of a lack of money, and being unable to contribute any money toward retirement because the money was needed for everyday household expenses. Twenty percent of rural Nebraskans have taken another job to help meet household expenses during the past year. Seventeen percent couldn’t pay the full amount of their utility bills, 15 percent were unable to afford needed medical care, and seven percent were unable to purchase needed food. • The groups most likely to have experienced many of the hardships listed include: younger respondents, persons living in the North Central region of the state, respondents with lower income levels, females, persons with lower educational levels, the divorced or separated respondents, and the laborers. • Sixty-two percent of rural Nebraskans believe their household income has not kept up with the increased cost of living. Eighteen percent believe it has increased at the same rate as the cost of living, eight percent feel their income has increased faster than the cost of living, and 12 percent are not sure. • Just over one-half of rural Nebraskans say they have just enough to make ends meet at the end of each month. Fifty-two percent say they have just enough to make ends meet, 35 percent end up with money left over at the end of the month, and 13 percent say there is not enough money to make ends meet. • The vast majority of rural Nebraskans say they always had enough food to eat during the past year. Ninety-two percent said they always had enough food, seven percent said there were a few times when they didn’t have enough to eat, and one percent said there were many times when they didn’t have enough to eat. • Younger respondents were more likely than older respondents to say there were a few times when they didn’t have enough to eat last year. Twenty percent of the persons between the ages of 19 and 29 said there were a few times when they didn’t have enough to eat, compared to only three percent of the persons age 65 and older

Working Together: Rural Nebraskans’ Views of Regional Collaboration

Some people support regional collaboration because they believe it better enables communities to increase the region’s economic vitality and quality of life. However, others worry that such collaboration threatens individual communities’ identities and limits citizens’ access to services. How do rural Nebraskans view regional collaboration? Do they support combining certain services with neighboring communities or counties more than others? Are they already purchasing their goods and services outside their local community? This report details 3,087 responses to the 2003 Nebraska Rural Poll, the eighth annual effort to understand rural Nebraskans’ perceptions. Respondents were asked a series of questions about regional collaboration. Comparisons were made among different respondent subgroups, i.e., comparisons by age, occupation, region, etc. Based on these analyses, some key findings emerged: • Most rural Nebraskans have a positive view of regional collaboration. At least three-quarters either strongly agreed or agreed that “communities in a region working together to generate new businesses are better able to create quality jobs for their residents” (82%) and “retail businesses in a region can provide a better variety of goods and services by working together collaboratively” (75%). Sixty percent agreed that combining community or county services will improve access to services. Fifty-nine percent disagreed that combining services would lead to lower quality services and 47 percent disagreed that combining services would lead to increased prices for the consumer. • Persons with higher education levels, younger respondents, persons with higher incomes and females are the groups most likely to have a positive view of regional collaboration. • At least one-half of rural Nebraskans are willing to raise revenue to keep fire protection and emergency medical services at their current level. When asked how they would cover the costs of various services if faced with a shortage of money, 53 percent were willing to raise revenue to support fire protection services and 50 percent would raise revenue to maintain emergency medical services. Forty-eight percent were willing to raise revenue for their schools (K - 12). • Over one-half of rural Nebraskans would combine or share the following services with other nearby communities or counties if faced with a shortage of money: county road maintenance, veterans services, health clinic, telecommunications services, economic development activities, licenses and permits, street maintenance, property assessment and county weed control. • Younger persons are more likely than older persons to support raising revenue to keep their school services at their current level. Seventy-six percent of the persons age 19 to 29 supported raising revenue to keep their school services at their current level. Only 35 percent of the persons age 65 and older supported raising revenue. The older respondents were more likely than the younger respondents to support combining the school with other nearby communities or reducing its level of service. Forty-five percent of the persons age 65 and older supported combining their school with others and 14 percent said they would reduce its level of service. In comparison, only 21 percent of the persons age 19 to 29 supported combining their school with other communities and only two percent supported reducing its level of service. • Persons living in or near the largest communities are more likely than the persons living in or near the smallest communities to support raising revenue to keep their school services the same. Fifty-two percent of the persons living in or near the communities with populations of 10,000 or more supported raising revenue to keep their school’s services at their current level. Only 39 percent of the persons living in or near communities with less than 500 people supported this option. The persons living in or near the smallest communities were slightly more likely to support combining their school with other communities and were also more likely to not currently have a school in their community. • Differences in the level of support for various alternatives to cover the costs of law enforcement are detected by community size. Persons living in or near the smallest communities were more likely than the persons living in or near the larger communities to say they don’t have law enforcement. Persons living in or near communities with populations ranging from 500 to 999 were the group most likely to support combining law enforcement services with another community or county. Persons living in or near the largest communities were more likely than the persons living in or near the smaller communities to advocate raising revenue to keep their law enforcement services at their current level. • Farmers and ranchers are more likely than persons with different occupations to say they would raise revenue to maintain their county roads. Thirty-two percent of the farmers and ranchers would raise revenue to keep their county road maintenance services at their current level. Only 15 percent of the persons with sales and administrative support occupations agreed. • On average, at least one-half of the following items are purchased by rural Nebraskans in their local community: banking/financial services (75.7%), groceries (73%), automobile/machinery repairs (72%), insurance (67%), farm and ranch inputs (66.9%), doctor/clinic services (63.6%) and hospital services (57.3%). • For each item, rural Nebraskans living in or near the larger communities purchased more locally than did those living in or near the smaller communities. As an example, persons living in or near the communities with populations of 10,000 or more purchased an average of 96.1% of their groceries in their local community. Persons living in or near communities with less than 500 people purchased an average of 38.2% of their groceries in their local community. For most items, respondents living in the smallest communities purchased at least one-half in another community within 50 miles. • For most items, Panhandle residents purchased more in their local community than did residents living in other parts of the state. As an example, Panhandle residents purchased an average of 53.5% of their recreation/entertainment in their local community, compared to an average of 38.7% for Southeast residents. But, South Central residents were more likely than other regional groups to have purchased hospital services, banking/financial services and insurance locally

Be a Part of the Plan - Engaging People - Linking the World

Exploring efforts to increase broadband adoption and utilization in Nebraska will increase community vitality and economic growth. The Nebraska Broadband Initiative, which is in its third year, is designed to increase adoption and utilization of broadband in communities/regions with an empasis on unserved and underserved regions. Following are a few highlights on current activities

Be a Part of the Plan - Engaging People - Linking the World

Exploring efforts to increase broadband adoption and utilization in Nebraska will increase community vitality and economic growth. The Nebraska Broadband Initiative, which is in its third year, is designed to increase adoption and utilization of broadband in communities/regions with an empasis on unserved and underserved regions. Following are a few highlights on current activities

Perceptions of Well-Being Among Rural Nebraskans

Nebraska’s economy has been relatively stable during the past year. However, some rural areas continue to be economically challenged. How do rural Nebraskans perceive their quality of life? Do their perceptions differ by community size, the region in which they live, or their occupation? This report details 2,482 responses to the 2006 Nebraska Rural Poll, the eleventh annual effort to understand rural Nebraskans’ perceptions. Respondents were asked a series of questions regarding their individual well-being. Trends for these questions are examined by comparing data from the ten previous polls to this year’s results. In addition, comparisons are made among different respondent subgroups, that is, comparisons by age, occupation, region, etc. Based on these analyses, some key findings emerged: • More rural Nebraskans report being satisfied with their job opportunities this year as compared to previous years. After reaching a low of 34 percent in 2004, the proportion satisfied with their job opportunities increased to 42 percent this year (the highest proportion in all 11 years). (page 5) • Persons with the highest household incomes are more likely than persons with lower incomes to feel they are better off compared to five years ago, are better off compared to their parents when they were their age, and will be better off ten years from now. For example, 52 percent of respondents with household incomes of $60,000 or more think they will be better off ten years from now. However, only 22 percent of respondents with household incomes under$20,000 believe they will be better off ten years from now. (page 6) • More rural Nebraskans believe people are powerless to control their own lives this year as compared to past years. The proportion that either strongly agree or agree with the statement that people are powerless to control their own lives each year has averaged about 34 percent. The proportion agreeing with the statement increased slightly, to 38 percent this year, which matches the highest proportion in the 11 years of the Poll (1997 and 1999 were the other two years). (page 4) • Persons with lower education levels are more likely than persons with more education to believe that people are powerless to control their own lives. Forty-six percent of persons with a high school diploma or less education agree that people are powerless to control their own lives. However, only 25 percent of persons with a four-year college degree share this opinion. (page 9) • Rural Nebraskans continue to be generally positive about their current situation. Except in 2003, each year the proportion of rural Nebraskans that say they are better off than they were five years ago has been greater than the proportion saying they are worse off than they were five years ago. Approximately 36 percent each year have reported that they were better off than they were five years ago. This year, 35 percent believe they are better off then they were five years ago and 21 percent think they are worse off. (page 2) • Similarly, rural Nebraskans continue to be generally positive about their future. The proportion that say they will be better off ten years from now has always been greater than the proportion saying they will be worse off ten years from now (although the two were virtually identical in 1996). The proportion stating they will be better off ten years from now has generally remained about 36 percent. This year, the proportion was 34 percent. Twenty-one percent believe they will be worse off ten years from now. (page 3) • Following trends in previous years, rural Nebraskans are most satisfied with their marriage, family, friends, religion/spirituality and the outdoors. They continue to be less satisfied with job opportunities, current income level and financial security during retirement. (page 5