Redesigning system conditions to enable all rural children to thrive

An applied R&D network redesigning how rural innovation is seen, valued, and scaled

What RIDER is

RIDER is a national network-of-networks of public and private peer experts that brings knowledge, systems design, and resources to magnify and grow innovative solutions that build lasting economic resilience for vulnerable rural communities.

Our ultimate goal is to reduce child poverty by half every 20 years.

Who we serve

We serve the rural innovators who serve their local communities.

Together we are committed to discovering, testing, learning, refining, and scaling approaches over as long as it takes to shift system conditions so that all rural families—especially children— can thrive.

What we do

We strive to shift the system conditions that maintain poverty into conditions that drive it out of existence:

Make invisible value visible
Celebrate the small wins that build to success
Grow friendly peer pressure to perform
Inspire funders to compete to end rural poverty

A Gathering of Visionaries.

In 2023 Rural Opportunity Institute and SVT Group came together with multiple community leaders from across the country to discuss innovative solutions to address rural child poverty. This precipitated the formation of a design team of innovators, both working in rural communities and with other needed skills.

Together we are RIDER.

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Why we do it

We live in a time of unprecedented wealth and innovation, but the benefits are not reaching everyone. This needs to change.

We foresee a day when all rural communities thrive– and we believe that the key to this is recognizing that the most valuable investors are the ones already out there putting their lifeblood into the work, but who are largely invisible to current systems.