Every so often, we find ourselves stuck with a problem that makes us feel completely alone. Perhaps it’s a concept in school that everyone seems to grasp while you’re struggling to understand it. Or, maybe you’re living alone in a new place, forced to navigate your way through a new environment. Whatever it may be, no one likes to feel alone when they’re struggling. In these moments, it’s important to stay empowered and resilient to overcome our problems.

You might experience this lonely feeling on an individual level, but it can also occur within entire communities. Systemic issues like climate change and income inequality tend to hit small rural communities harder and earlier than larger ones; we call these frontline communities. Since rural communities have fewer resources than urban ones, they may feel alone and inexperienced when navigating these issues. However, when the going gets rough, frontline communities use creative problem solving skills to overcome obstacles.

ROI’s location in rural eastern North Carolina is a frontline community, as are many rural communities across the southeastern United States. We have found that in trying times, our community uses creative problem solving skills to overcome major issues. In turn, these skills help rural communities feel less alone and more resilient when problems arise. Let us share some of the skills we’ve learned from working in a frontline community and how other communities could learn from them.

What does a frontline community look like?

Frontline communities tend to have a few key characteristics. They are usually rural, often majority black or non-white, and have fewer resources and infrastructures than urban communities, resulting in widespread low income or poverty. Due to their lack of resources, frontline communities become overexposed to issues that larger communities may not experience until much later on or as severely. 

An example of these issues is the COVID-19 pandemic; rural communities were hit hard by the illness and had little access to PPE, testing, and vaccines, and often didn’t receive these resources until much later in the pandemic. Problems like these are often unexpected, leaving the community ill-equipped and uninformed about how to deal with them. Furthermore, the small size of frontline communities often makes them appear expendable to policy makers. This means there are often no systems in place to tackle these big issues. 

So how do frontline communities tackle difficult problems?

Frontline communities use creative problem solving skills to overcome issues. For example, Princeville, North Carolina is a rural community that has been devastated by hurricanes and flooding for decades, due to its floodplain location. As a result, the town has created infrastructure to combat the effects of frequent flooding, including improved water management systems. Though the community knows more floods will occur as climate change continues to raise sea levels, these measures make them more equipped to keep people safe.

Urban communities in North Carolina, by contrast, have not experienced flooding in the same ways Princeville has. However, climate change will eventually threaten more communities. When that occurs, those communities can look to Princeville for guidance on handling rising sea levels and water damage. 

This example shows how we can learn from frontline communities. They often are the first to experience an issue that will later trickle into larger cities; therefore, they can offer valuable advice for overcoming those issues. When we only focus on solving urban problems, we may be disregarding the experiences of rural communities, leaving behind those who have already been affected by the issue and are struggling to catch up. But, by focusing social innovation work in frontline communities, we can understand and proactively create solutions for problems that start there, but ultimately affect every community in the long-term. 

How ROI Empowers Frontline Communities

Due to our frontline community location, ROI is able to support and learn from the wisdom of people who are consistently forced to innovate without outside support from government programs or systems. By plugging into these communities, we’ve realized that by the time a problem reaches the rest of the country, we’ve often already begun brainstorming and testing solutions for how to solve it, putting our community one step ahead. 

The best part about the problem-solving skills we gain from working in a frontline community is that we can create positive change by sharing our learnings with others. Most of the time, a solution that works for a rural community will work for a larger one, allowing problems to be solved faster and more efficiently across our region. 

No one likes to be alone during a tough time, but when we get creative with our problem solving capabilities, we can empower each other through difficult moments and discover strengths we didn’t know we had. So though they may appear fragile, frontline communities offer many overlooked opportunities. Understanding the assets and wisdom of people in these communities can not only help their own citizens, but also citizens across the country and even the world. When we share our knowledge with each other, everyone benefits. 

Learn about ROI’s work in frontline communities here.