PART OF THE PROBLEM

As newcomers to this region ourselves, we have been swept up in a beautiful world of new friends, kind and generous neighbors, and community events and programming that never leave free time empty. The population is tiny, and yet we have never felt through a moment of isolation. But we are also acutely aware and concerned that those who moved to the area to work remotely contribute to a local affordability crisis that negatively affects the housing market, local schools, and general cost of living. Existing and essential regional hubs that provide necessary social services are spread out very far, resources are thin, and needs continue to grow. 

We believe it is unfair for new arrivals who’s very presence worsens a rural affordability crisis to not be actively committed to mitigating these injustices, and work to develop what solutions we can according to the guidance and collaboration from the local community, who has built this beautiful area we find ourselves in.

We have reason to believe that many Covid-era transplants like ourselves, who did not grow up in the area they now delight in calling home, genuinely want to be helpful. They want to reduce harm, to support, extol and propel local initiatives developed by the community that predates them. But it is always hollow to pontificate about an area's problems without input and leadership from those most affected by those problems. And it is opportunities for these dialogues, which expand far beyond the pleasantries of daily life, or the inhumane and isolationist exchanges that occur on local social media pages–that we hope to develop and sustain.