Life In The Heart Land

In rural parts of America, many residents lack access to high-speed Internet. Major carriers can’t make it cost-effective to serve low-density areas, and government funding for broadband infrastructure has been minimal. “Life in the Heart Land” explores how Virginia electric co-ops are bringing broadband to Virginia's rural communities.

As a so-called “nation of immigrants,” the U.S. has variously welcomed and rejected people who come here from other countries. Recognizing the value of diversity both in farming and culture, Virginia State University runs a Small Farm Outreach Program to direct resources, information, and support to people of color. Learn how immigrants in rural Virginia succeed as small farm “agricultores”.

The Monacan Indian Nation received federal recognition in 2018, but the Monacan people have lived in Virginia for thousands of years. In the 1920s they were the target of eugenics movements that attempted to erase their identity. Today, they number around 2500 members. Together with tribal governments in eastern Virginia, they are working to reclaim land and identity that has always been theirs.

One out of every seven Virginians pays over 50% of their income in housing costs. In 2021, a group of Virginia’s Habitat for Humanity affiliates formed the Virginia Statewide Community Land Trust, to address what chairman Darryl Neher calls a housing market failure. Learn how a community land trust operates and how it can help those struggling to find affordable housing in rural Virginia.

Since 1920 Americans living on farms has dropped from 30% to 1% with the number of black farmers plummeting from around a million to only about 50,000. Uncover the challenges facing black and white multigenerational farmers and learn how some farmers are building a more reliable bottom line through regenerative agriculture and rotational grazing.

In 2017 China stopped receiving foreign waste materials creating a major disruption in the status quo of U.S. recycling forcing a reckoning of how waste products are and can be recycled and repurposed. Explore the feasibility of both small- and large-scale solutions for what to do with our plastic waste and how to create circular economy that protects the planet.

With jail population becoming a problem for rural and urban communities, the board for Middle River Regional Jail is under pressure to expand their facility but activists insist resources should be spent on preventative measures. Learn more about this difficult issue from many different perspectives including the concept of restorative justice.

Explore the complex issues of food access and equity in rural Virginia as well as solutions ranging from 2 sisters turning an unused urban lot into a thriving community garden to a County Administrator creating a food pantry that serves a rural food desert. Learn what drives these inequalities and how to build a regional food system that serves everybody