I recently spent time in Gulf Shores, Alabama, having conversations that come up often when you work in ecosystems. People asked how we can better support rural communities and smaller cities. Not by starting from scratch, but by giving people the tools to see and strengthen what already exists.
At EcoMap, we’ve worked in states like Kansas, Arkansas, and Oregon. These are places with large rural areas and highly distributed networks. In those regions, the challenge isn’t necessarily a lack of programs. It’s that people often don’t know what’s available or how to connect the dots. The more spread out a community is, the more important it becomes to have shared infrastructure that makes those connections visible.
We won’t solve for every barrier. Broadband deserts, transportation gaps, and workforce shortages require their own approaches. But when someone does get online and they’re ready to take a step forward, we can make sure the path is easier to find and follow.
McKinsey notes that one in seven Americans lives in a rural area. Brookings adds that one in four lives in a small or mid-sized city. Together, that’s more than a third of the country living outside the spotlight. These are the regions where the right infrastructure could have the biggest impact.
McKinsey also outlines five types of rural regions, from Agricultural Powerhouses to Remote Resource-Rich areas. Each has its own strengths and challenges, but the strategies that support progress are often the same. Regions need to invest in entrepreneurs, strengthen local institutions, expand workforce programs, and remove barriers that slow people down. These aren’t theoretical goals. They shape how we build our tools at EcoMap.
That includes the digital infrastructure needed to reveal what’s already working and help people make better use of it. When that layer is in place, communities don’t have to rely on personal connections or outdated systems to move forward.
This approach reflects the vision our late founder, Pava LaPere, brought to EcoMap from day one. She believed ecosystems already had what they needed, but too often those pieces were hard to see. That belief continues to guide us. It’s an ethos we take seriously at EcoMap. The idea of leaving things better than we found them influences how we support ecosystems, how we use AI to improve access and coordination, and how we measure whether our work makes a difference.
Economic mobility remains the deeper goal. McKinsey defines it as the ability to do better than your parents. But data from Technical.ly shows most cities are falling short. If we want to change that, we cannot keep building from scratch. We need systems that help people navigate what’s already there, and tools that make that journey more efficient. Then, we can be deliberate in the investments we make in order to fill the gaps.
Brookings reminds us that downtowns in small and mid-size cities hold 40 percent of all private-sector jobs, even though they make up just 11 percent of developed land. These are activity centers where opportunity is concentrated. That opportunity is only useful if people can see and reach it.
What strikes me is that in these hyperlocal centers, it often feels like there’s too much going on to keep track of. In rural regions, it can feel like there’s not enough happening to move the needle.
Suppose there was a tool that made sense of the noise and helped identify the gaps. Something that made it easier for people to get plugged in. That would allow communities to better use the assets they already have. And that is how we move toward prosperity that reaches more people, in more places.
