
Center on Rural Innovation
Model & Strategy
The Center On Rural Innovation (CORI) is dedicated to closing the rural opportunity gap by advancing economic prosperity through the creation of inclusive digital economy ecosystems that empower rural Americans to create tech jobs and launch scalable tech companies.
Rural America never recovered from the 2008 recession. While urban and suburban communities largely bounced back, rural places failed to replace the jobs lost in the last recession, let alone grow their economies. Before COVID-19, only 5% of tech jobs were in rural counties, despite these same regions representing 15%+ of the national workforce. The drivers of this unequal recovery stem from the automation of rural jobs, globalization, and the thirty-year decline of entrepreneurship, which is why CORI is committed to creating inclusive ownership of production in the age of automation.
CORI uses data-driven strategies to build capacity for a nationwide network of local change agents committed to creating sustainable digital economy ecosystems in their communities. These ecosystems center around innovation hubs that offer digital-job skills training, co-working spaces, remote/distributed work opportunities, support for entrepreneurs scaling tech-enabled startups, and access to capital through the CORI Innovation Fund.



Matt Dunne founded the Center on Rural Innovation out of a growing concern that the opportunity gap between rural and urban areas threatens our nation’s long-term sustainability and even our democracy. Matt has deep rural roots, balanced by world-class experience in public service and tech. He grew up on a farm in rural Vermont, and after he graduated from Brown, he returned to his hometown and decided to run for office. He served 11 years in the Vermont House and Senate, enacting the state’s first broadband grants, brownfields revitalization funding, and downtown redevelopment program. At the same time, his experience helping grow a Vermont-based software company to over 100 people taught him that tech companies can thrive in rural places.
As director of AmeriCorps*VISTA under President Clinton, Matt led PowerUp, one of the first national efforts to bridge the digital divide, and launched an Entrepreneur Corps to focus on micro-finance in high-need communities. Later, he started Google’s Community Affairs division out of a former bread factory in White River Junction, Vermont, where he led all local US philanthropy and engagement, including the Google Fiber rollout and orchestrating educational and development initiatives in Google’s data center communities across rural America. After a one year appointment to the MIT Media Lab, Matt launched the Center on Rural Innovation to ensure small-town America can thrive in the new economy.
Impact
CORI launched its Rural Innovation Initiative in 2019, working with nine communities across the country to develop and strengthen their digital economy strategies. In 2020, CORI added 10 communities to the initiative.
To date, CORI has helped their network communities raise more than $8 million in federal funding and matching dollars through the highly competitive Economic Development Administration’s Build to Scale Venture Challenge Grant.
CORI’s Innovation Fund, launched in 2019, is the nation’s first Qualified Opportunity Fund directly investing in rural scalable technology companies. The fund has raised $3.5 million and has made five investments in qualified Opportunity Zones across the country.
In December 2019, CORI launched the Rural Opportunity Map, a first-of-its-kind suite of data visualization tools that demonstrate to investors and local leaders the technology and innovation potential in rural America.
In 2020, CORI received in-kind support and funding to launch Future Of Work initiatives with partners like Generation, Udacity and the Flatiron School. To date, these efforts have brought digital economy job training programs to hundreds of underemployed residents living in areas included in CORI’s Rural Innovation Network.
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Today, @KushyKush, author of "Accelerate This," joined the Rural Innovation Network to talk to our Network members… https://t.co/sm07yVsu04
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This week, @AmCommPro released the 2nd piece in their continuing series on Deaths of Despair across America.… https://t.co/zZVVUPYCJe
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RT @ThinkMFF: Durango, Colorado, a small southwestern Colorado ski town and tourist destination, is growing as an innovative hub for sustai…
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Meet Connor Dahlberg, the Founder and CEO of Arsana Health, a health IT startup addressing the challenges of protec… https://t.co/zp1YaLT0ra
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RT @InnovateEconomy: With the help of an #OpportunityZone investment from CORI Innovation Fund @Ruralinno, Durango-based aerospace company…
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Thank you to @InnovateEconomy for featuring CORI Innovation Fund’s portfolio company @agile_space. https://t.co/L770NeLThR
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Grateful for funders like @siegelendowment who support our work and have been instrumental in creating the Rural Ed… https://t.co/LqN5x0Z9W7
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Rural innovation can only lead to widespread rural prosperity when every rural person has an equal opportunity to p… https://t.co/1ACvPZvRUu
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The third chapter of our Rural Edge series is live: Durango, Colorado is proving that when you combine capital, in… https://t.co/z6cmJSJXHb
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RT @LISCCaitlin: How cool to see @mattdunnevt, @Ruralinno and @LarsonforDuluth featured in @tomfriedman's @nytimes column! https://t.co/BLM…
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We're less than a week away from sharing our latest Rural Edge film about Durango, CO, a place where you can "do re… https://t.co/0EoOZFQ1d9
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CORI's @mattdunnevt chatted with @RamonaWritesLA of @WorkingNation on their @work_podcast about the work we're doin… https://t.co/Gbwjf000nE
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RT @ctc_technology: A new report, prepared together by CTC and Rural Innovation Strategies, Inc., offers a series of short-term solutions a…
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Hats off to Chris Harris and @KauffmanFDN for a piece that reminds readers that rural America might just be the mos… https://t.co/shdeDMCTOn
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RT @Benton_Inst: .@tomfriedman says Kamala Harris should be in charge of expanding rural broadband and speaks with @mattdunnevt re: loans f…
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Did you know rural America represents 15% of the nation’s workforce, but only 5% of digital economy jobs of the fut… https://t.co/NuWOGJOo7z
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Fresh mountain air and a thriving digital economy ecosystem? Yes, it's possible, and #Durango, Colorado is proof. T… https://t.co/9YEgWECDs4
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Today is the day—come learn about our Tech Talent Tracker at The Opportunity Project (TOP), an innovation program w… https://t.co/mKr7xsrKQD
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What's a Tech Talent Tracker you ask!? We'll be debuting it tomorrow at The Opportunity Project (TOP), an innovatio… https://t.co/cJ4FstxhI2