Future of Rural
What is Future of Rural?
Built on decades of experiential research and in deep relationship with affected communities, the Future of Rural program fundamentally reimagines higher education, calling in the co-creation of regenerative rural systems. Designed by interdisciplinary practitioners at Rē: The Regenerative School and in the final stages of development, this timely academic program is being launched as an urgent response to today’s pressing crises. This program combines academic rigor with fieldwork, global tours, and reflective practices. Curriculum prepares students to be critical thinkers within their own contexts and builds skills towards practical application. Notably, courses are built alongside (and with respect to) Indigenous wisdoms and lived experiences.
What is Future of Rural?
Built on decades of experiential research and in deep relationship with affected communities, the Future of Rural program fundamentally reimagines higher education, calling in the co-creation of regenerative rural systems. Designed by interdisciplinary practitioners at Rē: The Regenerative School and in the final stages of development, this timely academic program is being launched as an urgent response to today’s pressing crises. This program combines academic rigor with fieldwork, global tours, and reflective practices. Curriculum prepares students to be critical thinkers within their own contexts and builds skills towards practical application. Notably, courses are built alongside (and with respect to) Indigenous wisdoms and lived experiences.
Why Here, Why Now
At this moment in time, rural communities are facing increasing socioeconomic, ecological, and cultural challenges. Balanced reciprocity with those futures is intrinsically tied to our collective well-being. Climate-driven migration, resource extraction, youth outmigration, the isolation of elders, compromised food security, and more have coalesced into a complex landscape that necessitates an alternative approach committed to the unpacking of dominant culture.
Why Here,
Why Now
At this moment in time, rural communities are facing increasing socioeconomic, ecological, and cultural challenges. Balanced reciprocity with those futures is intrinsically tied to our collective well-being. Climate-driven migration, resource extraction, youth outmigration, the isolation of elders, compromised food security, and more have coalesced into a complex landscape that necessitates an alternative approach committed to the unpacking of dominant culture.
Core Pillars
Rē: The Regenerative School’s Future of Rural aims to transform ourselves, our knowledge, and our experiences into tools for the common good — fulfilling our responsibilities as global citizens and adding to the abundance and resilience of ecological, social, and economic communities.
We believe the privileges of education come with the responsibility to walk alongside communities. As an institution of higher learning, we strive to be a source of resources, solidarity, and kinship.
We believe applied work – documented and written up as community-based, participatory research – is a central component of an effective academic curriculum.
We believe that regenerative systems entail non-extractive, generative processes that are self-sustaining and add to the abundance and resilience of ecological, social and economic communities.
We believe, as a school built with learning through co-created community projects, that Rē’s student, staff, and faculty activities are reciprocally linked to daily actions within said community.
Rē is building towards open access education, in which participants from all ages and walks of life can experience many of the cultures, communities and grassroots regeneration projects included in the school’s local and global education program.
Our Approach:
Regenerative Methodology
Participatory Action Research methodologies are embedded in the program design of Future of Rural, and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) guide the content of our curriculum. Frameworks offered by UNESCO and the United Nations interweave with peacebuilding and regenerative learning across dimensions of societies, ecology, economy, and worldviews.
Our Approach:
Regenerative
Methodology
Participatory Action Research methodologies are embedded in the program design of Future of Rural, and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) guide the content of our curriculum. Frameworks offered by UNESCO and the United Nations interweave with peacebuilding and regenerative learning across dimensions of societies, ecology, economy, and worldviews.
Our Methods:
Participatory Action Research (PAR) – Engaging students with community members as advisors, co-designers, and lecturers to ensure meaningful application and to retain the agency of rural communities.
Hands-On Education – Applied learning in real-world agroecology, regenerative farming, and community projects to afford students relevant, practical experience.
Place-Based Learning – Using immersive methods, students engage in learning journeys across Tennessee, Puerto Rico, and India to support cross-contextual analysis of shared challenges.
Reflective Practice – Bridging inner growth and outer action through self-inquiry, embodiment, and artistic reflection to move knowledge to action.
Entrepreneurial Design – Guiding students to build regenerative initiatives and just, nuanced enterprises to support rural livelihoods.
Structure & Measurement: Regeneration in Action
Future of Rural is intentionally structured across three semesters to support deep, sustained, and community-rooted learning. This structure allows participants to move from foundational knowledge into practical application, and ultimately, into meaningful research that addresses real-world challenges.
Rē: The Regenerative School measures success through evaluations of rural alignment, connection, and transformation. Our structure is rooted in regenerative systems thinking, combining global learning with local application. This translates to the following Sustainable Development Goals put forth by the United Nations:
- Deep engagement with communities and ecosystems
- Active participation in hands-on service and learning
- Collaborative, real-world research through Participatory Action Research (PAR)
Lecturers & Lectures
Moving in the spaces of deep alignment and relation-building, lecturers carry experience from a wide range of cultural and professional backgrounds. Curriculum developed and topics chosen are shared from years of practice and co-creation in a lecturer’s respective field, with careful attention to awareness of extractive models and the impacts they have on the land and rural communities.
Of note, Future of Rural exists in contrast to today’s rise of generated content from LLMs, AGIs, and other AI models. It is authored with the awareness that truth is rooted in the time, and creative processes of our natural world.
Our curriculum explores:
- Regenerative Agriculture & Food Systems
- Climate Justice & Environmental Governance
- Social Enterprise & New Economy Design
- Ecological Consciousness & Inner Development
- NGO Structuring & Community Partnership
- Indigenous Knowledge & Cross-Cultural Partnership
- Participatory Action Research Methods & Impact Measurement
Who is This Program For?
This program is designed for individuals who are ready to engage directly in graduate level curriculum centered on regenerative change. We’ve intentionally built Future of Rural to be flexible and inclusive, allowing participants to engage with the content in full or explore specific components that align with their interests or goals.
Rē is committed to an open-access education model, inviting community members, local organizations, and partners who are committed to shaping the future of rural areas to join courses and other offerings.
Future of Rural is for:
- Organizers, Educators, and Peacebuilders
- Justice-Aligned Entrepreneurs
- Community Nonprofit and NGO Practitioners
- Sustainability Researchers
- Community Development Professionals
- Philanthropists and Resource-Holders looking to reimagine philanthropic spaces
Rē recognizes that there are multiple entry points for individuals to engage with the work of regeneration. Future of Rural is for anyone committed to building hopeful, resilient, rural futures.
Learning Participatory Action Research (PAR) through Rē, under the mentorship of Skip, was a formative experience that grounded research in humility, community agency and ethical practice. As both a student and later a practitioner, I learned to see PAR not just as a methodology, but as a disciplined commitment to shared learning, local knowledge and collective problem-solving. This foundation has continued to shape my work through my work Re-Imagining New Communities, and Future of Rural where PAR remains a core building block guiding how we design, implement and sustain community-led peacebuilding initiatives.
Sahlim Charles
Founder |Executive Director