Using Content for GOOD

Working- and middle-class Americans all over our country, but especially in rural small towns are desperate for politicians in local, state, and national politics who will actually represent them and not the first lobbyist or donor who stares their way. Unfortunately, the political machine scares off most average people from running. They can't compete with the millions of dollars bought and paid for politicians have to campaign with. We need grassroots funded organizations who will help promote grassroots local candidates. That's where The Good Yankee foundation comes in. Our goal is to provide support for local candidates and eventually state and national campaigns. We will only ever help candates we vet and believe are beholden to, "We the people."

Land trusts can be an amazing way to preserve local land being sold off to developers. Instead of having yet another clear cut field for townhomes, we want to buy that land a preserve it. Some land trusts take land but never allow anyone on it. My dream is to create areas where everyone can freely access the land and enjoy the nature that we have saved from becoming Dollar Store # 5 million in your local small town. 

With every new overpriced townhome development. and luxury apartment complex, real Americans living in small rural working-class communities are being priced out of their homes and losing the American dream. Future generations won't be left with their parent's homes but instead will find themselves cleaning out section 8 apartments and owing last month's rent. The goal is to help people who are struggling to keep their homes and pay their property taxes. With enough funding we could ensure that locals can remain in their hometowns, elderly people can keep the homes they worked so hard to pay off, and small towns can preserve their local culture and community. In this same vein we would like to also help farmers keep farmland. So many farmers are blamed for selling their land to developers, but people never ask why they felt they had to. Most farmers are forced out because of property taxes, threats of eminent domain, and a lack of financial support to fight the system that comes for their land. We want to be a resource for all rural Americans. 

One of the worst parts of gentrification and overdevelopment in the rural South and Midwest is the loss of the history and culture. We are all seeing the intentional push to erase the small-town way of life. With every historical building that is torn down for a Starbucks we lose a piece of who we are s a country. The Good Yankee foundation will use its funding to help preserve small town history and culture by preserving the treasures that connect us to the past and saving them from development. Sometimes this would mean purchasing a building, other times it would mean helping to organize a movement to save a site through local council meetings. 

The system of elites taking over small towns and intentionally changing demographics is organized and well-funded. They work behind the scenes to change the Midwest, South, and all rural small towns because these are the remaining areas where working Americans still have freedom, affordability, and the American dream. The only way to fight against this is to bring awareness and shine a national spotlight on the effects of unnecessary gentrification in small towns. The goal is to save our right to own property, speak freely, and decide how we want to live our lives. Many towns were not prepared to go from being completely ignored flyover states to the new hot spot for every new yorker to throw their cash around and play cowboy. Its destroying small towns and rural communities. We need to organize across state lines to create this national spotlight. Our goal is to be a place where all of small town rural America connects, collaborates, and organizes.