It’s a story I’ve heard too many times in my own life and in the lives of the many small business owners I meet:

Person grows up in a small town. Person moves to a city or urban area for college or work. Person yearns to return to the small-town life they love or return to raise their children in the same environment they grew up. However, a lack of job opportunities makes this American Dream unattainable.

While it’s heartening to see many of our region’s major metropolitan areas flourish in this unprecedented booming economy, we need to include investment in rural communities as we...