Rural Summit 2026

Infrastructure for All: Connecting North Carolina

The Rural Summit brings together rural champions every spring to learn about our rural communities and explore what we can do to make a difference. This year's summit will focus on infrastructure - needs, successes, and the future. Our event offers a unique opportunity for local and state leaders to come together in conversation and celebration to engage in a thoughtful, intentional dialogue about what we can do to advance cooperation and change in our state.

The 2026 Rural Summit will be March 26-27, 2026, at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley. Registration opens in January. This yearly event brings together hundreds of community leaders, policymakers, and rural advocates from across the state and nation to engage in a thoughtful, intentional dialogue about rural infrastructure and related topics. We hope you will consider joining us.

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Contact Information

General event questions:
Senior Director of Communications Bill Holmes: bholmes@ncruralcenter.org
Event Planner Savannah Davidsson: events@ncruralcenter.org

Sponsor information
Director of Strategic Partnerships & Grants Management Jenal Austin: jaustin@ncruralcenter.org

Rural Summit 2025

The 2025 Rural Summit hosted more than 600 people from 75 counties across North Carolina — the largest event in our nearly 40-year history. Thank you to Gov. Josh Stein, Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, State Superintendent of Instruction Mo Green, legislators, policy experts and difference makers for joining us in making this event a success. We are equally thankful for the 61 event sponsors and 65 speakers who helped make the Summit possible. We look foward to seeing you again next year.

For more information, please read our press release about this year's award winners, presenters and sponsors.

Rural Summit 2024

Rural Summit 2024 was highlighted by insightful presentations from national experts and hometown leaders. Tony Pipa from the Brookings Institution started us off by sharing voices from his "Reimagine Rural" podcast. Dr. Jeff Cox, president of the N.C. Community College System, outlined his plan for a new college funding model, and a panel of diverse, rural female leaders described what they've done to reach success in their communities.

Rural Summit 2023

The Rural Summit 2023 took place March 20-21, 2023, at the Raleigh Convention Center. The theme was Driving Policy Change: All Roads Lead to Rural. The 2023 Rural Summit brought together community leaders, policymakers, and rural advocates from across the state and nation to engage in a thoughtful, intentional dialogue about the actions we can take today to advance policy and systems change across a broad spectrum of rural development issues.

Rural Center President and CEO Patrick Woodie opened the event by introducing key influences shaping rural North Carolina that are outlined in our new report, “Forces Driving Change in Rural North Carolina.” These driving forces highlight trends in education, health, leadership, infrastructure, and recovery from the pandemic. Breakout sessions at this year’s Summit addressed top concerns in rural North Carolina, such as broadband, healthcare, housing, small business development, water and wastewater infrastructure, disaster recovery, and weather resiliency.