Coalition to hear rural feedback

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 12, 2026

PORT ANGELES — Former U.S. Representative and Port Angeles native Derek Kilmer will be among a bipartisan commission on the future of rural America that is visiting the North Olympic Peninsula this week for listening sessions and public hearings on economic renewal, energy resilience and the maritime industry, along with the particular challenges and opportunities facing rural communities with a large presence of federal land.

Kilmer, now senior vice president of U.S. program and policy at the Rockefeller Foundation, originally proposed legislation for the Recompete Act, aimed at helping economically distressed communities. Of the six proposals awarded grants, one was the North Olympic Recompete Coalition — now Recompete Washington — which received $35.6 million.

America’s Rural Future: Brookings-AEI Commission on U.S. Rural Prosperity Field Hearing on Coastal Industry, Recreation and Community Renewal on the Olympic Peninsula will take place today and Thursday.

The commission is led by former U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-North Dakota, and former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican.

Stops today include the Elwha River Interpretive Site, the Rainforest Arts Center in Forks and the NatureBridge campus at Lake Crescent.

Thursday’s sessions at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., are open to the public. One, from 8:30 to 10 a.m., will cover regional economic development, workforce needs and coastal industries; a second, on maritime industries, is set for 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

Local voices are expected to drive the discussions, helping the commission understand development strategies and regional infrastructure. Those who will take part include local elected officials, tribal representatives, nonprofit service providers and regional economic development organizations.

The Washington trip follows stops in Eastern Kentucky in May and the Mississippi Delta in March.

The commission began its field work in October 2025 with meetings in Wheatland and Casselton, N.D., and on the White Earth Reservation in Mahnomen, Minn.

Insights gathered on the Olympic Peninsula, along with those collected in Kentucky, Mississippi, North Dakota and Minnesota, are intended to shape future stops in other parts of the country.

The commission has said the effort will build toward a comprehensive national rural strategy to be released in 2027.

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.