Funding for the Rural Life Center comes from Kenyon College and a variety of federal, state, and local sources. Kenyon College provides for general operating expenses and supports various projects. Grants and outside agency funds support additional initiatives.
Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, "Life Along the Kokosing"
McGregor Foundation, "Rural By Design"
McGregor Foundation, "Food for Thought"
Ohio Humanities Council, "Documenting Local Culture," "Life Along the Kokosing," "Oral History Institute,
"The Mayos," "The Family Farm Project"
Knox County Community Trust, "Documenting Local Culture," "Life Along the Kokosing"
Rural Sociological Society/Kellogg Foundation, "Life Along the Kokosing"
Ohio Department of Agriculture, "HomeGrown"
American Folklife Center, "Documenting Local Culture"
Knox County Farm Bureau, "Family Farm Project"
Knox County Planning Commission, "Land Use Survey"
United States Information Agency, "Jiaoliu"
Knox County Fair Board, "Knox County Fair"
First Knox National Bank, "Life Along the Kokosing"
In addition to its many projects, The Rural Life Center works closely with a variety of organizations that view RLC as a model program of rural study, experiential learning, and college-community collaboration. To date, RLC has worked with Bailey Scholars Program at Michigan State University, the Community Food Security Coalition, Farm Aid, Green Mountain College in Vermont, the folklore departments at Indiana University and Ohio State University, Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, Ohio State University's rural sociological program, The Ohio Historical Society, and Malabar Farm State Park.
American Association for State and Local History, "The Community Within: Black Experience in Knox County, Ohio"
American Farm Bureau Federation, "Rural Delivery: Family Farming in Knox County, Ohio"
Knox County Daughters of the American Revolution Community Service Award
Knox County Farm Bureau Service to Agriculture Award
Telly Award, "Where Does our Food Come From?"
Ohio Academy of History, "The Family Farm Project"
Ohio Department of Agriculture Indigenous Leadership Award
Ohio Association of Historical Societies and Museums, "Life Along the Kokosing"
Ohio Local Historical Alliance and Ohio Historical Society, "The Place to Be"
Rural Sociological Society Best Practices Award for Contributions to Undergraduate Teaching about Rural Diversity