Annie Contractor

Annie Contractor is the Policy Director at Rural Organizing and RuralProgress. Annie’s expertise focuses on bringing people into all levels of government decision-making. Her policy work includes establishing a wrap-around services support unit in Colorado’s COVID-19 response through the public health infrastructure of the state, tactics for welcoming immigrants in a sanctuary city, and more recently, getting the Recompete Pilot Program passed and implemented with rural inclusion. With Rural Organizing, Annie is bridging the gap between community organizing and community development by resourcing rural civic leaders with tools, strategies, coaching, connection to experts, and a peer network to support inclusive community engagement and powerful civic participation.

Annie grew up in rural Wyoming, served as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Zambia, hand-built a log cabin in Appalachia, farmed lettuce in Hawai’i, and amplified activists in Brazil. As a regional planner and social scientist, Annie has designed and led four social justice research projects on three continents that have impacted food security, environmental justice, housing justice, and low-income mothers’ access to quality jobs. Annie enjoys running slowly and playing the same three songs on the guitar.