Founded in 1978, RCAC provides technical assistance to rural communities throughout the west. The people and events that converged to form this organization, however, point to seismic changes in rural life and national politics that transcend the technical.

Origins is the organization’s early history, how it connects to the story of rural development in general, and how it impacts RCAC’s work today.

Kirke Wilson, then executive director of the Rosenberg Foundation; Bob Marshall, former Self-Help Enterprises executive director; Bill French, RCAC’s founding CEO; Billie Heath, longtime RCAC staff member; and Stan Keasling, RCAC’s CEO from 2008 to 2019, tell the organizations’ history from their perspectives.

Origins was filmed in 2012 by Jeremy Raff.