Update: See our recap of this event and videos of presentations here. Trends shaping rural life in America include unprecedented population declines, a growing Hispanic population, a disproportionate share of military veterans, and a sharp increase in “deaths of despair”—related to suicide, alcohol abuse, and drug overdose—among rural residents with low education levels. At “Small Towns/Big Changes: The Shifting Demographics of Rural America,” a briefing for members of Congress and their staff sponsored by the Population Association of America, scholars…