Cross-sector collaborations can generate the resources and political will necessary to tackle urgent, complex issues. Because these partnerships involve local leaders, they are typically responsive to their surrounding communities, addressing local concerns, and capitalizing upon local assets. These strengths-oriented, locally driven collaborations therefore offer a promising model for improving rural schools and developing rural communities (Bauch, 2001; Schafft, 2016). As Miller, Scanlan, and Phillippo's case study carefully details, the longstanding "Kids Committee" (KC) partnership in the rural community of Midvale shares these qualities: dense bonding relationships, tight networks of cross-sector support, and a focus on addressing high poverty rates and low achievement test scores. But, in the final year of their study, this promising collaboration unravels. The authors argue that it is undone, in large part, by a distrust of "outsiders"--in this case, individuals born outside of Midvale or living in a neighboring town. This distrust causes the unique perspectives and useful connections of "outsider" stakeholders to be dismissed, and ultimately, these leaders leave for other jobs, representing, in the authors' view, a lost opportunity for Midvale and its schools. This commentary offers a brief historical background to contextualize this collaboration and its unraveling, and names two other dimensions--race and class--that, although often unexplored in rural research, texture rural communities and shape rural change work. [This article offers a commentary on "Rural Cross-Sector Collaboration: A Social Frontier Analysis" by Peter M. Miller, Martin K. Scanlan, and Kate Phillippo (EJ1155335).]