Rural Project Examples Addressing Children and youth

Updated/reviewed December 2023

Need: Drowning was a leading cause of death for children in Alaska.
Intervention: Cold Water Safety and Survival for Educators workshops were developed in 1998, with help from a 4-year federal grant, to train educators to provide education and hands-on skills for school children and members of the public.
Results: The safety program was integrated into about 50% of Alaskan school curriculum and schools in other states, helping to train hundreds of educators and thousands of children on the importance of cold water safety.

Updated/reviewed December 2023

Need: Agencies in Schoharie County, New York were seeing a widespread trend of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in the children and families they served.
Intervention: The Schoharie ACEs Team was formed as a way to educate rural communities about ACEs, the associated brain science, and ways to build resiliency.
Results: The ACEs Team has put on 5 half-day educational conferences, 2 virtual conferences, and 10 trainings for various groups across the region. The team has also trained 3 school districts on trauma-informed care and provided resources for families exposed to trauma.

Updated/reviewed December 2023

Need: To develop teen leaders, build self-confidence, and lower teen pregnancy rates in Marlboro County, South Carolina.
Intervention: Tea Time with Teens brings together community leaders, mothers, and daughters to build life skills and make healthy decisions. In addition, the program sponsors a middle school club and has an extension program for young women.
Results: Since 2009, the program has been educating teens on making healthy choices and adults on having meaningful conversations with teens.

Updated/reviewed October 2023

Need: In Colorado, 31% of children have experienced dental decay by the time they reach kindergarten. With several frontier and rural counties in Colorado considered Dental Care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), options for oral healthcare are limited.
Intervention: Cavity Free at Three (CF3) works to improve access to preventive oral health for pregnant women and young children.
Results: CF3 has trained over 6,000 medical and dental professionals in performing preventive dental health. The percentage of children who received oral healthcare from a medical or dental provider before the age of 2 has progressively increased, and Colorado saw reduced cavities starting in 2007.

Updated/reviewed August 2023

Need: To help children whose family members are struggling with substance misuse.
Intervention: A year-round program provides mentoring as well as substance use prevention education.
Results: In 2022, Camp Mariposa served a total of 123 youth in its four rural locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. In a study, 93% of participants reported no use of any substance to get high.

Updated/reviewed July 2023

Need: To provide healthcare for the genetically vulnerable children and adults of the rural, uninsured Amish and Mennonite communities in southern Pennsylvania.
Intervention: A clinic that serves as a comprehensive medical practice for children and adults (primarily from the Amish and Mennonite communities) with rare, inherited, or complex disorders.
Results: In 2022, about 1,400 active patients with more than 400 unique genetic mutations were treated at the Clinic for Special Children.

Updated/reviewed July 2023

Need: To bring needed child care to rural Mercer County, North Dakota.
Intervention: A nonprofit cooperative provides part-time and full-time child care.
Results: ECCCC currently has about 60 children enrolled, but it had 86 children at the height of its enrollment history.

Updated/reviewed July 2023

Need: School-based drug misuse prevention program in Appalachian Ohio, a need triggered by a high school student's overdose death.
Intervention: Implementation of the HOPE curriculum, an age-appropriate K through 12th grade drug abuse prevention program.
Results: No further drug overdose deaths after curriculum initiated.

Added July 2023

Need: To improve access to healthy, affordable food for low-income families and children in Blaine County, Idaho in a stigma-free way.
Intervention: A truck that delivers free, healthy meals to kids in local neighborhoods and a farm stand selling fresh produce at heavily discounted rates.
Results: The Bloom Truck delivers meals to between 250 and 400 children each summer, with 1,599 meals served in June of 2023.

Updated/reviewed May 2023

Need: To help adults and children in rural South Dakota prevent or manage their diabetes.
Intervention: The Facing Diabetes Project offered medical visits for adults and provided prevention and education sessions for the local 4th and 5th graders.
Results: Many adults and children in the region felt better equipped to choose healthy foods, exercise regularly, and manage their stress: all factors that can help prevent diabetes or decrease its effects.

Rural Project Examples: Children and youth