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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Community engagement and volunteerism

Lifting Kids Up with Grace: How a New Mexico Community Built a Grassroots Youth and Family Center from the Ground Up
Features the GRACE Youth and Family Center for Everyone, a New Mexico grassroots initiative that offers free programming to children, teenagers, and families in a rural county with high rates of substance use.
Author(s): Gretel Kauffman
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 12/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Implementation and Sustainability of Systems Change for Mental Health Promotion and Substance Misuse Prevention: A Qualitative Study
Examines the implementation and sustainability of the Indiana Regional Prevention System (RPS), a community-focused systems change program focused on mental health promotion and substance use prevention, from interviews with 9 active regional coordinators. Discusses the impact of RPS in rural communities.
Author(s): Ashlyn Burns, Haleigh Kampman, Lauren Magee, et al.
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 24, 1477
Date: 11/2024
Type: Document
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A Toolkit for Developing Local Multisector Plans for Aging in Rural Areas
Offers 10 steps for developing a master plan for aging with rural focus, covering leadership development, community engagement, implementation planning, evaluation, and sustainability. Highlights rural-specific challenges for aging in rural communities.
Additional links: One Pager
Date: 10/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: The SCAN Foundation
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Rural Aging Action Network: Lessons from an Innovative Model for Mobilizing Whole Communities and Empowering Older Adults Across Rural America
Highlights the work of the Rural Aging Action Network (RAAN), a national collaborative that works to expand community-based services and supports to aid independence for older adults. Offers 7 steps for implementing a RAAN with a focus on continuous community involvement and ongoing evaluation.
Additional links: Summary
Author(s): Molly Wylie, Ashley Washington, Verena Cimarolli, Regan McManus, Robyn Stone
Date: 10/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: LeadingAge, Lutheran Services in America
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Youth in Crisis: How an Innovative Program is Addressing Pediatric Mental Health
Highlights a New Hampshire pediatric behavioral health training program using the Project ECHO model. Discusses access to care, workforce shortages, benefits of collaboration, and community engagement. Transcript beneath the audio player.
Date: 08/2024
Type: Audio
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
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Resilience Planning: What Communities Can Do to Keep Hazards from Turning into Disasters
Provides guidance for communities of all sizes to integrate resilience objectives in their long-term planning. Discusses how to work through resilience planning and includes examples from a rural Southampton Township in New Jersey.
Author(s): David R. Mizzen
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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Community-Engaged Systems for Population Health Improvement: A Novel Approach to Improve Diabetes Outcomes in Rural Communities
Describes the design and implementation of a community-driven diabetes prevention and care management initiative focused on coalition-building and decentralized decision-making in 2 rural Nebraska communities. Discusses planning, capacity-building, community engagement, and sustainability.
Author(s): Kristin Pullyblank, Marisa Rosen, Christopher Wichman, et al.
Citation: Journal of Community Health, 49, 798-808
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
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Addressing Opioid Misuse through Community-Engaged Strategy Development: Study Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Describes the design of a research study to evaluate the effectiveness of the SEED Method and a modified Delphi method for the recruitment of participants to a community-based participatory research project. Study participants will develop strategies to respond to the opioid epidemic in three rural Virginia communities.
Author(s): Emily B. Zimmerman, Carlin Rafie, Sophie G. Wenzel, et al.
Citation: Research Involvement and Engagement, 10, 74
Date: 07/2024
Type: Document
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Community-Driven Strategies to Address Persistent Poverty in Rural Areas
Webinar recording discussing persistent poverty and structural barriers to increasing wealth. Discusses the work of community development finance institutions. Highlights successful program examples including indigenous food systems in Maine, home ownership in the Mississippi Delta and colonias along the U.S.-Mexico Border, and using community engagement to impact systems and policy in Kansas. Transcript available in the video description.
Date: 06/2024
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
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Rising Through the Ranks: Q&A with Rural Hospital President Soniya Fidler
An interview with UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center President Soniya Fidler, who reflects on the journey that took her from an entry-level hospital position to a leadership role and shares insights about the skills needed to transition from management to leadership.
Author(s): Hallie Vonk
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 06/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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