Rural Project Examples Addressing Families - Rural Health Information Hub

PROSPER Partnerships

Updated/reviewed January 2023

Need: An approach to support sustained, quality delivery of evidence-based programs for youth and families in rural communities.
Intervention: PROSPER, a program delivery system, guides communities in implementing evidence-based programs that build youth competencies, improve family functioning, and prevent risky behaviors, particularly substance use.
Results: Youth in PROSPER communities reported delayed initiation of a variety of substances, lower levels of other behavioral problems, and improvements in family functioning and other life skills.

Updated/reviewed April 2025

Need: To support parents whose children have been removed from the home so that the parents can make the changes needed for the children to return safely home.
Intervention: A statewide program in Iowa pairs these parents with mentors who have successfully navigated their own child welfare cases.
Results: Participants' children were more likely to return home than non-participants' children, and participants were less likely to have another child removal within a year of the child coming home.

Updated/reviewed August 2024

Need: To provide mental health services to rural Kansas students and their families.
Intervention: The Schools That Care project provides mental health treatment and case management as well as community education events.
Results: From 2018 to 2021, 3,456 individuals participated in health education and counseling activities offered to the public, and 964 individuals and 303 families received direct services through the Family Advocate.

Updated/reviewed December 2019

Need: To educate youth about obesity and healthy lifestyle choices.
Intervention: An educational program about healthy living was implemented in Lincoln and Claiborne Parishes in Louisiana for youth ages 9-18.
Results: Youth4Health program produced greater awareness and participation in healthier lifestyles by target youth and their families, as well as church congregations.

Updated/reviewed December 2024

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 November 2024

Need: To support pregnant and parenting women with a history of substance use, mental health, or co-occurring disorders in rural areas of Montana.
Intervention: One Health, a consortium of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), developed a team of "recovery doulas" – individuals who are dual-certified as doulas and peer-support specialists. The One Health recovery doula program offers group and individual services to women and their partners from pregnancy through the first years of parenthood.
Results: A team of nine recovery doulas (or doulas-in-training) employed by One Health offer services in 13 rural Montana counties. Recovery doulas have provided essential support to women with substance use disorder, survivors of sexual abuse, unhoused individuals, and individuals facing other complex challenges.

Updated/reviewed July 2024

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 2024

Need: Children and youth with special healthcare needs (CYSHCN) face many barriers to coordinated, comprehensive healthcare.
Intervention: The North Carolina Innovative Approaches (IA) Initiative works with families of CYSHCN and other community leaders to make systems changes in the state's healthcare system.
Results: IA has impacted 22 counties and has had a positive impact on increasing family engagement and community capacity for systems changes.

Updated/reviewed June 2024

Need: To develop a child welfare system that provides rural Texas communities with flexibility, authority, and adaptability to improve services and outcomes for children and families.
Intervention: SJRC Texas's division Belong is the lead provider for Community-Based Care, which oversees foster and kinship care, case management, reunification services, and prevention services in the South Central and Hill Country region of Texas.
Results: Since October 2021, SJRC Texas Belong CBC has served more than 1,700 children and young adults and provided more than 1,400 home and virtual visits.

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.