Rural Project Examples: Populations
Promising Examples
Healthy Early Learning Project (HELP)

Updated/reviewed August 2024
- Need: An ongoing health need to alleviate early childhood obesity in the rural Kansas counties of Marshall and Nemaha.
- Intervention: 5 distinct physical and nutritional programs were introduced to 9 preschool sites through the overarching Healthy Early Learning Project (HELP).
- Results: HELP comprehensively increased children's physical activity and healthy food consumption and established a sustainable presence at each preschool site.
Schools That Care

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.
Communities that Care Coalition
Updated/reviewed April 2023
- Need: To improve the health and well-being of young people in the rural area of Massachusetts's Franklin County and North Quabbin, and to reduce youth drug and alcohol use.
- Intervention: A community-based prevention coalition was formed to improve youth health and well-being and reduce youth drug and alcohol use use. The coalition brings together stakeholders from across the community and uses the Communities That Care evidence-based community planning system.
- Results: CTC has seen significant reductions in substance abuse among local youth in the 30 rural towns they serve.
Healthy Connections, Inc. Healthy Families Arkansas

Updated/reviewed December 2022
- Need: High poverty rates and lack of access to healthcare make caring for unborn and newborn children difficult for young mothers in Arkansas's Polk and Garland Counties.
- Intervention: An Arkansas-based program provides a national healthcare service to expectant and young mothers. Prenatal check-ups, education, transportation, well-baby checks and child immunizations are all provided by the Healthy Connections, Inc.
- Results: The program's results demonstrate an increase in first trimester prenatal care rates and child immunization rates, as well as a dramatic decrease in confirmed cases of child abuse.
Contingency Management Smoking Cessation in Appalachia
Updated/reviewed June 2022
- Need: To reduce smoking rates of pregnant women and adolescents in Appalachian regions of eastern Kentucky and Ohio.
- Intervention: A web-based smoking cessation program that offered monetary incentives to reducing smoking.
- Results: Participants significantly reduced smoking rates or quit altogether.
School-Based Health Center Dental Outreach

Updated/reviewed July 2020
- Need: To improve the oral health status of children ages 3 to 17 living in rural areas of Louisiana.
- Intervention: School-based nurse practitioners perform oral health assessments, apply fluoride varnishes when indicated, and make dental referrals, with completion rates of the latter tracked by dental case managers.
- Results: Significant numbers of school children are receiving oral health examinations, fluoride varnish applications, and receiving care coordination to improve numbers of completed dental appointments.
The Rural Virtual Infusion Program

Updated/reviewed April 2020
- Need: Allow rural cancer patients in a of 26-county region in Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota to have access to tertiary-level chemotherapy regimens in rural infusion centers.
- Intervention: With telehealth-based oversight from a tertiary care oncology team, 3 rural infusion teams were trained to coordinate cancer treatment plans and administer complex chemotherapy regimens.
- Results: Almost 130 patients were transitioned to receive chemotherapy in a rural infusion center, translating to over 1,000 infusion visits and saving patients/families nearly 65,000 trip miles, 1,800 travel hours, and $71,000.
Youth4Health

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.
Other Project Examples
Hope Squad
Updated/reviewed June 2025
- Need: To reduce youth suicide rates.
- Intervention: First begun in Utah, Hope Squad is a nationwide program that trains youth to identify peers' signs of distress and connect them to help. Hope Squads educate the entire student body to increase connectedness and reduce stigma.
- Results: Studies suggest that Hope Squad schools' students with suicidal thoughts are more likely than non-Hope Squad schools' students to solicit help. In addition, stigma surrounding mental illness is decreasing.
It's a Girl Thing: Making Proud Choices
Updated/reviewed June 2025
- Need: Teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and mental health challenges in adolescent girls were concerns for members of Union Parish, Louisiana.
- Intervention: Union General Hospital, a Critical Access Hospital, created the program It's a Girl Thing: Making Proud Choices to teach prevention, self-confidence, personal responsibility, and mental well-being to teen girls.
- Results: Teen pregnancy rates in Union Parish have dropped by more than 40% since the start of the program, significantly exceeding the program's initial goal of 5%. Graduation rates have also increased. The addition of Together We Can Be Bully Free as an integral part of It's a Girl Thing has further expanded mental health support for participants.
For examples from other sources, see: