Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Community and economic development
Distribution of Block Grant Funding: Considerations for Rural Communities
Analyzes the allocation of federal block grant funding from states to local communities via case studies of public health, community development, and substance use treatment funding distribution in six states. Highlights barriers and facilitators of rural funding, including agency staffing, flexibility, and cooperation and state-by-state variation in approaches to rurality.
Author(s): Kate E. Beatty, Casey P. Balio, Margaret M. Francisco, Michael B. Meit, Stephanie M. Mathis
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center
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Analyzes the allocation of federal block grant funding from states to local communities via case studies of public health, community development, and substance use treatment funding distribution in six states. Highlights barriers and facilitators of rural funding, including agency staffing, flexibility, and cooperation and state-by-state variation in approaches to rurality.
Author(s): Kate E. Beatty, Casey P. Balio, Margaret M. Francisco, Michael B. Meit, Stephanie M. Mathis
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: ETSU/NORC Rural Health Research Center
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Delta Regional Authority 2024 Annual Report
Discusses the Delta Regional Authority's strategic investments, programming, and initiatives throughout 2024. Focuses on critical and human infrastructure, public works, capacity building, workforce opportunities and health system improvements in rural areas, and more.
Date: 08/2025
Sponsoring organization: Delta Regional Authority
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Discusses the Delta Regional Authority's strategic investments, programming, and initiatives throughout 2024. Focuses on critical and human infrastructure, public works, capacity building, workforce opportunities and health system improvements in rural areas, and more.
Date: 08/2025
Sponsoring organization: Delta Regional Authority
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Building Healthier Rural Communities: Economic Development Districts Address Social Determinants of Health
Report outlining social determinants of health (SDOH) in rural areas and how Economic Development Districts (EDD) address them. Highlights workforce, infrastructure, food security, health, disaster preparedness, funding, data, and public-private partnerships. Includes a case study from an EDD in North Carolina and highlights the role of hospitals in the community.
Date: 08/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Economic Development District Community of Practice, National Association of Development Organizations
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Report outlining social determinants of health (SDOH) in rural areas and how Economic Development Districts (EDD) address them. Highlights workforce, infrastructure, food security, health, disaster preparedness, funding, data, and public-private partnerships. Includes a case study from an EDD in North Carolina and highlights the role of hospitals in the community.
Date: 08/2025
Sponsoring organizations: Economic Development District Community of Practice, National Association of Development Organizations
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Rural Hospital Philanthropy: Community Awareness and Willingness to Donate to the Georgia Rural Hospital Tax Credit Program
Examines awareness of and willingness to participate in Georgia's Rural Hospital Tax Credit program, utilizing survey data of 940 people living in rural South Georgia communities served by eligible local hospitals. Includes data on associations between willingness to donate to rural hospitals and satisfaction with hospital quality, tax credit program awareness, and demographic factors such as household income and educational attainment. Discusses philanthropy as a source of financial support for rural hospitals.
Author(s): Linda Kimsey, Bettye A. Apenteng, Samuel T. Opoku, et al.
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 25, 980
Date: 07/2025
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Examines awareness of and willingness to participate in Georgia's Rural Hospital Tax Credit program, utilizing survey data of 940 people living in rural South Georgia communities served by eligible local hospitals. Includes data on associations between willingness to donate to rural hospitals and satisfaction with hospital quality, tax credit program awareness, and demographic factors such as household income and educational attainment. Discusses philanthropy as a source of financial support for rural hospitals.
Author(s): Linda Kimsey, Bettye A. Apenteng, Samuel T. Opoku, et al.
Citation: BMC Health Services Research, 25, 980
Date: 07/2025
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Working with Communities on Decisions for Innovative Treatment Technologies
Provides guidance for technical assistance providers and other decision-makers in examining, planning, and implementing non-treatment and treatment responses to emerging contaminants, including PFAS, in small, rural, and underserved communities. Includes discussion of community decision-making, challenges of working with innovative technologies, and public health and infrastructure factors influencing adoption.
Additional links: Interactive guidebook
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: Rural Community Assistance Partnership
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Provides guidance for technical assistance providers and other decision-makers in examining, planning, and implementing non-treatment and treatment responses to emerging contaminants, including PFAS, in small, rural, and underserved communities. Includes discussion of community decision-making, challenges of working with innovative technologies, and public health and infrastructure factors influencing adoption.
Additional links: Interactive guidebook
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: Rural Community Assistance Partnership
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The Impact of Rural Hospital Closures and Mergers on Health System Ecologies: A Scoping Review
Examines 46 studies on rural hospital closures and mergers between 2010 to 2023, with a focus on understanding health system impacts, finances, workforce, utilization, access to facilities and services, and community and economic well-being.
Author(s): Alison Coates, Janice Probst, Kanika Sarwal, Suhaib Riaz, Agnes Grudniewicz
Citation: Medical Care Research and Review, 82(5)
Date: 07/2025
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Examines 46 studies on rural hospital closures and mergers between 2010 to 2023, with a focus on understanding health system impacts, finances, workforce, utilization, access to facilities and services, and community and economic well-being.
Author(s): Alison Coates, Janice Probst, Kanika Sarwal, Suhaib Riaz, Agnes Grudniewicz
Citation: Medical Care Research and Review, 82(5)
Date: 07/2025
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Community Development in Rural Health Toolkit
A toolkit that provides local strategies, planning resources, assessment tools, evidence-based models, templates, and case studies related to rural health community development. Focuses on 5 key theories of rural community health development: social capital, asset-based community development, appreciative inquiry, participatory development, and collective impact model.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
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A toolkit that provides local strategies, planning resources, assessment tools, evidence-based models, templates, and case studies related to rural health community development. Focuses on 5 key theories of rural community health development: social capital, asset-based community development, appreciative inquiry, participatory development, and collective impact model.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: National Organization of State Offices of Rural Health
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Experts of HAC: Dr. Stephen Sugg on Rural Placemaking and the Power of Community-Led Design
An interview with Dr. Stephen Sugg about rural placemaking and the relationship among arts, culture, design, economic development, community identity, and housing. Provides examples of successful placemaking in rural communities across the United States.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: Housing Assistance Council
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An interview with Dr. Stephen Sugg about rural placemaking and the relationship among arts, culture, design, economic development, community identity, and housing. Provides examples of successful placemaking in rural communities across the United States.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: Housing Assistance Council
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New Design Opens the Door to Improved Patient Care at Midwest Medical Center
Profiles the Midwest Medical Center, a hospital in rural Illinois. Discusses the building's remodel and collaboration with the USDA Rural Development Community Facilities program.
Author(s): Andrea Imel
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: USDA Rural Development
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Profiles the Midwest Medical Center, a hospital in rural Illinois. Discusses the building's remodel and collaboration with the USDA Rural Development Community Facilities program.
Author(s): Andrea Imel
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: USDA Rural Development
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Grow Benzie Amplifies Community-Led Solutions in Rural Northern Michigan
Features the work of Grow Benzie, a rural prosperity organization that collaborates with community projects to improve rural Benzie county in Michigan. Discusses the Stories That Heal project, a community series focused on telling stories about mental health, belonging, lived experience, and overcoming stigma.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: Michigan Center for Rural Health
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Features the work of Grow Benzie, a rural prosperity organization that collaborates with community projects to improve rural Benzie county in Michigan. Discusses the Stories That Heal project, a community series focused on telling stories about mental health, belonging, lived experience, and overcoming stigma.
Date: 07/2025
Sponsoring organization: Michigan Center for Rural Health
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