Community Vitality and Rural Healthcare – Resources

A Primer for Multi-Sector Health Partnerships in Rural Areas and Small Cities
Provides an overview of community-level investments in rural communities and small cities to support healthy lives through multi-sector efforts. Discusses the roles of healthcare, rural philanthropy, and community development organizations in supporting community health. Provides a toolbox that explores key terms, offers case studies, data sources, and links to national and local partners.
Sponsoring organization: Build Healthy Places Network
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County Data Maps from CEARH
Provides maps of the contiguous U.S. that represent data related to healthcare access at the county level, healthcare industry characteristics in rural counties, socio-demographic characteristics, and rural health characteristics. Map indicators can be adjusted to reflect specific types of data.
Sponsoring organization: Center for Economic Analysis of Rural Health
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Distressed Communities Index Interactive Map
Mapping tool that applies the Economic Innovation Group's Distressed Communities Index (DCI) to searchable areas including counties, zip codes, and congressional districts. Ranks communities according to a 5-tier system from prosperous to distressed, offering a specific distress score and data on DCI factors including poverty rate, housing information, income, and education.
Sponsoring organization: Economic Innovation Group
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Community Resilience Estimates
Offers state and county profiles focused on community resilience, the capacity of community members to deal with and recover from a disaster and its related health, social, and economic impacts. Identifies risk factors for households and individuals, such as poverty level, unemployment, language barriers, and health status, and shares the risk factor results by county within each state and by census tract within each county. Also provides access to a supplemental data set focused on social vulnerability and equity.
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Census Bureau
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Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Rural Health
Features rural health initiatives, articles, and other related content to demonstrate the connection between health, rural community and economic development.
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
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Cooperative Extension System
Provides opportunities for collaboration, professional development, and access to resources and tools on a variety of topics including: adapting to new technology, preparing and responding to emergency situations, improving nutrition and food safety, and protecting the environment.
Sponsoring organization: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
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Rural Development Innovation Center
Website providing information about the Rural Development Innovation Center, which features resources and best practices for rural communities seeking to improve quality of life through job creation, infrastructure improvements, community partnerships, and more.
Sponsoring organization: USDA Rural Development
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Rural Cooperatives Magazine
Magazine focused on the challenges and successes of rural cooperatives across the country. Featured bimonthly issues published by USDA Rural Development. Ceased publication in 2018, but web editions of past issues are available.
Sponsoring organization: USDA Rural Development
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Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Locator
An interactive search tool that allows people to locate community development financial institutions in their area. Includes search options by organization, state, organization type, and lending type.
Sponsoring organization: Opportunity Finance Network
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Building the Capacity of Drinking Water Systems
Resources and information to support small water systems, serving 10,000 or fewer people. Topics addressed include capacity-building, regulation compliance, and funding.
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
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