Quick Guide
This addendum consolidates equity focused rural resources into one section for your reference. Many of these resources span across the 12 competencies of CDPH’s Organization Assessment for Equity Infrastructure. These resources are not exhaustive but can help explore approaches to advancing health equity in rural communities.
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| California's Rural North: Health Equity Landscape Scan | The California Center for Rural Policy (CCRP) gives an overview of health disparities, challenges for public health staff, and equity efforts in the Rural North of California. This in-depth, 40 page document details opportunities for equity work in the Rural North, as well as how CCRP will support learning needs for this region. |
| Advancing Health Equity in Rural America | This report highlights the implementation of different equity-focused efforts in rural communities. It begins with a helpful background on why health equity is needed in rural settings, various disparities that rural communities experience, and the roots of rural/urban disparities. Additionally, there is information about federal programs that can be utilized to address social determinants of health in rural areas and examples of how these programs can be utilized. |
| Building Healthy Communities Merced | This report presents the accomplishments of the Building Healthy Communities (BHC) project in Merced County, CA from their first 10 years of service. The report provides specific actions the project has taken to increase resident engagement, power-building and power-sharing, and integration of health equity initiatives in the community. |
| Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement from the Rural Maryland Council | The Rural Maryland Council's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement serves as an example of an organization demonstrating their commitment to equity. |
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| The Role of Social Determinants of Health in Value-Based Payment Models: A Rural Perspective | This webinar focuses on the collaborations between community-based organizations and rural health providers to address the social determinants of health (such as adequate transportation, daily nutrition, and stable housing during provider visits). By focusing on addressing social determinants of health, providers can increase the quality of care given to their patients. |
| This Is Rural Health: Health Equity in Rural Communities with Dr. Pooja Mittal | Dr. Pooja Mittal, Chief Health Equity Officer of Health Net, discusses rural health equity in an episode of the This is Rural Health podcast, presented by the California State Rural Health Association. In the episode, Dr. Mittal discusses the root causes of inequities in rural areas and the importance of economic opportunity, education, and health care in addressing disparities. |
| Rural Matters: Viewing Rural Health, Education, and Business Through an Equity Lens (Grantmakers In Health, Part I) | This is an episode from the Rural Matters podcast, which features a conversation between rural health experts discussing strategies to increase the visibility of rural health equity efforts after the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, experts discuss a variety of opportunities to increase infrastructural wealth, such as broadband internet. This episode is part one in a series, and there are additional episodes focused on public health. |
| Building Academic Health Department Partnerships in Rural Areas | This webinar focuses on the benefits of relationships between academic and public health institutions. The Health Director for Granville Vance Public Health in North Carolina discusses her organization’s experience creating an academic partnership and increasing the opportunities for public health education and training in rural areas. |
| Health Equity in Rural Communities | This 1.5-hour webinar gives an introductory overview of equity and rural communities. While originally intended for a Colorado-based audience, the key messages of this webinar are applicable to rural communities everywhere. Other webinars in this series are relevant to equity, such as Equity at the Intersection of Poverty, Migration and Health - Colorado Trust, which highlights the efforts of migrant health workers. |
| Raising the Roof: Solutions for Rural Homelessness | This webinar, which features Joe N. Savage Jr. PhD, from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, discusses how rural communities have been integrated into the federal strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness. The webinar includes proven strategies to address homelessness in rural areas with a special emphasis on prevention. West Virginia serves as a case study for the challenges of implementing the plan in a political climate where there is reluctance to provide comprehensive services to people experiencing homelessness. |
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Exploring Strategies to Improve Health and Equity in Rural Communities | This document describes the challenges of working in rural health and equity as well as 16 research-based “opportunities for action” in order to develop health and equity initiatives in rural areas. The report also has an in-depth look at the data collection strategies and protocol, which can serve as an example for engaging with communities through data collection. |
| Rural Health Equity Toolkit | The Rural Health Equity Toolkit walks rural organizations through the process of integrating health equity into existing programs and establishing new, equity-focused efforts. The modules include different program models and how to implement, sustain , and evaluate equity-related programming. |
| Rural Community Health Workers (CHW) Toolkit | This toolkit provides information on many different aspects of starting a community health worker (CHW)/promotores program, including commonly used models , implementation steps, and sustainability strategies. Each section contains real life examples of rural CHW/promotores programs, including Mariposa County, CA and the California Network of Promotoras. Resources are also available in Spanish. |
| Rural Community Health Toolkit | The Rural Community Health Toolkit provides a step-by-step guide on starting a new health program in your rural area. The toolkit contains modules that guide staff through foundational steps, such as finding local data, creating a community asset map and implementing, evaluating, and sustaining a program, all through a lens of working in a rural area. |
| Rural Development Hubs Report | This report describes the concept of Rural Development Hubs, which are centers within a county and/or region that work to bring together community-based organizations, local leaders, and local government in order to increase community wealth and capacity. Additionally, the report covers many health-equity related topics, including the history and structural systems of rural communities in America. |
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| CMS Framework for Advancing Health Care in Rural, Tribal, and Geographically Isolated Communities | The CMS Framework for Advancing Health Care in Rural, Tribal, and Geographically Isolated Communities updates and builds upon the CMS Rural Health Strategy, released in 2018, to reflect changes in the health care landscape since its development. In alignment with the CMS Framework for Health Equity 2022—2032, this Framework supports CMS’ overall efforts to advance health equity, expand access to quality, affordable health coverage, and improve health outcomes. CMS’ approach to operationalizing this Framework over the next five years will be informed by ongoing public engagement as appropriate, and CMS will continue to monitor trends in health and health care that uniquely impact rural, tribal, and geographically isolated areas. |
| The Thrive Rural Framework | The Thrive Rural Framework allows rural communities to consolidate knowledge of important resources in their community, make target goals on how to improve rural prosperity, and measure progress of community initiatives. Though the framework is not equity-specific and focuses on all issues in a rural community, the framework can easily be adapted to track equity development. |
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Creating A Force Multiplier – Why Advocates for Rural Health and Health Equity Should Work Together | This article discusses the overlapping disparities experienced by communities of color and rural communities in the United States. It emphasizes that all working to improve rural health must also work to improve health equity. |
| Rural Public Health and Health Care: A Scan of Field Practice and Trends | (Pages 10-14 for equity specific content). This report summarizes the current state of health care and public health work in rural areas in the United States. The latter part of the report looks at rural public health from an equity lens and gives an overview of past drivers of change that have brought about more equitable practices in rural areas. |