Rockford, Illinois – The National Center for Rural Health Professions (NCRHP) has been awarded a 5-year grant of $100,000 to participate in the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Rural People, Rural Policy (RPRP) initiative. The NCRHP is located at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford.
RPRP brings together organizations nationwide in order to build a network that focuses on rural policy change. This network will provide a framework for understanding the policy change process and identifying leverage points for supporting and strengthening rural America. The emphasis of the initiative is on a systems-change approach that focuses on addressing underlying behavior, interactions and decisions that cause the symptoms, rather than focusing on alleviating symptoms.
Rural policy network members include representatives from five geographic regions of the country, at-large rural organizations and national organizations. The NCRHP will participate as an at-large member. Michael Glasser, PhD, associate dean for the NCRHP and research associate professor of sociology for the department of family and community medicine at the College of Medicine at Rockford, and Matt Hunsaker, MD, director of the RMED program for the NCRHP and clinical assistant professor of medicine for the department of family and community medicine at the College, recently attended a three and one-half day orientation workshop for the RPRP initiative in Nebraska City, Neb.
The National Center for Rural Health Professions works to meet the healthcare needs of rural residents through collaborative projects involving multiple health professions. The six partner disciplines – dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, public health and social work – currently comprise the NCRHP.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930. The organization supports children, families and communities as they strengthen and create conditions that propel vulnerable children to achieve success as individuals and as contributors to the larger community and society. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. For further information, please visit the Foundation’s Web site at www.wkkf.org.