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COMMUNITY CASE STUDY article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion

This article is part of the Research TopicExploring Community-Driven Public Health: Participatory Action Research ApplicationsView all 3 articles

Community Case Study: Community-Driven Strategies to Build a Socially Inclusive Rural County

Provisionally accepted
Elizabeth AblahElizabeth Ablah1*Nadine LongNadine Long2Christina PachecoChristina Pacheco3Maddi SutterMaddi Sutter4Shelby BohnertShelby Bohnert5Sharon Fitzgerald WolffSharon Fitzgerald Wolff6Sarah Finocchario-KesslerSarah Finocchario-Kessler3
  • 1Population Health, Department of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine Wichita, University of Kansas Medical Center, Wichita, United States
  • 2Sauerwein-Long Consulting, LLC, Andover, Kansas, United States
  • 3The University of Kansas Department of Family Medicine & Community Health, Kansas City, United States
  • 4Mitchell County Local Health Equity Team, Beloit Kansas, United States
  • 5Mitchell County Regional Medical Foundation, Beloit Kansas, United States
  • 6Population Health, The University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, United States

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Mitchell County, Kansas is a rural county with a strong sense of local identity and a population committed to community well-being. Like many rural areas, however, residents experience structural challenges to social connection, including geographic isolation, demographic shifts, and limited access to inclusive services. These issues were further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a federally funded initiative, Communities Organizing to Promote Equity (COPE), Mitchell County stakeholders developed community-driven strategies to address social isolation, with special consideration on how to include new immigrant residents. This case study outlines the intervention, centered on engagement and trust-building, cultural inclusion, employment access, and wrap-around supports; highlighting how other rural communities might replicate this work to build more welcoming, connected, and inclusive environments.

Keywords: Social Isolation, social inclusion, rural, participatory, Community-driven

Received: 09 Jun 2025; Accepted: 03 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Ablah, Long, Pacheco, Sutter, Bohnert, Fitzgerald Wolff and Finocchario-Kessler. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Elizabeth Ablah, eablah@kumc.edu

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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