Head over to the NRHD Headquarters at PowerofRural.org for resources, ideas, and the latest updates:

For questions or more information, please contact info@powerofrural.org. Together, let's make National Rural Health Day an unforgettable celebration of the rural spirit and the incredible individuals dedicated to its well-being!

National Rural Health Day: NOSORH will be on the Hill on November 16 to celebrate National Rural Health Day 2023! NOSORH is sponsoring an event in the Rayburn House Office Building that will spotlight the members of Congress and their staff who are dedicated to advancing rural health. For more information on this event, please contact Andrew Coats at ACoats@HallRender.com or Tammy Norville at tammyn@nosorh.org. 

Congress Averts Shutdown: To the surprise of many, Congress averted a partial government shutdown by passing a continuing resolution (CR) on September 30. The federal government will remain funded at fiscal year (FY) 2023 levels through November 17th. Read More

From October 31 through November 2, you can virtually participate in the Health Equity Narrative Infrastructure Project’s (HENIP) Train-the-Facilitator to build narrative skills and utilize a national transformative narrative for health equity to inform your work. HENIP is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded collaboration between County Health Rankings and Roadmaps and Human Impact Partners with support from several other organizations, including NOSORH. The project comprises an adaptive and technical process that gears organizations and people to understand narrative and how narrative works as a form of power, develop transformative narratives, inform a drafted national transformative narrative, and identify ways to apply narrative to your work.

Register here. Please contact Angela Acker at apacker3@wisc.edu if you have questions about this training.

The House Ways and Means Committee, led by Chairman Jason Smith (MO-08), released a Request for Information (RFI) on addressing access to healthcare challenges in rural, underserved communities. As part of the public open letter request for information, Chairman Smith highlights five key areas of interest:

The Committee seeks broad stakeholder input in these areas of interest, emphasizing solutions. Individuals or groups interested in responding to this RFI should email comments to WMAccessRFI@mail.house.gov no later than 5:00 p.m. ET on October 5, 2023.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recently announced its first Request for Proposals (RFP) for the new Food Is Medicine Initiative, funded with support from The Rockefeller Foundation. This RFP is focused on feasibility and implementation science, specifically achieving high enrollment and engagement rates, and testing ways to achieve significant short-term changes in healthy eating behavior. Equity is central to this initiative, and applicants will be encouraged to use a patient-centered approach to study design. The research from this first RFP will build the foundation for future large-scale clinical trials. Ultimately, the initiative’s research aims to generate the definitive evidence needed to provide widespread coverage of food-based treatment options for the millions of Americans living with chronic disease. Applications are open through November 6^th, 2023, and a webinar will be held on October 4th to answer questions. To learn more about the Food is Medicine Initiative, view the RFP, and register for the webinar, visit the Food is Medicine Initiative web page.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently announced the formation of a new task force to address critical needs in maternal mental health conditions and co-occurring substance use disorders. The Task Force on Maternal Mental Health, co-chaired by HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine, M.D. and Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon, Ph.D., will identify, evaluate, and make recommendations to coordinate and improve federal activities related to data and health equity as well as identify and create a strategy to implement best practices around prevention, screening, and diagnosis; evidence-based intervention and treatment; evidence-based community practices; and communications and community engagement. There will be a focus on mental health equity and trauma-informed practices. Click here to learn more about the task force and its intended work.