Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Rural areas often lack essential resources but one North Carolina community is proving how local action and investment can make a difference.
Research shows access to resources like transportation and safe housing is crucial for health, yet over one in five rural residents struggles with these needs. In West Marion, North Carolina, gaps in transportation, food distribution and health care were prevalent.
Paula Swepson, executive director of the nonprofit West Marion Community Forum, recalled despite being a close-knit community, many people needed guidance on how to participate in creating change.
“You don’t know what you don’t know, so you don’t know the resources out there,” Swepson observed. “There always needs to be some type of connection with institutional partners that can let you know what’s available for your community.”
With direction and grants from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, the West Marion Community Forum was established. Swepson pointed out the forum taught residents how to connect with town officials to make their voices heard.
Swepson added since then, the Forum has brought critical resources, initiated programs and established community systems. She emphasized the Foundation did not impose solutions but showed residents how to identify and address their own needs.
“They had the technical assistants come in and just facilitate monthly meetings, and just have conversations with the community and do root-cause analysis,” Swepson outlined. “Out of that came our working groups.”
Today, Swepson noted the forum operates a youth-led community garden and there are transportation and housing working groups. They are also focused on improving health care and building a community center. She added the progress shows community action is key to change.
“The way the community is operating now — and the whole county now — is that people feel empowered to at least go to the meetings and stand up,” Swepson stressed. “And public comment if they can’t get on the agenda, and address the things that they want to see and the concerns that they have.”
The success in West Marion has inspired similar forums in East Marion and Old Fort.
References: Population information Data USA 2024
This article is republished from Public News Service under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.
