Rural Narratives

Today is Election Day. Across North Carolina, voters are deciding who will make decisions about healthcare, education, public infrastructure and essential resources and services.  But for small rural towns, there’s a larger question that extends beyond any single election: How much influence do residents have over the decisions that shape their communities? And what happens...

How do small rural communities in North Carolina influence decisions about healthcare, economic development, and public resources? In this episode of Rural Narratives, host Layna Hong speaks with Briyana Baker, a 25-year-old town commissioner in Conetoe, a community of approximately 200 residents in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. Baker discusses rural leadership, community trust, and the...

Across western North Carolina, residents are working alongside local government, churches and other organizations to identify where people are being left offline and find ways to connect them. In this episode, we look at what it takes to build that kind of community infrastructure — and what becomes possible when people have access to it....

What does it take to participate fully in community life when so much of it happens online? In rural western North Carolina, digital access can shape whether someone can apply for a job, attend school, reach health and public services, start a business, or stay connected to their community. In this episode of Rural Narratives,...

In Columbus County in rural North Carolina, the COVID-19 pandemic changed how Lisa Richey thought about public health. Lisa came to Columbus County as a banker nearly 40 years ago and made Lake Waccamaw her home. During the pandemic, she began to see public health differently—not as something meant for other people, but as something...

Vicki Wiggins worries about what happens when young people grow up surrounded by violence and become “unfortunately unfazed” by it. In Hertford County, Mayors Weyling White and Yahmale Vaughan and public health leader Amy Underhill each carry experiences from their younger years into the work they do today. Weyling grew up losing people he loved...

How do we build strong public health systems? In rural Hertford County, North Carolina, the answer begins with people. These stories emerged from community story circles, where neighbors gathered to share their experiences and listen to one another. Through four personal stories, you’ll hear how a childhood vision screening changed one woman’s future, how a...

What does health look like in a rural community? In Columbus County, North Carolina, it looks like a long drive to specialized medical care. It looks like a neighbor sleeping outside in freezing weather. It looks like local leaders building trust, sharing information, and finding ways to help people live longer, healthier lives. In this...

Agriculture contributes billions of dollars to North Carolina’s economy and helps put food on tables across the country. Yet many of the workers who plant, harvest and process that food face barriers to healthcare, emergency information, language access and other resources that help communities thrive. In southeastern North Carolina, farm work is woven into everyday...

Across this series, we’ve explored the stories told about rural communities. This episode examines how rural health is framed — and what those narratives reveal about who belongs, who gets overlooked, and who gets blamed. Sociolinguist Julie Sweetland of the FrameWorks Institute explains how language shapes public understanding of health, responsibility, and community, and why...

Public health depends on science. But science alone doesn’t build trust. In rural eastern North Carolina, trust is shaped by lived experience — by whether systems have shown up, whether care is accessible, and whether people feel heard. This week on Rural Narratives, we look at trusted messengers: the neighbors, providers, community health workers, and...

Health is often talked about as a matter of personal choice. But the truth is, our well-being is shaped by much more than individual decisions — it depends on what resources are nearby, which institutions are supported, and what kinds of help people can count on close to home. This week, producer Rend Smith talks...

Black communities have long been central to rural life in the South, helping shape the culture, economy and civic life of the places they call home. In North Carolina, nearly half of Black residents live in rural counties, reflecting a history that reaches back to the founding of the country and continues to influence where...

In southeastern North Carolina, residents in Columbus County face some of the steepest challenges to living a healthy life. They consistently have the lowest health outcomes in the state. Like in many rural communities, people have to put in more time and effort to access public services and healthcare systems. And a lack of access...

In this week’s episode, we visited Down Home North Carolina, a non-profit organization that builds rural, multiracial and working-class power across the state through local campaigning and community organizing. Guests:  Taí Coates-Wedde, Director of Communications at Down Home North Carolina Jon Council, western North Carolina regional campaigner at Down Home North Carolina Voices:  Tatiana Jones,...

In our first episode, we ask: Who gets to shape the stories that define rural communities? Welcome to Rural Narratives, a new podcast about public health in North Carolina’s rural communities. In this series, storytelling isn’t just about the news — it’s a way to listen, learn, and understand how meaning is made. We speak...