The mission of the funder is to elevate the standard of living in rural areas to meet or surpass state-wide averages by 2030, preserving rural cultural heritage and lifestyle. They aim to make substantial investments in economic and community development, promote regional collaboration, and leverage additional resources for sustainable rural growth, thus fostering entrepreneurship, employment, and rural prosperity.
The MD Rural Health Care Grant, underpinned by the Rural Maryland Prosperity Investment Fund, seeks to improve health care access and delivery across Maryland's rural regions, where there's a significant gap in medical services. It supports a broad range of projects from planning and implementation of health programs to evaluating their effectiveness. Specific areas include telemedicine, transportation for health care access, workforce recruitment, and retention, as well as addressing mental health, substance abuse, and chronic disease prevention. The initiative aligns with the Maryland Rural Health Plan, targeting improvements in healthcare access, coordination, literacy, outreach, and disease management, with a special focus in FY2024 on supporting the Rural Nonemergency Medical Transportation Pilot Program to address transportation barriers to healthcare access.