Rural Innovation Alliance
Advancing Equitable Access to Food and Health Technologies in the Delta
rural innovation alliance
who we are
The Rural Innovation Alliance represents a unique approach to address the societal and economic challenges that have historically pre-empted the Mississippi Delta regions of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana from participating in the national innovation ecosystem. The Alliance is an incubator of novel, innovative solutions to achieve equitable health and economic outcomes for the residents of the region and beyond.
To truly impact the region’s economy, fundamental access to nutritious food and health care is necessary. Driven by gaps in these essential services and the existing separation of efforts by state boundaries, Alliance partners champion a collaborative approach to address health equity in rural America.
Our Goals
Agriculture
Nurture the development of more-effective methods for production, distribution, and accessibility of fresh, healthy food, including advancements in precision agriculture and the development of new business models that integrate food as medicine with existing and emerging healthcare delivery;
Medical Technology
Drive the development and testing of new telehealth models and digital tools that can be embedded in the home and across rural clinical and pharmacy sites, taking advantage of modern advances in machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data science;
Business
Develop a regional workforce of diverse technicians, practitioners, researchers, and entrepreneurs;
Health
Achieve better and more equitable health and economic outcomes across a region with disparities that are longstanding and disproportionately experienced by low-income communities and communities of color across the nation.
Education
Translate discoveries and new technologies developed in and across academic environments and private sector initiatives to the market.
Economic Development
Initiate the creation of new companies and associated economic opportunities that emanate from them;
The Challenge
Economic resilience is closely intertwined with health care access and sources of quality food. Despite existing programs, nonprofits, and agencies that focus their efforts on this region, the Lower Mississippi River Basin or Mississippi Delta region (“Delta”) has been historically marginalized and faces persistent barriers.
Inadequate food availability, low educational attainment, low literacy rates, high rates of chronic disease, and limited healthcare access have resulted in severe and measurable disparities in health outcomes, including:
- a 10-year life expectancy deficit for Delta residents compared with residents in the northwest corner of Arkansas, just 300 miles away.
- some of the highest rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease, and cancer in the nation.
The majority of the Delta-adjacent counties in the region have also been identified as health professional shortage areas by the Health Resources and Services Administration. These disparities are not immutable but are the result of longstanding and ongoing social, economic, and educational challenges.
Advancements in health equity are necessary to truly impact the region and begin to transform the Delta into a thriving, diversified, and integrated economic driver.