Rural Outreach Initiative

Partnership Overview

For over three decades, the **CENTER FOR FAMILY INVOLVEMENT Partnership for People with Disabilities** has worked in some of Virginia's most geographically isolated communities to address education, health, language, and disability provider disparities.

Since 2009, the Partnership's Center for Family Involvement has operated local offices, provided targeted outreach to Virginia's rural areas, and collaborated with schools and agencies to support families of children with disabilities and special health care needs.

Virginia is full of rural counties and towns filled with beautiful landscapes, history and charm. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 65% of the Commonwealth meets rural population indicators.

Challenges in Rural Communities

Like anywhere in Virginia, parents want their children to go to school and get a job when they are older. But, there are challenges:

• Unemployment hovers between 8 – 14% in our rural communities;
• More than 10-20% of the citizens in 47 of Virginia's rural communities live below the federal poverty level;
• People in the Commonwealth's rural communities have a lower life expectancy and less health opportunities putting them at greater risk of stroke, heart diseases, cancer and unintentional injuries than those living in Urban communities; and
• Of the 163,500 state special education K12 student population, 54% reside in rural communities.