Research That Supports Our Work
The research that informs GOTURSIX consistently reaches the same conclusion: rural challenges are interconnected and require community-based solutions.
Across public health, food systems, and human rights research, several common themes emerge:
Healthy communities are shaped by the conditions in which people live, work, learn, and connect.
Food systems reflect the strength of the larger community system, including transportation, infrastructure, local economies, and civic capacity.
Lasting solutions are built with communities through listening, participation, and local leadership.
Regional partnerships increase capacity and help communities address challenges that no single organization can solve alone.
Investments in community infrastructure create opportunities for greater resilience and economic mobility.
Programs should be designed with clear goals, measurable outcomes, and ongoing evaluation.
These themes form the foundation of the GOTURSIX Model. They do not prescribe a single program or solution. Instead, they provide a framework for understanding how stronger relationships, community infrastructure, local leadership, and regional collaboration can create the conditions for people and communities to thrive.
Rural Conditions Are Connected
The Region G Community Health Assessment identifies poverty as the primary challenge facing the nine-county region. Poverty affects access to healthcare, health insurance, healthy food, and opportunities to thrive. The assessment also examines education, housing, transportation, employment, income, safety, physical activity, chronic disease, mental health, and healthcare access. Together, these findings show that rural health and economic opportunity are shaped by multiple community conditions that affect one another. (Region G Public Health Collaborative, 2021, pp. 12–14)
Food Access Is a Systems Issue
Food access depends on more than the location of a grocery store. Food production, transportation, distribution, affordability, market concentration, infrastructure, and civic capacity all affect whether rural residents can consistently obtain food. Counties also hold different positions within the larger food system. Some serve as hubs or connectors, while others rely on a small number of fragile connections. These differences require solutions designed around local conditions rather than a single statewide approach. (Kendall, 2025, pp. 4–10)
Infrastructure and Relationships Affect Resilience
Rural communities may depend on limited physical and civic infrastructure, including producers, stores, pantries, transportation networks, community organizations, volunteers, and informal relationships. In some places, a single organization or local connection may be helping several communities maintain access to food. This makes local systems both valuable and vulnerable. Investments in infrastructure, relationships, and coordination can strengthen a community’s ability to respond when normal systems are disrupted. (Kendall, 2025, pp. 7–10)
Local Knowledge Must Guide the Work
Statewide research can identify patterns, but it cannot fully explain how those patterns affect daily life in a particular community. Dr. Annette Kendall recommends using systems research as a starting point and then building place-based understanding through listening sessions, interviews, and community discussions. Residents, producers, grocers, schools, pantries, and local leaders should help identify priorities, missing infrastructure, and realistic solutions. (A. Kendall, personal communication, March 13, 2026)
People Should Help Shape the Systems That Affect Them
Amanda Berry’s human rights-based approach calls for participation, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment, and rule of law. Her recommendations emphasize including affected communities in decisions, supporting small-scale agriculture and local production-to-market networks, improving rural employment opportunities, and designing programs around dignity and long-term resilience. (Berry, 2024, pp. 3–6, 12–14)
Regional Collaboration Builds Capacity
The Region G Community Health Assessment was developed to support cooperation among government agencies, social service organizations, businesses, healthcare providers, foundations, and residents. It recognizes that many rural challenges cross county and organizational boundaries. The report presents regional collaboration as a practical way to share resources, improve coordination, reduce duplication, and address needs that individual organizations cannot manage alone. (Region G Public Health Collaborative, 2021, pp. 9–12)
Programs Need Clear Measures and Accountability
Research and community participation should lead to action that can be evaluated. Berry recommends establishing benchmarks, timelines, measurable objectives, data-collection methods, and accountability processes when programs are designed. She also recommends ongoing evaluation to determine whether programs remain inclusive, effective, and responsive to the people they are intended to serve. (Berry, 2024, pp. 13–14, 17–25)
Overall Finding
The research points to a shared conclusion: rural communities need more than isolated programs. Long-term progress depends on local knowledge, trusted relationships, physical and civic infrastructure, regional coordination, meaningful participation, and clear measures of success. Food provides a practical place to begin because it connects health, agriculture, transportation, local business, family well-being, and community life.
References
Region G Public Health Collaborative. (2021). Region G community health assessment: Missouri.
Research That Supports Our Work
The research that informs GOTURSIX consistently reaches the same conclusion: rural challenges are interconnected and require community-based solutions.
Across public health, food systems, and human rights research, several common themes emerge:
Healthy communities are shaped by the conditions in which people live, work, learn, and connect.
Food systems reflect the strength of the larger community system, including transportation, infrastructure, local economies, and civic capacity.
Lasting solutions are built with communities through listening, participation, and local leadership.
Regional partnerships increase capacity and help communities address challenges that no single organization can solve alone.
Investments in community infrastructure create opportunities for greater resilience and economic mobility.
Programs should be designed with clear goals, measurable outcomes, and ongoing evaluation.
These themes form the foundation of the GOTURSIX Model. They do not prescribe a single program or solution. Instead, they provide a framework for understanding how stronger relationships, community infrastructure, local leadership, and regional collaboration can crea
Rural Conditions Are Connected
The Region G Community Health Assessment identifies poverty as the primary challenge facing the nine-county region. Poverty affects access to healthcare, health insurance, healthy food, and opportunities to thrive. The assessment also examines education, housing, transportation, employment, income, safety, physical activity, chronic disease, mental health, and healthcare access. Together, these findings show that rural health and economic opportunity are shaped by multiple community conditions that affect one another. (Region G Public Health Collaborative, 2021, pp. 12–14)
Food Access Is a Systems Issue
Food access depends on more than the location of a grocery store. Food production, transportation, distribution, affordability, market concentration, infrastructure, and civic capacity all affect whether rural residents can consistently obtain food. Counties also hold different positions within the larger food system. Some serve as hubs or connectors, while others rely on a small number of fragile connections. These differences require solutions designed around local conditions rather than a single statewide approach. (Kendall, 2025, pp. 4–10)
Infrastructure and Relationships Affect Resilience
Rural communities may depend on limited physical and civic infrastructure, including producers, stores, pantries, transportation networks, community organizations, volunteers, and informal relationships. In some places, a single organization or local connection may be helping several communities maintain access to food. This makes local systems both valuable and vulnerable. Investments in infrastructure, relationships, and coordination can strengthen a community’s ability to respond when normal systems are disrupted. (Kendall, 2025, pp. 7–10)
Local Knowledge Must Guide the Work
Statewide research can identify patterns, but it cannot fully explain how those patterns affect daily life in a particular community. Dr. Annette Kendall recommends using systems research as a starting point and then building place-based understanding through listening sessions, interviews, and community discussions. Residents, producers, grocers, schools, pantries, and local leaders should help identify priorities, missing infrastructure, and realistic solutions. (A. Kendall, personal communication, March 13, 2026)
People Should Help Shape the Systems That Affect Them
Amanda Berry’s human rights-based approach calls for participation, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment, and rule of law. Her recommendations emphasize including affected communities in decisions, supporting small-scale agriculture and local production-to-market networks, improving rural employment opportunities, and designing programs around dignity and long-term resilience. (Berry, 2024, pp. 3–6, 12–14)
Regional Collaboration Builds Capacity
The Region G Community Health Assessment was developed to support cooperation among government agencies, social service organizations, businesses, healthcare providers, foundations, and residents. It recognizes that many rural challenges cross county and organizational boundaries. The report presents regional collaboration as a practical way to share resources, improve coordination, reduce duplication, and address needs that individual organizations cannot manage alone. (Region G Public Health Collaborative, 2021, pp. 9–12)
Programs Need Clear Measures and Accountability
Research and community participation should lead to action that can be evaluated. Berry recommends establishing benchmarks, timelines, measurable objectives, data-collection methods, and accountability processes when programs are designed. She also recommends ongoing evaluation to determine whether programs remain inclusive, effective, and responsive to the people they are intended to serve. (Berry, 2024, pp. 13–14, 17–25)
Overall Finding
The research points to a shared conclusion: rural communities need more than isolated programs. Long-term progress depends on local knowledge, trusted relationships, physical and civic infrastructure, regional coordination, meaningful participation, and clear measures of success. Food provides a practical place to begin because it connects health, agriculture, transportation, local business, family well-being, and community life.
References
Region G Public Health Collaborative. (2021). Region G community health assessment: Missouri.