ABSTRACT
Rural, frontier, and geographically isolated communities face unique challenges associated with ensuring that they are equal partners in capacity-building and prevention planning processes at the state and local level despite barriers that can inhibit participation. By their nature, rural, frontier, and geographically isolated communities and states experience geographical isolation from planning partners and differential funding and staffing for prevention programming, as compared to urban or metropolitan states and local communities. At the same time, rural populations can face heightened risk associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence (SV) that intensifies the need to promote an inclusive primary prevention planning process that allows equal access of remote stakeholders to decision making related to prevention programming. This article presents a case study of two states to examine challenges and innovative solutions associated with ensuring inclusivity of rural and frontier communities in the Enhancing and Making Programs Work to End Rape and Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancements and Leadership Through Alliances violence prevention programs. Challenges associated with inclusion of rural communities in the planning process are presented, such as difficulty associated with participation due to geographic isolation. Innovative solutions, such as the use of technology designed to decrease these barriers that were used to bring together practitioners and state planners in these communities, are also presented. In addition, difficulties in ensuring that strategies are relevant to local culture are discussed.
