ABSTRACT
Most people think of sustainability as continued funding to support rural programming; however, sustainability also relates to momentum, pooling community resources, and ensuring policies and practices are in place. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) offers a more in-depth process for sustainability planning of health programs. Sustained impacts are "long-term effects that may or may not be dependence on the continuation of a program". This chapter reviews sustainability and discusses some final thoughts about program evaluation in rural communities. Community transformation is possible through rural program evaluation, and the case examples, field notes, publications, and reports highlighted throughout this text are the evidence. Evaluation findings are powerful, and they give a voice to the people and context while influencing policy, social planning, social justice, and transformation. Social planning is a process that helps communities identify their resources and needs to improve their quality of life.
