History

Mid Delta Community Consortium was created in 2001 in Phillips County Arkansas, to demonstrate the approaches and values of community-based approaches to health improvement. This ‘Rural Health Initiative’ is sponsored by the UAMS College of Public Health, in collaboration with four other local organizations: Boys, Girls, Adults Development Center, Delta Area Health Education Center, Phillips County Community College of the University of Arkansas, and Phillips County Health Unit.

Mid Delta Community Consortium along with the Arkansas Department of Health, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and the Community Health Centers of Arkansas assessed the need for a State- wide Development Network, in response to an opportunity to participate in an Office of Rural Health Policy, Delta State Rural Development Network Grant Program. The programs purpose is to strengthen rural Delta State and community organizations’ ability to develop and implement successful projects to address local needs and to improve access to primary health care. As a result of this assessment, these four agencies agreed to collaborate on projects of mutual concern, coordinate resources, and ultimately develop and maintain an integrated health network program in the state of Arkansas.

The four organizations are now known as Arkansas Delta Rural Development Network (ADRDN). ADRDN goal is to continue to improve the health and health care of Arkansas Delta residents by facilitating development of local rural health networks serving a 38-county area in the Arkansas Mississippi River Delta by: (1) Providing technical assistance to Delta communities to form health networks (2) Developing and implementing a process by which local networks can obtain funding from the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to support their activities (3) Providing ongoing technical assistance to support the further development and sustainability of local health networks.