Rural Champions

In many cases for rural communities, the lack of capacity in human capital prohibits critical needs from being addressed. The Rural by Choice Champions program has provided the support needed to fill the gap in driving successes throughout Kansas. The Rural Champions program is creating a network of grassroots champions tackling needs that have been identified by the communities themselves.

The Rural Champion is someone identified and sponsored by a host organization in their community to take on a project that will have lasting impact. The selected twelve took on various projects that have been evidenced by need across the state. The processes that the Rural Champions utilized has been captured, creating additional roadmaps for change that other rural communities can then follow to do similar work.  A highlight of each of these projects can be found in the 2023 Rural Champion Project Guidebook. In the sections below you can read more information about each of the project.

Champions will continue to utilize the #ruralbychoice social media campaign to highlight events and successes. Be sure to follow them and keep informed as projects continue to move forward.