AVAILABLE TOPICS
Below you will find synopses of each of the four potential topics as well as links to each topic page.
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According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 69 out of Alabama's 130 school districts are considered rural. Consequently, Alabama's need for attention to rural education is ranked 2nd in the nation. A variety of factors such as high poverty level, lack of experienced teachers, and inadequate resources cause students in these school systems to face uniquely difficult challenges compared to those in urban or suburban schools.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as a region where a significant percentage of the population lacks accessible fresh and healthy food. Within Alabama, food deserts and food insecurity plague both rural and urban areas, with some counties having only one or two grocery stores. Because of this, many residents in rural communities often rely on convenience stores or gas stations as their source of food; a typically unhealthy and overall more expensive alternative just because the access to a grocery store isn't there.
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Healthcare in rural Alabama faces an array of challenges. A high poverty level and minimal funding in several rural counties means many clinics are underserved, lack much-needed healthcare specialists, and face the possible outcome of having to close down. All of this further perpetuates a collective decrease in healthcare accessibility and growing fear that most of rural Alabama will be without any type of healthcare availability. Some innovations follow the idea of disappearing clinics and focus on telemedicine, while others attempt to resurrect the medical industry for person-to-person care.
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Water is a necessity of everyday life that most Americans never have to worry about, but in rural Alabama, clean tap water can sometimes feel like a luxury, with some situations mirroring conditions found in developing countries. Most rural residents rely on wells for their water supply, but individual or community regulated water sources can lack proper sanitation systems. And in some counties, poor access to proper wastewater treatment leads to incredibly dangerous straight-pipes that simply dump waste away from homes without treating it. Additional infrastructure failures include poor legislation for irrigation and poor drainage systems for flood control.
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