Volume 3 | Issue 13
July 10, 2026
A publication of the National Grange
Calling All Granges: Help Give Rural Women a Voice in Health Research We are looking for 10 Granges to join a two-year project funded by PCORI, and we hope yours is one of them For too long, the women of rural America have been overlooked by health systems built around urban centers, by research that rarely reaches their communities, and by decisions made about their care without ever asking what they actually need. The National Grange is setting out to be part of changing that. We are proud to announce that the National Grange has received an Eugene Washington Engagement Award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to launch a new twoyear project: Rural Women Shaping Health Research that gives rural women a voice in the health research that affects their lives. The award provides an extraordinary opportunity for rural voices to be heard. For many women aged 50 and older, a routine specialist visit means a half-day's drive, and could mean another trip just as far to pick up a prescription. These are the women who know what it means to care for a spouse, a parent, a child, or a neighbor, often while managing a chronic condition of their own. They know which services are hard to get, which questions don't get asked, and what actually matters when decisions are being made about health care.
Challenges in accessing care are exactly the kinds of experiences that health research needs to understand but doesn't always reflect. Rural women, and rural communities more broadly, have rarely been centered in this kind of work, and when they are, it's even rarer for them to have a real voice in shaping it. This is our opportunity to change that, and Grangers are the right partners to make this happen. PCORI funds only a small share of the applications it receives each year. Being selected says something about how seriously rural communities' perspectives are now being taken in health research. It also says something about us: the trust the Grange has built in rural communities over nearly 160 years is the kind most research institutions spend decades trying to earn from scratch.
In This Issue Calling All Granges: Help Give Rural Women a Voice in Health Research . 1 Manson Grange Honors Seeds of Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Grange Heirloom for July . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Seeking Advocacy Wins . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Publisher is going away... Now what? ...................4 Opportunities at the 160th Annual National Grange Convention . . . . . 5 Opinion: City Waste, Rural Soil: Discussing a Fair Share in Biosolids Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 New President Elected in Oregon . . . 7 Closing the Gap for Small Farm Labor ...................7 Hamp Watch: Where is our National Grange President? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Enter the “Best in Rural Writing” Contest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Recipes from the Heartland . . . . . . . . . 11 Grange Store: Junior Grange Pins . . 12 Grange Member Benefit: Lands’ End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
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