Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez

Author's posts

Looming Cuts to Emergency SNAP Benefits Threaten Food Security in Rural America

In a few weeks, pandemic-era emergency boosts to SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, will be rolled back across 32 states, putting more pressure on food pantries to fill the gaps and exacerbating challenges for rural areas, where a greater share of people are enrolled in the program compared with metro areas.

With less access to paid leave, rural workers face hard choices about health, family

Coastal and politically progressive states have passed stronger paid sick and family leave policies than many states with larger rural populations.

After a Brief Pandemic Reprieve, Rural Workers Return to Life Without Paid Leave

Coastal and politically progressive states have passed stronger paid sick and family leave policies, but many workers in rural America are left out, facing tough decisions when choosing between caring for themselves or sick family members or keeping their jobs.

Mistrust and Polarization Steer Rural Governments to Reject Federal Public Health Funding

As the covid-19 pandemic grinds on, Elko County, Nevada, still lacks a public health department. Yet its elected leaders rejected federal funds that could have helped it create one. Decisions like the one in Elko, and ones made by officials with other state and local governments, leave health experts concerned about whether the country’s public health infrastructure will be prepared to handle future health challenges.

When Monkeypox Reaches Rural Communities, It Collides With Strained Public Health Systems

In Nevada, local health officials are assessing the threat of monkeypox, but their response may be hampered by historically limited public health infrastructure worn thin by the covid-19 pandemic.

A Needle Exchange Project Modeled on Urban Efforts Aims to Save Lives in Rural Nevada

Five years after HIV tore through a rural Indiana town as a result of widespread drug use, a syringe and needle exchange program was set up in rural Nevada to prevent a similar event.