In 2024-2025, the WNC Health Policy Initiative partnered with the WNC Early Childhood Coalition and other regional partners in the early childhood/childcare space to address the expiration of pandemic-era federal stabilization grants, along with other challenges facing the child care sector. On July 2, 2026, the NC General Assembly finally passed the 2026-2027 budget, which includes several funding several allocations and policies to support early childhood centers and providers.

On Friday, June 27th, 2026, WNC Health Network’s Meron Abebe (M.S., MBA, MPH), Director of Operations/Evaluation & Learning Advisor, along with Emily Kujawa (MPH, RD), Director of Partner Engagement, joined WNC HPI partners to share findings from the analysis. The researchers shared data across five major themes shaping youth mental health in the region—access to care, care coordination and navigation, prevention and early intervention, youth engagement and supportive spaces, and social determinants of health—and invited feedback from providers, policymakers and others regarding their experiences and insights.

Western North Carolina is facing a sustained mental health and substance use crisis. But improving behavioral health access and outcomes will require more than simply increasing the number of providers. It will require building a system that enables clinicians to stay in community practice, supports patients in accessing timely care, and aligns incentives with long-term health outcomes. In a recent conversation with clinician Lissa Carter, we learned about the challenges and opportunities facing mental health providers—and patients—in our region.

Data from the WNC Health Network shows a 39% increase in poor mental health in the region since 2012, alongside widespread impacts of substance use across households. In this episode of the WNC Health Policy Podcast, we begin to explore the mental health and substance use landscape of Western North Carolina through the experience of clinician Lissa Carter, who has worked across recovery, community mental health, education, and clinical leadership roles in Buncombe County.

The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Produce Prescription Program recently received $400,000 in renewed funding from Blue Cross NC to continue and expand operations. The program helps provider-referred participants access fresh fruits and vegetables at farmer's markets while strengthening Western North Carolina's agricultural economy.

Black women in the U.S. are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, and bias or discrimination was identified as a contributing factor in 70 percent of North Carolina maternal deaths, per the state's own 2024 review committee. Bills covering doula access, community support programs and programs to reduce infant mortality have been introduced repeatedly, but many never receive a hearing, largely as a result of lack of political will and funding disagreements.

A recent press release from the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services shares that, “North Carolina’s innovative Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP) reduced health care costs by an average of $164 per month for NC Medicaid beneficiaries, according to the results of a study announced today by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The study, conducted by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina, found the program led to a significant shift in patient care. HOP participants had fewer emergency department visits and hospital stays and more visits with less-expensive outpatient providers like primary care practices.“A recent press release from the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services shares that, “North Carolina’s innovative Healthy Opportunities Pilots (HOP) reduced health care costs by an average of $164 per month for NC Medicaid beneficiaries, according to the results of a study announced today by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The study, conducted by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina, found the program led to a significant shift in patient care. HOP participants had fewer emergency department visits and hospital stays and more visits with less-expensive outpatient providers like primary care practices.“

WNC is home to many innovative strategies for navigating complex health challenges.

Two of those include the role of Community Health Workers in the healthcare workforce and the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, which abruptly ended in the summer of 2025 due to the General Assembly's failure to pass a budget. 

In this episode we hear from Jacque Ballard, a community health worker who has worked in both Madison and Yancey Counties and recently supported research by the Health Policy Research Consortium to understand the impact of HOP's end. We talk about the work of community health workers, challenges experienced in WNC, and the impact of HOP's end.

On May 1st, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced that Impact Health would serve as the Region 1 lead for the North Carolina Rural Organizations Orchestrating Transformation for Sustainability (ROOTS) Hub for the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program (NCRHTP). These Hubs will act as regional networks connecting medical, behavioral health, and social supports as North Carolina increases access to care for rural communities across all 100 counties.

“The Root of Good Health” documentary, produced by Resource Rural and in partnership with Beacon Media and Carolina Forward, shares stories that illustrates the good that North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) has done for Western North Carolina — as well as the cost to the region, the people it served and the local businesses and organizations it supported as a result of losing this program due to North Carolina’s ongoing stalled budget negotiations.

In this episode we speak with Paula Swepson Avery and Ginger Webb from West Marion Inc. about their decade-long journey of community transformation in McDowell County. They tell us how meaningful progress requires long-term commitment, not constantly shifting strategies, and how their work centers on addressing the social determinants of health, like housing, transportation, food access, childcare, and stigma in their WNC community.

Family, Friend, and Neighbor care represents one of the most widely used forms of child care, yet it is frequently excluded from policy conversations and funding priorities. FFN childcare is not just a preference; it is a form of community resilience in the face of constrained resources that supports child welfare and education, allows parents to stay in the workforce, and creates jobs within the community. As sustaining resources for our communities, FFN providers must be supported with the tools, resources, and investments they need to thrive while exploring strategies to navigate the larger concerns of our childcare shortage. The Western North Carolina Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) research project, a partnership between the  NC Center for Health and Wellness(NCCHW) at UNC Asheville  and Smart Start of Transylvania County, provides critical insight into one frequently overlooked component of our regional infrastructure.

On March 6, 2026, Russ Altenburg (Program Director at The Leon Levine Foundation) spoke to the WNC Health Policy Initiative about the foundation's new Good Jobs WNC initiative. This data-driven competitive grant initiative will begin with WNC's 11 community colleges before expanding to other education-to-employment organizations across the state to provide vulnerable and underrepresented learners with access to high-ROI, living-wage careers. Its focus on WNC is intended to support post-Helene economic recovery while building a statewide Good Jobs framework.

As natural disasters and food access challenges increase, explore how communities are turning to hyper-local solutions to build resilience from the ground up.

This episode explores how food policy councils, urban agriculture, and community-based education are shaping local health policy in Western North Carolina. Speaking with Bountiful Cities' Outreach Coordinator, Cathy Cleary, we hear how strategies from school garden programs to edible public landscapes aim to improve access to fresh food while strengthening long-term community resilience.Add excerpt here

The University of North Carolina Asheville hosted the fourth annual WNC Health Policy Initiative Legislative Summit on Friday, March 13, 2026. The theme of this year’s summit was “The Changing Landscape of Health in Western North Carolina,” and featured welcoming remarks from WNC HPI founding partners and NC Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, a keynote address from Laurie Stradley, CEO of Impact Health, and a policy maker panel comprised of state legislators and other state-level health leadership discussing the current health policy landscape, challenges, and opportunities facing the region and the state.

New federal changes under H.R.1 could significantly impact Medicaid and rural health systems across North Carolina. This episode features a conversation with NC Health News reporter Jaymie Baxley about what those changes could mean—and how the state’s new Rural Health Transformation Program aims to support rural communities. The discussion explores the opportunities, limitations, and what’s at stake for healthcare access in Western North Carolina.Add excerpt here

Nicole Hinebaugh, Director of the The Smoky Mountain Harvest Hub in Haywood County, NC, joins the WNC Health Policy Initiative podcast to share how food hubs work, why they matter, and the impact of this kind of public investment. Topics discussed include how food-based health interventions already show a strong financial return on investment, how food hubs create stable markets for small family farms, what recent food insecurity data tells us about the urgency of action and why supporting local food systems is essential to economic recovery, disaster resilience, and mental health.Add excerpt here

The WNC HPI is pleased to highlight Remediate, a student-led health equity and patient advocacy initiative dedicated to raising awareness of healthcare disparities among youth, particularly within underserved communities, as well as providing evidence-based resources to improve health literacy and health behaviors. Click to learn more about Remediate’s work and access free health resources.

North Carolina ranks 41st nationally on Long-Term Services and Supports, reflecting the fragmented system of care that many residents in WNC and across the state face when seeking help. For many people across North Carolina, and especially in Western North Carolina (WNC), finding help can feel like navigating a maze. Whether someone is seeking support for aging in place, disability services, caregiving, housing stability, or recovery, the system often requires knocking on multiple doors before finding the right one.

The No Wrong Door framework was created to address this challenge. Guided by the Administration for Community Living, No Wrong Door is not a single program, technology platform, or intake system. Instead, it is a framework that helps states align governance, outreach, counseling, and access points so individuals can more easily find and receive the resources, information and help they need.

North Carolina ranks 41st nationally on Long-Term Services and Supports, reflecting the fragmented system of care that many residents in WNC and across the state face when seeking help.

In this episode, we discuss the No Wrong Door (NWD) framework and how North Carolina is using it as a roadmap - although not yet a fully built system - to better coordinate services statewide, including in Western North Carolina.