Building Resilience in Rural Communities

Implement innovative, trauma-informed, solutions to build resilience in your community.

Who We Are

Rural Opportunity Institute builds the capacity of rural communities to support people’s healing from generational trauma to achieve health, safety, connection, and self-determination.

ROI supports youth, organizations, and communities in rural North Carolina to interrupt the cycle of generational trauma and design innovative solutions for healing & resilience.

Photo by Travis Dove for Teach For America

Photo by Travis Dove for Teach For America. Used with permission.

Trauma Impacts
Whole Communities

At ROI, we believe rural communities are capable, strong, and deeply resilient. We harnessed the wisdom of the community in Edgecombe County, NC, to create a systems map to reveal that at the heart of poverty, education inequality, and health inequity lay one core theme: trauma.

People and organizations often respond to stress and trauma with punishment and isolation.

We need to work together to replace these punitive practices with restorative practices that remove the barriers to healing.

Community
engagement builds
power and resilience

ROI combines big ideas with grassroots leadership and community ownership to create systems change. Here’s how we’re doing it:

community

Resilient Community Members

Understanding how trauma impacts us and what we can do to heal on an individual and community level is the first step to building resilience.

leader

Resilient Organizations

Resilient organizations are the backbone of a resilient community and ROI offers intensive, cohort-based programming that helps organizations implement restorative practices that reduce punishment.

idea

Resilient Ideas

ROI tests small ideas to ignite systems change. Our Small Bets Lab explores promising but risky ideas that show potential to transform challenges rural communities face.

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Resilient Resource Hub

Information can only catalyze change when it is shared. We believe in making information accessible to every community so they can learn from it.

Words from our Community

5/5

ROI is the go-to organization in the eastern part of the state dealing authentically with issues that impact rural areas. The name “rural opportunities” is reflective of what they do.

ROI Funding Partner

5/5

ROI knows from a systems-level how to create better outcomes in the community.

ROI Funding Partner

5/5

ROI is breaking the cycle of generational trauma and poverty.

Edgecombe Community Member

5/5

ROI is building a healthier Edgecombe County through trauma-informed training and collaboration.

Edgecombe Community Member

Build Resilience in
your community with
ROI’s tools and training

We partner with School Districts, First Responders, Public Agencies, and Community-Based Organizations on resilience building initiatives.

01.

Resilience & Breathing Cards

School Districts, therapists, family advocates, and many others use our Resilience and Breathing Cards to teach simple, powerful skills to help their students and clients to heal from trauma.

Resilience and Breathing Cards - Home
Trauma and Resilience 101 - Home. Teach for America - Travis Dove

Photo by Travis Dove for Teach For America. Used with permission.

02.

Trauma & Resilience 101

Give your community or organization a basic understanding of how trauma and stress show up in their lives and how they can begin to heal.

03.

Reconnect for Resilience® Training

In partnership with Resources for Resilience, we’ve designed a 2-day training that equips your team, students, clients, or community with seven essential skills that lay the foundation for resilience, balance and wellbeing.

Teach For America - Travis Dove, ROI

Photo by Travis Dove for Teach For America. Used with permission.

Healing through Biofeedback Breathing

04.

Healing through Biofeedback Breathing

Support your community with evidence-based technology proven to decrease stress and increase health. Our Biofeedback Breathing program has shown transformational change in schools, prisons, and community-based settings.

Attend a Training or Community Meeting

Explore our upcoming no-cost training opportunities and community meetings.

Trauma & Resilience 101

A 90-minute awareness-building presentation about the impacts of stress and trauma on the body and brain and how to build resilience in local communities.

August 16, 2022 (11am-12:30am EST)

Trauma & Resilience 101

A 90-minute awareness-building presentation about the impacts of stress and trauma on the body and brain and how to build resilience in local communities.

November 15, 2022 (11am-12:30am EST)

Take Action

Contribute to our work with a donation, recurring gift, or multi-year pledge. No matter how big, your investment has a direct impact on building resources, health, safety, and connection in rural communities.

Resilient Insights

Information can only catalyze change when it is shared. We believe in making information accessible to every community so they can learn from it. Explore resources about resilience here.

5 Tips For Effective Community Engagement

5 Tips For Effective Community Engagement

Community engagement is key to creating a strong and effective organization. By engaging with the community, you can get feedback and input on important decisions, and you can also build relationships with community members.

The Hidden Advantages of Being a Frontline Community

The Hidden Advantages of Being a Frontline Community

Every so often, we find ourselves stuck with a problem that makes us feel completely alone. Perhaps it’s a concept in school that everyone seems to grasp while you’re struggling to understand it.

Alternatives to Exclusionary Punishment in Schools

Alternatives to Exclusionary Punishment in Schools

ROI has identified over-punishment in schools (in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, and expulsion) for students with unaddressed trauma and underdeveloped executive functioning skills as a pain point in their community.

Get in Touch

We would love to hear from you. Fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.

Improve Student Mental Health

Fill out the form below to get your ebook.

Request about Listening Circles

Please complete this form to help Rural Opportunity Institute staff better understand your needs for a Listening Circle. We will get back to you soon with options for how we can best support you. Thank you!

Try Resilience Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Resilience Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Resilience Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Resilience Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Resilience Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Breathing Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Breathing Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Breathing Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Breathing Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Resilience Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Try Breathing Cards

Please provide us with your contact details, and a team member will get back to you with more details and a pricing guide.

Request a Training

Please complete this form to help Rural Opportunity Institute staff better understand your needs for a training. We will get back to you soon with options for how we can best support you. Thank you!

Request a Speaker

Please complete this form to help Rural Opportunity Institute staff better understand your needs for a speaking engagement. We will get back to you soon with options for how we can best support you. Thank you!

Request a Training

Please complete this form to help Rural Opportunity Institute staff better understand your needs for a training. We will get back to you soon with options for how we can best support you. Thank you!