Through strong community support and storytelling, we help rural Midwest parents raise their children in love and dignity.
Parenting is a process that is heavily influenced by the community it takes place in. Rural communities experience less positive health outcomes than their urban counterparts and, according the the Center on Rural Innovation, incomes are lower in rural communities than urban metropolitans while also having fewer jobs available.
The Center on Rural Parenting supports parents in the rural Midwest by encouraging community involvement and sustainability to improve the quality of the parenting process—thereby improving children’s lives.
Parents deserve secure and sustainable communities to raise their children. Of all the unique opportunities and assets rural communities contain to address the health and economic inequity and advance Reproductive Justice, our people are the most important. The Center on Rural Parenting supports rural parents by organizing rural folks across the Midwest in the Rural Action Network, telling rural stories through the Blackroads Project and promoting rural research.
Central to our approach is the advocacy for love as a transformative force, coupled with targeted interventions to address the unique parenting needs prevalent in rural settings.
To learn more about the center’s work and initiatives, explore Our Work.
The Founders
Aaliyah Sweet P. Bailey
Aaliyah Sweet P. Bailey is rural Reproductive Justice activist and public health communications expert dedicated to serving rural communities. Growing up on a small farm in Southern Illinois, Sweet P. is a lifelong champion of equity and racial justice. In 2020, she was the Democratic nominee for Missouri State Representative.
Along with founding the Center on Rural Parenting, Sweet P. started Midwestern Gothic, a media venture aimed to help shift culture and conversation while changing the narrative of who Midwesterners are. She and her daughter, A’miyah, reside on their family farm in Washington County, Illinois.
Ramon Bailey
Since graduating high school, Ray Bailey has been a dedicated union laborer, currently working out of Local 1197. He is committed to documenting rural Black history and learning the Black stories of small towns across Southern Illinois. He is the father of one daughter, Layla May.
Janisha Bailey
Youth activist and mother of Irmonii, Janisha is a vocal rural racial justice advocate. Making her mark on Washington County in 2020, she led a Black Lives Matter march and rally of 200 people in the wake of the George Floyd and Breanna Taylor murders in Nashville, Il. Janisha continues to be involved in her community, serving as Youth Ambassador with the local Moose Lodge and fighting for reproductive freedom with Planned Parenthood Great Rivers and Abortion Action Missouri.
