The Rural Renewal Initiative Seed Grant Program invests in rural-focused research across Oklahoma, providing critical funds to enhance rural communities.
“The seed grants are a way for researchers to address the grand challenges rural community members face,” said Linnea Harvey, Rural Renewal Initiative coordinator. “The research conducted through these grants involves getting the community perspective injected into the research process.”
Each year, this competitive program awards two $90,000 seed grants to launch research that engages rural Oklahoma communities. The winning proposals for the 2026 grants focus on water insecurity and community journalism.
Nila Pradhananga, an assistant professor in the OSU Department of Nutritional Sciences and nutrition state Extensionspecialist in Family and Consumer Sciences, is the primary investigator for research evaluating and addressing water security in rural western Oklahoma and its connection to nutrition.
“Food insecurity is found to be substantially higher among participants who have experience of mild to severe water insecurity,” Pradhananga said. “It is important to explore water security issues as it plays an important role in food preparation as well as drinking water; however, this hasn’t really been explored in the realm of community nutrition research.”
As part of Pradhananga’s community-based participatory research, data will be collected from community members through Photovoice, fostering local awareness and dialogues. Her research also aims to present the rationale for new water-relevant FCS and agriculture Extension programming.
Rosemary Avance, OSU media and strategic communications assistant professor, is the primary investigator for a project that builds upon three years of research examining access to local news in rural areas.
“We’ve found that many rural communities no longer have their own newspaper or dedicated journalists writing about the community,” Avance said. “In addition to many newspaper closures, larger companies are buying smaller newspapers, and local stories aren’t being properly shared.”
This shift has contributed to a disconnect between community members and the information that affects them. To address this issue, Avance and her collaborator, Andrew Abernathy, will pilot a course in citizen journalism for rural high school juniors and seniors. Participants will research and write news stories about issues affecting their communities, which will be shared within their communities and news organizations, including KOSU and the O’Colly.
“We are piloting our citizen journalism program to help establish a new means of information flow in and out of rural communities,” Abernathy said. “By working with high school-aged students, we’re designing a program that will help enhance their media literacy and their awareness of the role reliable information plays in democratic governance.”
This year’s funds will become available in August and will be used over a two-year period. Pradhananga’s research will focus on western Oklahoma, and Avance and Abernathy will start in southwest Oklahoma the first year and shift to the southeast portion of the state for the second year.
MEDIA CONTACT: Alisa Gore | Office of Communications & Marketing, OSU Agriculture | 405-744-7115 | alisa.gore@okstate.edu
