PRESS RELEASE

February 26, 2026
5:00–7:00 PM
Penn’s Restaurant
128 E. Commerce Street

Whiteville, NC

Free and open to the public. Food will be served.

After convening a story circle in Columbus County, Narrative Arts returns to share what we heard.

Join us for a multimedia evening featuring stories gathered from residents across Columbus County about their lived experiences with public health and local systems of care.  The event will include a 20-minute looped audio broadcast including stories from 14 Columbus county residents. 

This event is part of a broader rural health narrative initiative designed to surface how structural conditions — including transportation access, institutional visibility, information flow, and emergency response — shape health outcomes in rural North Carolina. Learn more about the project. 

Too often, rural communities are framed through deficit narratives that emphasize individual behavior while obscuring systemic barriers. Through recorded conversations and creative storytelling, this gathering highlights how public health is experienced not as abstract policy, but as infrastructure, relationships, and institutional accountability in everyday life.

Public health works best when people feel they have a real hand in shaping it,” said Wallyce Todd, the executive director of Community CPR. “For communities that have experienced generations of lack of access, substandard care and even exclusion… being heard is essential to rebuilding trust.”

Shaq, a local organizers and community connector, emphasized the importance of examining the full system surrounding health. “When you look at the whole picture — transportation, access points, communication, who shows up and who doesn’t — you start to see that health outcomes aren’t just about personal choices. They reflect how well our systems are designed to support people in real life.”

Narrative Arts program director Fischer noted “When rural communities are framed primarily through deficits, distrust becomes predictable. This work focuses upstream, shifting the stories we tells so community-defined understanding can inform how institutions communicate, allocate resources, and design policy.”

Narrative Arts program director Jack Fischer noted “When rural communities are framed primarily through shortfalls, distrust becomes likely because the focus is on what’s not working. This work focuses on moving towards a positive future, inviting participants to shift the stories they carry to reflect community-defined understanding.”

Over the next two years, this initiative will advance a community-informed narrative strategy, public-facing media, and relationship-building efforts designed to support rural health equity and strengthen trust between residents and public institutions.

This event is designed for community members, public health professionals, local leaders, policymakers, and advocates interested in civic dialogue, community arts, and narrative change.

Come listen to your neighbors.

Come share a meal.

All are welcome.

Contact: info@narrativearts.org | 606-454-8864 for more information