News from rural America.

Many rural counties that voted for Trump also cast ballots against school vouchers and to protect abortion rights, Pennsylvania's Black mayors are collaborating to unite their communities, and unique methods are being tried to address America's mental health crisis.

TRANSCRIPT

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, this is the news from rural America.

President-elect Donald Trump won many rural counties by wide margins.

Yet those same voters rejected school vouchers in Kentucky and Nebraska and supported access to abortion in eight states.

Colby College assistant professor Nicholas Jacobs says especially the rejection of vouchers, which allow private schools to receive taxpayer money, suggests voters are less partisan than pundits like to think.

When it comes to school choice, at a local level, when you're sitting there thinking about how that's going to affect your community, your local school, maybe the school your children go to, or people, make a different choice.

A similar pattern emerged on abortion rights.

Rural Americans who voted Republican also have repeatedly rejected restrictions on abortion.

Virginia Espinosa leads Pennsylvania's Planned Parenthood.

She says the American people don't want politicians involved in health care decisions.

We've seen broad support in state after state.

Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York, Nevada, and Florida.

In rural Pennsylvania, Black mayors are joining a unified front to advance the needs of their communities.

Alana Newman has more.

The Rural Pennsylvania Black Mayors Coalition was started as part of the Harris campaign.

But members say their work to build connections is more important now than ever.

Kendi Alvarez is the mayor of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

It's not just about throwing monetary resources towards rural without capacity building.

Alvarez says the collaboration across sometimes insular communities can bring their constituents' voices to the regional and national stages.

We fail to realize that there might be other people across the state that are having the same problem that if we had a conversation, maybe we can collaborate.

I'm Alana Newman.

A new system is helping underserved rural residents address their mental and behavioral health without driving to a therapist.

The Rural Mental Health Resources Hub provides people with free screening tests they can take at home or over the phone.

In South Carolina, outreach also means 50 mobile clinics staffed by professionals to reach people where they are.

Joy Jay is with South Carolina's Mental Health Association.

It has been phenomenal how many people have said, "I'm definitely going to bring my child and he's needed this forever."

A quarter of rural U.S. adults, almost 8 million, reported having mental illness in 2022.

Jay says they've found the best place to host a mobile clinic is the parking lot of a big box discount store.

Because that's where people go.

So it has worked really well.

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Roz Brown.

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.