Before the COVID-19 pandemic, North Carolina Central University (NCCU) assisted residents of Halifax County, North Carolina, who were living with or at risk of developing diabetes. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the community faced new challenges.
“During the height of COVID, we were not able to get the vaccine in our community because we didn’t have the capacity to store the vaccine,” said Ruby Gerald, director of the Rural Health Hub in Enfield, a town in Halifax County.
NCCU supplied a subzero temperature refrigerator and sent out a mobile health clinic to administer vaccines. That response prompted NCCU to consider a lasting presence in the community.
“We realized it was important to serve the community, but also the importance of building infrastructure,” said Deepak Kumar, Ph.D., a professor of pharmaceutical science. “It was important to have a physical presence.”
Around 2021, NCCU leased space from the town of Enfield in Halifax County. A year later, Kumar spoke to the NCCU administration about having a nonprofit in Enfield.
“To continue our health disparities work and for our researchers to do rural work,” said Kumar.
The original funding came from a RCMI (Research Centers in Minority Institutions) grant, which was soon followed by a new markets tax credit – where a donor receives a federal tax credit against a donation.
The Rural Health Hub is a 5,000-square foot entity based in a former movie theater that was built in 1949. The theater was originally segregated.
“Blacks had to go up a metal staircase to a balcony to see a movie,” Gerald said. “That was one of the things that attracted me. We put services into a building that was (originally) meant to keep us apart.”
In 2023, the Rural Health Hub was spun off into a nonprofit entity, although it still works closely with NCCU.
Halifax County is a Tier 1 distressed county, according to the North Carolina Department of Commerce, the most challenged of the three tiers. Distressed county tiers are calculated using four factors:
- Average unemployment rate
- Median household income
- Percentage growth in population
- Adjusted property tax base per capita
The median household income is $45,590, about three-fifths of the state average, according to the U.S. Census. 22.8% of the population is below the poverty line, which is nearly double the rate in the United States.
“It’s an economically depressed area,” said Gerald. “It is (also) a clinical health services desert.”
How the Hub Helps
In 2025, the Rural Health Hub collaborated with about 30 partner organizations to supply services including distribution of fresh food, vaccinations and health education. Those include city governments, senior centers, nonprofits, public schools, a hospital, sheriff’s department and the Haliwa-Saponi tribe.
“Diabetes and heart disease are the number one killer in this county,” Gerald said. “It is nothing to run into someone who has had a leg or limb removed due to diabetes and the food that they eat.”
NCCU nursing students and Halifax Community College dental hygiene students also assist with community services.
Rural Health Hub partners with food banks to address food insecurity in the community. The Hub worked with Halifax County Schools to secure grant funding for supplies at the district’s student-run farm. The Hub also partners with the county health department to offer clinical services and vaccinations.