Funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada, Rural Development Network’s (RDN), the ABCD Project is guided by three priorities aligned with Canada’s national dementia strategy, A Dementia Strategy for Canada - Together We Aspire. Those three categories are: 

• dementia prevention 

• reducing stigma related to dementia

• supporting communities to become more dementia-inclusive

RDN’s ABCD Project aims to provide rural Albertan communities with a selection of evidence-based, dementia-friendly initiatives adaptable to rural settings. Through an expression of interest focused on rural Alberta communities looking to create dementia-inclusive environments, the ABCD Project team and Advisory Committee selected five communities to receive funding and additional project implementation support.

RDN understands that rural communities are presented with unique barriers when it comes to having the capacity to fund, develop, implement and evaluate community initiatives. A key component of the ABCD project is to provide support to the selected rural pilot communities in each of these areas in hopes to begin to establish a sustainable, dementia-friendly community.