Hetal Patel

Hetal Patel is the Program Director for Network Engagement, working on MDC’s Rural Prosperity and Investment (RPI) team. She joined RPI’s flagship program, Rural Forward, in May 2020 as a Partnership Manager and was promoted to Program Director in January 2025. In her role, Hetal works to support local leaders to amplify their work in the community by providing services such as facilitation, consultation, and leadership coaching to rural changemakers. Hetal also leads the Rural Action Network, a project focused on developing a policy/advocacy council rooted in community voice in the Sandhills region of North Carolina. Additionally, she supports the Southern Rural Intermediary Community of Practice project, which aims to develop a community of practice across five southern states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi – with the overall goal of creating a shared vision among intermediary organizations for community-led regional approaches to race-conscious community development.

Hetal is particularly passionate about bringing people together across differing views and lived experiences to strengthen relationships and collaboration, eliminating barriers to healthcare access, food insecurity, bringing equity into spaces, and amplifying the voices of community changemakers. She is a first-generation Indian American from a small, rural community in Yadkin County, North Carolina, which sparked her interest in working in rural spaces.

Prior to joining Rural Forward, Hetal worked in Rockingham County, North Carolina, where she engaged with grassroots organizations in food systems and nutrition education programming through Cooperative Extension. Hetal also worked with the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors, where she dove into work surrounding systemic poverty, early childhood education, racial equity, youth development, and adverse childhood experiences. She graduated from East Carolina University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Nutrition Science.