The North Carolina Healthcare Foundation (NCHF) COVID-19 Fill the Gap Response Fund recently distributed grants totaling $150,000 to six nonprofit organizations to assist people disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, including people of color, frontline essential workers, and rural communities. The six $25,000 grants are the third round of grants made from the fund, which supports grassroots organizations working to improve access to health care and mental health, education, and legal services during the pandemic. Two prior rounds provided 34 grants totaling $3.2 million from a pool of 370 submissions.
Lead gifts for the fund, which was established in April 2020, were contributed by the David A.Tepper Foundation, Christian McCaffrey of the Carolina Panthers, Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, State Employees’ Credit Union Foundation, and The Duke Endowment in addition to contributions received from dozens of smaller corporate and individual donors.
The grant recipients include:
Western North Carolina (NC Medicaid Region 1)
Hendersonville – Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County – Funding will support Project CARE, providing youth development programs and social supports to rural and underserved youth disproportionately affected by COVID-19 with an emphasis on social emotional learning and behavioral health.
Central North Carolina – Piedmont Triad (NC Medicaid Region 2)
Winston-Salem – Crossnore Communities for Children – Funds will support the organization’s Day Treatment program with purchasing technology to provide virtual therapeutic services for children and families experiencing mental and behavioral health issues that make it difficult to learn at school and live well at home.
Central North Carolina – Greater Charlotte and Statesville (NC Medicaid Region 3)
Charlotte – Camino Community Development Corp. – Camino is a bilingual and multicultural health center serving the underinsured and uninsured Latino populations through a health clinic, mental health clinic, a health and wellness program, food pantry, and other services. During COVID-19, many patients either cancelled or did not attend appointments due to loss of income. Funds will provide scholarships to help patients pay for their clinic visits and will support the staff to continue their work.
Central North Carolina – Triangle Region (NC Medicaid Region 4)
Carrboro – Refugee Community Partnership – Funds will support health navigation and translation support for COVID-19 recovery for non-English speaking refugee and immigrant communities in Orange, Durham, Chatham, and Alamance Counties in addition to providing public health and safety information to the local refugee and immigrant communities.
Central North Carolina – Fayetteville and Sandhills (NC Medicaid Region 5)
Fayetteville – Cape Fear Valley Health System – Funds will be used for a program to help essential frontline workers in five counties with behavioral health services. The program will also provide behavioral health services to patients using telehealth and will assist underserved patients being discharged from hospitals with medication, medical equipment, and transportation.
Eastern North Carolina (NC Medicaid Region 6)
New Bern – Peletah Ministries – Grant funds will be used to educate underserved populations in Craven, Jones and Pamlico counties about the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination and to support the Resilient HEALTH program which provides information and connection to services to address domestic violence and trauma and to promote healthy, active living.
“The needs of rural communities and vulnerable populations in North Carolina have constantly evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Julia Wacker, senior vice president of the foundation. “These organizations all have deep understanding of how they can best help their clients and communities during this difficult time. The North Carolina Healthcare Foundation is pleased to be able to help them continue to do their important work.”
About North Carolina Healthcare Foundation
Established in 1961, the North Carolina Healthcare Foundation is the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the North Carolina Healthcare Association. Its mission is to foster and accelerate the collective impact of hospitals, health systems and community partners to improve the health of North Carolinians.
Submitted by Cynthia Charles, Vice President, Communications and Public Relations, North Carolina Healthcare Association