New networks and collaborations are helping communities across the Carolinas as they look for ways to improve access to health care services for those who do not have insurance. With more than one in six people uninsured in North Carolina and South Carolina, the need for strong partnerships to provide comprehensive services is critical. In 2008, The Duke Endowment played a pivotal role in developing statewide resources to help strengthen and expand the networks.
A collaboration among various churches in rural North Carolina is providing seniors with free boxes of canned goods, cereal, dried fruit and other staples to help stretch their often limited grocery budgets. For those who depend on the boxes, the church and food bank partners also are sowing bountiful blessings through the effort. In 2008, The Duke Endowment awarded a $90,000 grant to help launch the Senior Box program is Lincoln County.
A new collaboration among the four schools that The Duke Endowment funds in higher education — Johnson C. Smith University, Davidson College, Furman University and Duke University — has everyone seeing green. Through the partnership, the schools are combining their resources and knowledge to look for ways each campus can adopt more earth-friendly practices. In 2008, The Duke Endowment awarded a $500,000 grant to the four institutions to work together to become more environmentally sustainable.
A national program to prevent inflicted traumatic brain injury in infants, known as Shaken Baby Syndrome, is making a difference in North Carolina. With more than 1,400 babies in the United States receiving medical treatment each year as a result of inflicted injury, program leaders are working to reduce hospitalizations and death by educating parents. In 2008, the Endowment teamed with the Doris Duke Charitable Trust and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fund the $7 million statewide launch of the program.
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With the working groups in place, the collaboration expanded from the early days of 20 participants to nearly 150.
The task force sponsored a fourth summit in February 2010 and invited faculty members and administrators, along with trustees. The 40 participants received updates from the working groups and learned more about biomass as a renewable energy source. Tim Profeta, head of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, discussed the