Take a Walk in the Art Park

Invasive, funded by the John Rex Endowment, is the first project in an ongoing series of site-specific art projects, Art Has No Boundaries, commissioned by the NCMA to encourage visitors of all ages and physical abilities to actively explore the Museum Park. This three-year series is part of the Active Community and Neighborhood grant program funded by the John Rex Endowment through the Physical Activity and Nutrition Branch of the N.C. Division of Public Health.

The swirling painted patterns in Invasive physically invade the trail, creeping in from the edges and flowing across the path. Before the final pattern was painted, names of local invasive flora were written within the outlines of the design and then painted over, a symbolic act of containment. The work of art will eventually disappear as the paint is worn away by weather and foot traffic.

The NCMA Earth Day Celebration Saturday, April 19, from 11 am to 3 pm is a free event and is open to the public. Additional details can be found at www.ncartmuseum.org or (919) 839-NCMA (6262). Earth Day Raleigh 2008 information can be found at www.visitraleigh.com.

Hector Torres with Dr. Jerome Magolan at a follow-up visit after successful surgery

So in October, school administrator Barbara Danford asked the Endowment for help. Soon Danford was talking with Pam Carpenter, the director of Project Access, a physician-led community effort that has provided health care for low-income and uninsured Wake County residents since 2000. Private donations and grants, including a grant from the Endowment, support the project, which is managed by the Wake County Medical Society in partnership with WakeMed, Rex and Duke Raleigh hospitals.

Danford asked Carpenter if there was a Project Access ophthalmologist who might consider doing Hector's surgery without charge.

Carpenter suggested Dr. Jerome J. Magolan of Southern Eye Associates in Raleigh. Magolan, who had donated medical services through Project Access since the program began, readily agreed to see Hector. When he discovered the boy had a rare genetic disease called gyrate atrophy, he also offered to evaluate Hector's younger brother and sister. He spent hours with the family, completing a battery of tests on all three children and explaining what he found.

The younger children were fine, though Magolan offered to see them again in a year for follow-up. But he saw that Hector needed surgery on both eyes to remove the cataracts and insert implants to improve his vision. He also referred the boy for dietary evaluation, to see if the metabolic disease could be slowed through a low-protein diet and vitamin B-6.

Magolan performed the first surgery, on Hector's left eye, at Duke Raleigh Hospital over the December holiday so the boy wouldn't have to miss any school.

"He can see a lot better--he was not even wearing glasses when I saw him," said Rosa Almanzar, the Project Access translator who accompanied the family on their medical visits. The three children speak English, but their mother understands only a little. "He's very grateful."

Surgery on Hector's right eye is scheduled for his spring break, and dietary treatment will be ongoing. But Magolan has let the family know that even with these steps, Hector will probably lose his vision in his 30s or 40s.

"He understood when the doctor said it," Almanzar said of Hector, "but I don't think it really registered." That news was hard for her to translate, especially when Hector's mother said she was praying for a miracle.

For now, though, Hector has clearer sight and better night vision. He is able to drive and is on track to graduate from high school this spring. He also has a new girlfriend, who he met on the Internet.

"He's very happy," Almanzar said.

Endowment sets 2008 priorities, changes application process
"This year, the Endowment particularly encourages new proposals that build on its work promoting healthy weight and youth development," said President and CEO Kevin Cain. "We also plan to bring agencies together to examine common problems, share strategies and find opportunities for cooperation and joint funding. And we want to promote a healthy weight leadership collaborative to address opportunities for a healthier, more active Wake County." The Endowment will also continue to support agencies in their efforts to raise awareness, seek new solutions and build constituencies for their missions.

As in the past, anyone with an idea on how to improve children's health and well-being is encouraged to talk it over with Kevin Cain and Director of Operations McAllister Ross Myhra, who may both be reached at 919-571-3392. This year, the Endowment has slightly revised its grantmaking process, including the schedule by which its Board of Directors reviews proposals. Please call us for details.

Featured Resource: Child Health Report Card
Though the infant mortality rate in Wake County is consistently lower than the state's, it has jumped a little in the last five years. Low birthweight has also increased slightly, both in the state and the county. And asthma remains the leading chronic illness among the county's children. These are just some of the findings of the 2007 Wake County Child Health Report Card [pdf], prepared with Endowment support by Action for Children North Carolina.

Lawmakers Jump Rope at Wake to Wellness Site
State representatives Grier Martin and Deborah Ross and other local lawmakers visited the CREATE program at Raleigh's Washington Elementary School in January. Funded in part by the Wake to Wellness Grants Program, CREATE promotes climbing, running and other activities to equip students for a lifetime of good physical health. Read The News and Observer article and see the video.

Administered by the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Wake to Wellness grant program provides three-year $30,000 grants that support new standards for physical activity and improved nutrition in 15 elementary schools in the Wake County system. It's part of the Endowment's $2.5 million Healthy Weight Initiative [pdf].

Berman and Higgins Receive 2007 Hands of Health Awards
On October 23, the Endowment honored Liliana Berman and Kathy Higgins with Hands of Health Awards for their bold initiatives and fresh ideas that improve the lives of children in our community. A family nurse practitioner for Wake County, Berman works with passion, imagination and endless energy to break down the cultural and language barriers that many children in the county face. Higgins, president of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, has helped create programs that encourage children to be active and eat well.

Over 125 community health leaders gathered to honor these heroes of local children's health at the Endowment's annual Hands of Health Breakfast at Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh. Board chair Ben L. Bradsher presented both Berman and Higgins with a specially commissioned bronze sculpture, and the Endowment has contributed $10,000 to each recipient's charity of choice.

Berman chose the Making Magic Alliance, which provides summer camp experiences to Wake County youth who otherwise would not be able to participate in summer camp.

Higgins chose Be Active NC, which aims to increase physical activity and promote healthy lifestyles among all North Carolinians.

[More about Hands of Health]

Tell More Stories, McNally Advises
Nonprofits can unleash the power of storytelling, consultant and writer Terrence McNally told those who attended the October 23 Hands of Health breakfast.

Stories, he said, can be an organization's most effective way to reach audiences--funders, community groups and others--and help them wrap their hearts and minds around what the agency does. Nonprofits have wonderful stories to tell, he said, but too often their presentations are heavy with jargon, technical language and statistics. Well-told stories help listeners truly connect with an organization and develop a feeling for what it does. Consequently, stories have the potential to be a nonprofit's most powerful communications tool. McNally encouraged organizations to collect a bank of core stories that convey how they started, the nature of their challenges, some emblematic successes, ways they're striving to improve and what they hope to do in the future.

[More about Hands of Health]

Wake to Wellness on WUNC
The Endowment's Wake to Wellness school grant projects, part of the Healthy Weight Initiative, stepped into the public spotlight during a live broadcast of WUNC's The State of Things with Frank Stasio on October 5. Stasio discussed the obesity challenge in North Carolina with Sarah Armstrong, a pediatrician and director of the Healthy Lifestyles program at Duke University; Eric Finkelstein, Senior Health Economist at RTI International; Mark Dessauer of Active Living by Design; and Parry Graham, assistant principal of Cedar Fork Elementary School in Morrisville. Cedar Fork is one of the Endowment's Wake to Wellness grant recipients. The program was part of the series North Carolina Voices: Diagnosing Health Care. Listen here.

• Children's Home Society of North Carolina will receive $216,621 over three years to expand services to therapeutic foster home providers and offer clinical oversight to clients with mental health needs. [more]
• Girls on the Run Triangle will receive $55,070 over three years for a structured, twelve-week program of exercise and sport participation to enhance the physical and mental health of at-risk adolescent females in selected communities. [more]
• ReEntry will receive $57,720 over three years to offer its Life Skills Assets Program to more youth aged 9 to 18 who have admitted responsibility for a misdemeanor offense. [more]
• Wake County 4-H Youth Development will receive $505,103 over three years to develop education, training and employment programs aimed at preventing gang involvement among youth in targeted communities and neighborhoods. [more]
• YWCA of the Greater Triangle will receive $100,000 over two years to create real world opportunities for young women to build lifelong skills and developmental assets through mentoring and year-round education experiences that increase physical and financial fitness. [more]

• Marbles Kids Museum (formerly Exploris) will receive $150,000 over three years to create a permanent outdoor "natural learning" space with exhibits and events that promote healthy food choices and promote fitness and nutritional programs for children and their parents. [more]

Endowment grants $2.5 million to promote healthy weight in children
June 6, 2007 - The Endowment has dedicated $2.5 million to promoting healthy weight in children as the initial phase of its new long-term commitment, the Healthy Weight Initiative. The Endowment's 2006 progress report, Healthy Communities, Healthy Weight [pdf], describes the Initiative. 2007 grant recipients include 15 schools and five neighborhood projects; additional funding will allow the expansion of a pediatric diabetes program.

In the initial phase of its Healthy Weight Initiative, the Endowment has awarded the following grants through a competitive application process:

• $480,000 to the WakeMed Pediatric Diabetes Program to accommodate the increasing number of children referred to the program while providing continuity of care.
• $600,000 for five projects through the Eat Smart Move More NC Active Community and Neighborhood Grants Program, which will increase access and reduce barriers to opportunities for active living. Funded projects at the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Town of Cary, the Town of Holly Springs, Gethsemane Seventh Day Adventist Church and Triangle Transit Authority will be administered by the N.C. Public Health Foundation and the Physical Activity and Nutrition Branch of the N.C. Division of Public Health.
• $450,000 for 15 Wake County public elementary schools to support healthier school environments as part of the Wake to Wellness Grants Program. The Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will oversee the grants and actively assist the participating schools: Baucom, Cedar Fork, Conn Magnet, Lincoln Heights, Olds, Penny Road, Vance, Baileywick, Farmington Woods, Middle Creek, Morrisville, Olive Chapel, Washington, Yates Mill and Zebulon.

Piehl on WUNC's 'The Story'
June 6, 2007 - Dr. Mark Piehl, who directs the WakeMed Pediatric Diabetes Program, appeared on WUNC's "The Story" on May 21 as part of the show's multi-day series on childhood obesity. Host Dick Gordon had Piehl describe his innovative work helping children reduce the risk of developing diabetes and treating those whose obesity has become life-threatening. The Endowment recently approved a second grant for expansion of the WakeMed program to accommodate more children while providing continuity of care. To listen to Piehl's interview, visit http://thestory.org/archive/ and navigate under "stories by date" to May 21.

TelAbility to Expand with New Grant
June 6, 2007 - Young children with disabilities and their families will have better access to specialized services and Early Intervention professionals will strengthen their community of practice as a result of a three-year grant approved April 23. TelAbility, an innovative, community oriented, interdisciplinary program uses telecommunications to improve the lives of children with disabilities. The Endowment will provide $557,172 so TelAbility can expand the Wake Area Telehealth Collaborative Helping Children with Special Needs (WATCH), a project the Endowment also supported with an earlier three-year grant.

WATCH connects and coordinates the expertise of more than 275 Wake County professionals with developmental day care centers, community service agencies, residential care facilities and others through video conferencing, a Web site, a listserv and an electronic newsletter. The new grant will allow TelAbility to respond to emerging needs identified by families and professionals and expand its capacity to disseminate information, increase communication, eliminate barriers, improve care coordination and strengthen professional development. Joshua Alexander, MD, who directs the Pediatric Rehabilitation Program at UNC Hospitals, leads the TelAbility project. Contact him at joshua_alexander@med.unc.edu.

Request for Proposals to Improve Access to Health Care
The Endowment is currently inviting proposals for projects that improve access to health care for children and youth in Wake County. Funded projects will serve uninsured children, build the capacity of care providers to meet the needs of underserved children and/or reach out to underserved families. Letters of Interest must be emailed by the end of the day Friday, June 1, 2007 to kevin@rexendowment.org and mcallister@rexendowment.org.

Please join us for a call-in information session on May 9 from 10:00 to noon. Dial 1-866-365-4406 and enter access number 8353565#.

Download the Request for Proposals [pdf] with submission instructions
Download the Budget Template [Excel document] (or pdf version)

Note that the application process outlined in the RFP is slightly different than the Endowment has used in the past and the one currently specified elsewhere on the Endowment Web site.

Change in Funding Cycle
The Endowment funds projects that fall into three portfolios: Access to Health Care; Physical Health; and Social, Emotional and Behavioral Health. To enhance the Endowment's ability to judge proposals in the context of others in the same area of interest, to increase opportunities to coordinate grant ideas from different agencies and to help us capitalize on the lessons we have learned from funded programs, we now consider proposals quarterly by portfolio. Here is the 2007 schedule:

Endowment staff welcome conversations throughout the year about potential proposals in any portfolio. Discussions with us help you prepare a letter of interest. Please contact us at any time of year to talk about your ideas for helping Wake County children and youth receive needed healthcare services.