Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment Announces 500000 Grants Program In Eastern Nc

The North Carolina Community Foundation announces the opening of a $500,000 grants program in eastern NC from the Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment. This program is the second annual competitive cycle from the Endowment, continuing to support nonprofit programs serving education, health, human services and general operations in 41 eastern counties.

Grant awards will continue to range from $25,000 to $50,000. Preference will be given to proposals benefitting women, the elderly and children and youth and programs supporting southern North Carolina, including Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Robeson and Sampson counties.

Applications will be accepted this summer, beginning in June and closing at the end of July. The full request for proposals and a preview of the application will be available on our website beginning June 1.

In 2018, the Endowment held its first competitive grants cycle, awarding $500,000 to nonprofits across eastern North Carolina. In the program’s first year, more than 120 nonprofit programs applied, requesting more than $5 million from the $500,000 grants availability.

NCCF learned a lot through the process, according to Leslie Ann Jackson, vice president of community investment and engagement. “Last year we opened the program wide, accepting applications broadly from programs serving the Endowment’s interests,” she said. “We were able to more clearly identify the proposals best suited for the fund, and now, we can apply those lessons by refining our request for proposals and shining a light on those ideas and solutions that rose to the top last year, as well as some that seemed to be missing.”

The Endowment will defines focus areas as follows:

Education benefits students, teachers, school personnel within pre-K, K-12, 2- and 4-year college and university education systems with a goal of escalating school success.

Within education, the Endowment will consider educational opportunities for youth that offer leadership development, particularly in our rural communities. After-school educational programs and other educational extra-curricular activities serving students may be considered with a focus on academic achievement.

Health includes services that yield positive impacts on the health (physical and/or mental) and well-being of people and communities.

The Endowment saw promising proposals last year to support senior citizens “aging in place,” as well as ways to increase access to services otherwise unavailable in some communities.

Human Services addresses basic human needs - food, clothing, shelter and safety.

Job skills training and employment assistance may be considered within this category, and because of the fund’s preference for benefiting women, domestic violence services were determined to be a good fit.

“With only one year of the program completed, we still have a lot to learn from our nonprofit partners in eastern North Carolina,” Jackson said. “Last year’s grantees give some idea of what this program favors, but we know that there are many more needs and solutions out there that would be a good fit for this Endowment.”

NCCF was proud to announce the establishment of the $20 million Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment in 2015. The endowment has been granting to Burevitch’s named nonprofits since then, when the plan was announced for a portion of the fund to grow before commencing the competitive portion of the grants program last year.

“Mrs. B,” as Burevitch was known to her friends, was a Wilmington native whose generosity was well-known in southeastern North Carolina and beyond. The story of her philanthropy can be found here.

“We are only at the start of this permanent program that will continue to have a tremendous impact across eastern North Carolina and benefit generations to come,” Jackson said. “Thanks to Mrs. B’s generosity, the Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment will cement her legacy as a philanthropist who cared deeply for her community.”

Grants awarded in 2018 were:

$40,000 to the Boys & Girls Club of Edenton/Chowan County

Supporting education and workforce development programs (Ready, Set, GO!) for the Teen Center

$42,500 to Communities In Schools of Robeson County

Supporting CIS student support specialists, after‐school program instructors and public school staff implementing the WhyTry Resilience Program at nine schools, as part of the greater goal of reducing dropouts and improving the social‐emotional learning of students

$50,000 to the Coastal Horizons Center, Inc. in New Hanover County

Supporting the Wilmington Health Access for Teens, which provides comprehensive mental health and primary care services at five sites in New Hanover County with four school-based health centers in the public high schools

$40,000 to the Coastal Women's Shelter Inc. in Craven, Jones and Pamlico counties

Supporting ensuring financial assistance to victims and families who wish to leave their abuser and to cover some operating costs of the agency locations in Craven, Jones, and Pamlico counties

$30,000 to the Down East Partnership for Children in Nash and Edgecombe counties

Supporting increasing the percentage of children reading on grade level in Nash/Edgecombe counties through strategies in school readiness/attendance/summer learning. DEPC facilitates the local Campaign for Grade Level Reading (Read to Rise) providing resources/support to partner organizations/schools

$35,000 to the Open Door Community Center in northeastern NC

Supporting a safe place for women and their children to live while providing the women with the opportunity to develop the skills and resources needed to prepare them to transition into stable, long‐term housing through working with the case manager, other ODCC staff and volunteers

$50,000 to Step Up Wilmington in southeastern NC

Supporting creating jobs, transforming lives and improving the well‐being of residents in the Cape Fear region through the Job Program, Step2 Program and partnerships with businesses and community stakeholders in the region

$42,500 to Reach Out and Read in southeastern NC

Supporting RORC's southeastern NC initiative, partnering with over 88 individual medical providers at 18 clinical locations, focused on increasing the depth, quality and reach of the medically based literacy intervention across seven counties impacting 22,290+ children under age five

$35,000 to Student Action with Farmworkers in eastern NC

Supporting work with community partners to facilitate Into the Fields interns/fellows to welcome farmworkers to eastern NC and link them to critical health, education, and human services. Eight bilingual students will assist more than 1000 Latino agricultural workers to access community resources

$35,000 to Teach For America ‐ Eastern NC, focusing on Sampson and Duplin counties

Supporting the recruitment of promising leaders to teach for at least two years in a low‐income school, where they develop and cultivate leadership skills and mindsets necessary for change through classroom teaching

$30,000 to Transitions LifeCare in Harnett, Johnston and surrounding counties

Supporting expanding pediatric hospice services in Harnett, Johnston and the surrounding counties to reach more terminally ill children

$35,000 to TROSA (Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers, Inc.) in eastern NC

Supporting comprehensive substance abuse treatment services at no charge to men and women (ages 18+) from eastern North Carolina

$35,000 to Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry, Inc.

Supporting making home a safer place to live for approximately 100 seniors in Brunswick, New Hanover, and Pender counties. WARM staff and volunteers make safety‐related home repairs and accessibility upgrades for low‐income homeowners to help them age in place with independence and dignity

Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment announces $500,000 grants program in eastern NC