The North Carolina Community Foundation announces $500,000 in grant awards across eastern North Carolina from the Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment. Grants were awarded to nonprofit programs serving education, health and human services in 41 eastern counties.

This year the Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment awarded:

$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 the Phoenix Hometown Hires in the Cape Fear region

• 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

• 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

“We were honored to award these grants to nonprofit programs making an impact in eastern North Carolina,” said Leslie Ann Jackson, NCCF director of grants and scholarships. “This marks the first competitive portion of the grants program from the fund,” she said. “Thanks to Mrs. Burevitch’s lifelong support of charitable causes, the Louise Oriole Burevitch Endowment will have an impact across eastern North Carolina for generations to come and cement her legacy as a philanthropist who cared deeply for her community.”

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 this year. More than $1.4 million has been granted to her named charities to date.

“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.