UNCG and the Foundation for a Healthy High Point Tackle Eviction Rates in High Point
UNCG and the Foundation for a Healthy High Point Tackle Eviction Rates in High Point
A word of thanks to the staff, Board and High Point Community-at-large. I have had the privilege of serving as the Interim Executive Director of the Foundation for a Healthy High Point since August. I have come to appreciate the great problem-solving energy in the community as well as the deep inequities experienced by many of the residents. With some sense of a resolution of the COVID-19 crisis on the horizon, the Foundation can begin to recommit to community and to becoming a leadership force for the health of the entire population.
I am enthusiastic about the new Executive Director, Curtis Holloman. Curtis is a nationally known foundation programmatic leader and has some great plans for ensuring that the Foundation for a Healthy High Point will continue to seek its highest level of impact. I have known Curtis for 15 years and he will be fully committed to the community- both professionally and personally.
While I will maintain a relationship with the Foundation through a 2021 transition period, I will be moving back to my full-time consulting roles with funders and non-profits. I encourage you to stay in touch at allen@ruralphilanthropy.net or via my website at www.philanthropyworx.com. Peace.
Curtis Holloman joins the Foundation with 20 years of community investment experience and ambitious plans for the organization’s future.
HIGH POINT, N.C., December 18, 2020 — The Foundation for a Healthy High Point has hired Curtis Holloman, MA, MBA, a North Carolina native with a long history of fighting healthcare inequities and investing in communities, to serve as their new Executive Director.
In this role, Holloman will build on the Foundation’s solid infrastructure and early successes. In the seven years since their inception, the Foundation has launched multiple key initiatives to improve the long-term health of those who call High Point, Jamestown, Trinity and Archdale home, including Healthy Beginnings, a grantmaking program focused on teen pregnancy prevention and early childhood development. Holloman strives to expand and deepen the Foundation’s impact by developing and investing in additional forward-thinking, community-based solutions that address sickness from the source.
“The Foundation’s goals align with mine,” Holloman says. “We believe in using all the tools of philanthropy—analyzing core problems, building thoughtful partnerships, investing in solutions—to create upstream, systemic change.”
Spearheading systemic change has been a hallmark of Holloman’s career. As Deputy Director at Penn State College of Medicine’s Office of Rural Health Policy, Holloman was part of the National Program Office team that administered the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) Southern Rural Access Program, which improved healthcare access in eight underserved southern states. Following that, he served as Deputy Director of another RWJF program office based out of the Health Research and Educational Trust at the New Jersey Hospital Association where he worked alongside local nonprofits and funders. He was a part of the team that collaborated with 1,500 funding partners and awarded 369 grants to community-based initiatives.
Most recently, as Senior Advisor and Director of Grants and Programs of the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, Holloman led projects that resulted in commitments of $17 million in grants to 108 community projects over three years. Forging new partnerships and strengthening community engagement across Greater High Point will be Holloman’s top priorities as he steers the Foundation toward the future.
“Our thoughtfulness in bringing people together is strong, and Curtis will help us to build on these efforts,” Program Officer Whitney Davis says. “His selection is a signal of the kind of meaningful impact and leadership the Foundation hopes to bring to the community.”
According to other Foundation leaders, tapping into the organization’s true potential is critical at this moment in time.
“This was a year where blatant inequalities around food, health care and housing access within our communities rose to the surface,” Interim Executive Director Allen Smart says. “It’s led us to become more externally focused and create more opportunities for the community to fill a seat at our table.”
To engage the community, Holloman plans to hit the ground running, conducting data assessments, surveying stakeholders and nonprofits, and holding virtual meetings to gather feedback as the Foundation formulates their future plans. Through this process, the Foundation will continue to invest in the health of the community with no interruptions to funding.
“Curtis’s interest to get other folks to step up and leverage what the Foundation is already doing brings a fresh perspective to the team,” Elliott Williams, MD, Treasurer and Board Member Executive, says. “His obvious passion for his work and compassion for all will lead us into the future,” Banking Executive and Board Chair Leah Penry Price adds. “With his help, we’ll convene leaders from every industry to develop strategies that lessen inequities and make transformational changes in the health of our community.”
After working with numerous communities across the nation to strengthen their capacity to respond to health challenges, Holloman looks forward to bringing his years of experience and passion back to his home state—and proudly doing so as one of the few African-American Executive Directors in the North Carolina Network of Grantmakers.
“I’ve been away for 20 years,” Holloman says as he recalls his early work as a Public Health Director for North Carolina’s Sampson and Scotland Counties. “But after all this time, I’ve learned that you never really leave where your heart is.”
Please see page 7 in SECF’s Inspiration Magazine for a story about the Greater High Point Food Alliance and their work during the pandemic.
The Foundation for a Healthy High Point will welcome Dr. Harry R. (Frosty) Culp and Ms. Lydia Lyon as the two newest members to its Board of Directors. Terms begin on January 1, 2021.
“Frosty and Lydia have a wealth of first-hand experience serving vulnerable members of our community. Their perspectives will help the Board as we continue to strive to make a measurable impact on improving the health of Greater High Point,” said Leah Price, Board Chair.
The Foundation’s Interim Executive Director, Allen Smart, added, “These leaders have a passion for service and a commitment to improving health in our community. The role of the Board is critical as we face the uncertainties of 2021 for the health and human services community in the city.”
Culp is a retired dentist, lifelong resident of High Point, and currently volunteers with various community organizations.
Lyon is a retired public health nurse with expertise in maternal and child health, which aligns with the Foundation’s Healthy Beginnings Initiative.
“I am very honored to have been asked to serve the High Point community in this capacity,” said Culp.
“I look forward to being a part of a foundation that seeks to promote health for women and children. Through my work in public health case management, I have witnessed how engaging with families can positively affect their future and thus impact the health of the community,” Lyon added.
The Foundation also elected its Board Officers for 2021, which include Leah Price, Chair;
Matt Jobe, Vice-Chair; Stephanie Johnson, Secretary; and Charles Cain, Treasurer.
Since its inception, the Foundation has approved approximately $11M in grant funding to serve the Greater High Point Community.
The Foundation for a Healthy High Point awards Fall Traditional and Fluid Strategic Investment Grants to 11 Non-Profits, High Point, N.C. — On December 2, 2020 the Board of Directors for the Foundation for a Healthy High Point — a private foundation that invests in the advancement of health and wellness for High Point residents — approved a total of $572,180 in grants to local non-profits. $467,905 was approved for the Fall Traditional Grants Program, and $104,275 was approved for the fourth quarter Fluid Strategic Investment, or COVID-19 Relief Grants program. Approximately 30% of the Traditional Grants were awarded to support behavioral health services, and 36% were awarded to support the Healthy Beginnings Initiative.
“The Foundation continues to focus its work on both the impact of COVID-19 on those least fortunate and on longer term work to build better systems for early childhood and mental health for all High Point residents” said Leah Price, Board Chair for the Foundation.
“We are pleased to continue support for a number of our present grantees working on issues of strategic importance while still recognizing that 2020 has required some dynamic outreach outside the boundaries of our standard grantmaking. We want to recognize how our local grantees are some of the on-the-ground heroes in this effort” said Allen Smart, Interim Executive Director of the Foundation for a Healthy High Point.
The Foundation for a Healthy High Point’s Board of Directors approved the following Fall Traditional Grants:
Behavioral Health
Capacity Building
Food Insecurity
Healthy Beginnings Initiative
Total: $467,905
The Foundation for a Healthy High Point’s Board of Directors approved the following Fluid Strategic Investment Grants:
Total: $104,275
Grand Total: $572,180
Since inception, the Foundation has approved $11 M to serve the Greater High Point community.
The Foundation for a Healthy High Point was established in 2013. The mission of the Foundation is to encourage, support, influence, and invest in efforts that improve health and wellness throughout the Greater High Point community, which includes High Point, Jamestown, Archdale and Trinity. For more information about the Foundation for a Healthy High Point visit www.healthyhighpoint.org.
We are excited to share an article about the great food systems work in High Point, as featured on the Giving Compass site – a national resource center for high wealth investors. The Foundation is pleased to have funded efforts to reduce food insecurity, which are being led by a network of community based organizations. Please find more information about local efforts in the linked article.
Funders Leverage Local Relationships To Fight Food Insecurity During COVID
Guilford County – The Foundation for a Healthy High Point is providing funds to purchase 100 laptops to be distributed among five nonprofits that are opening student enrichment centers in High Point.
The nonprofits that will receive devices include Communities in Schools – High Point Inc. (CIS-HP), YWCA, YMCA, D-Up and the Salvation Army’s Boys and Girls Club. The Guilford County Board of Education made the decision to start the 2020-2021 off with students remote learning due to the pandemic. Many families have found this way of learning to be challenging for a variety of reasons. With 67% of GCS students living in low-income households, some students lack access to devices or internet connection that are needed for remote learning. Several nonprofit organizations in Guilford County have stepped in to help.
Enrichment centers are open to students in grades 1-8 and are designed to assist families with both remote learning and childcare. “The Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club of High Point is committed to finding ways to serve families through these challenging times,” explains Amy Hudson, executive director. “These devices will help us ensure that students have the tools they need to stay focused on their education while they are at the enrichment center and we are very grateful.”
Allen Smart, interim executive director of the Foundation for a Healthy High Point knew that getting devices to the enrichment centers needed to be done quickly so learning could continue and that’s when the foundation reached out to Guilford Education Alliance (GEA). “GEA has a history of rapidly responding to the needs of students, teachers and schools,” says Smart. “Young people from many High Point households require better access to broadband and devices for remote learning and this funding is completely consistent with our work along the continuum of the social determinants of health.”
GEA is an alliance of individuals and organizations donating time, talent and resources in support of Guilford County Schools. “Our partners in High Point continue to rise to the challenge to provide what students need to thrive,” says Winston McGregor, president of GEA. “We are especially grateful for the foundation’s responsiveness and generosity with this effort.”
GEA’s local affiliate, the High Point Schools Partnership, will work directly with the designated non-profits in High Point and GEA’s laptop provider to get the computers into the enrichment centers in early November.
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GEA is an ever-growing alliance of individuals, organizations and businesses who donate time, talent and resources to make sure the future is bright for Guilford County Schools students and for our community. www.GEANC.org
The High Point Schools Partnership creates impactful connections between Guilford County Schools (GCS) and the High Point community to ensure that our students and their families are supported and can reach their full potential. HSPS is a volunteer-led, grassroots initiative affiliated with Guilford Education Alliance (GEA). www.GEANC.org
The Foundation for a Healthy High Point was established in 2013. The mission of the Foundation is to encourage, support, influence, and invest in efforts that improve health and wellness throughout the Greater High Point community, which includes High Point, Jamestown, Archdale and Trinity. www.healthyhighpoint.org
The application window for the Executive Director position has now closed. Candidates are currently being considered and the Board of Directors plans on announcing a selection in late 2020.
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