Partner Highlight

The Duke Endowment

A $450,000 grant from The Duke Endowment over three years is expected to help improve health in Rowan County. Healthy Rowan, a group of community organizations working collaboratively on health issues, was awarded the grant and is now one of ten participants in The Duke Endowment’s initiative, Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas.

The overall aim of the initiative is to improve population health by enhancing the ability to build partnerships across the community and apply new approaches to addressing chronic health issues such as unhealthy weight, diabetes and heart disease. Overall Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas goals include:

1. Increase the number of effective community coalitions,
2. Increase the number of community members engaged in health-promoting activities
3. Improve the health of North and South Carolinians.

Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas is now expanding to five new counties—Brunswick, Henderson, Pitt, Robeson and Rowan—with plans to expand throughout the Carolinas over the coming years. The initiative began in early 2016 in five diverse North Carolina regions — Catawba, Chatham, Granville/Vance, Montgomery/Richmond and Wilkes counties.

Local coalitions such as Healthy Rowan will involve leaders from a wide spectrum of community organizations in developing ways to engage residents in improving their health.

Rowan County, City of Salisbury, Rowan-Salisbury Public Schools, Rowan County Health Department, Community Care Clinic of Rowan County, houses of worship and area community-based human services nonprofits are all participating with Novant Health Rowan Medical Center.