Novant Health Rowan Medical Center Foundation receives $450k grant to support Healthy Rowan
The Duke Endowment awarded Novant Health Rowan Medical Center Foundation $450,000 to support Healthy Rowan, a coalition of 57 individual members and 25 agencies that seek to improve health and quality of life in Rowan County. The program’s broad-based interventions take aim specifically at obesity and chronic disease.
Healthy Rowan counters unhealthy behaviors such as tobacco use, poor diet and physical inactivity with a variety of evidence-based programs. To promote healthy diet, the coalition supports the Rowan Food and Farm Network food policy action group. Healthy Rowan also works to promote availability of healthier items at food pantries and to create healthier food policies with the Salisbury and Rowan County governments. Its work advances the discussion of social determinants of health, such as housing, transportation needs and economic development, and the coalition encourages ongoing discussions to highlight the interconnectedness of all health factors, including substance use and mental health.
The grant comes through the Duke Endowment’s Healthy People, Healthy Carolinas initiative, which launched in North Carolina and South Carolina in 2015 to address chronic health issues. In 2016, the endowment awarded Healthy Rowan $450,000 to launch the program in Rowan County.
Based in Charlotte and established in 1924 by industrialist and philanthropist James B. Duke, The Duke Endowment is a private foundation that strengthens communities in North Carolina and South Carolina by nurturing children, promoting health, educating minds and enriching spirits. Since its founding, it has distributed more than $4 billion in grants. The endowment shares a name with Duke University and Duke Energy, but all are separate organizations.