New Grant Awards Total More Than $675,000

The John Rex Endowment announces an investment of more than $675,000 for seven grants to support the physical, mental and emotional well-being of children in greater Wake County. Grant recipients include InterAct, Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, Haven House Services, Lucy Daniels Center, Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education and Triangle Family Services.

“Our investments in healthy weight, injury prevention, positive mental health and nonprofit capacity building are focused on bringing lasting change to help shape an environment in Wake County in which children can live healthy lives,” said Kevin Cain, president and CEO of the John Rex Endowment. 

InterAct will receive a three-year grant of  $383,150 to restructure a Youth Education Services program and partner with other youth-serving agencies for coordinated youth violence prevention strategies. The grant project will focus on making the program more culturally relevant and progressively reaching and engaging more Wake County youth. 

Duke Center for Child and Family Policy will receive $109,632 for a nine-month project to identify best practices in developing physical and social environments to promote positive mental health in the places and spaces where children live, learn and play. The goal of the project is to provide a framework for the John Rex Endowment’s future approach to positive mental health funding in Wake County. 

Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute (CGBI), based in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, will receive a one-year planning grant of $74,995 to explore prenatal and post-maternity breastfeeding support and care provided for the most vulnerable populations. The grant project addresses a need that was identified in CGBI’s previous work with Wake County child care centers, which was supported by a grant from the John Rex Endowment. CGBI will work with Wake County agencies, local service organizations, and health care providers to develop a plan to strengthen collaboration and provide coordinated and consistent care and breastfeeding support.

Approved capacity building project grants include $43,217 for Haven House Services and $42,780 for the Lucy Daniels Center. Capacity building grant projects build the strength and sustainability of nonprofits.

The Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education and Triangle Family Services will each receive an $11,500 grant to support organizational assessments covering six key areas of a nonprofit’s infrastructure including mission, vision and strategy; governance and leadership; resource development; strategic relationships; internal operations and management; and program delivery and impact.