October 1994
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina • 7
Award
Continued from page 6
Baker and Hunter clearly fit
that bill.
Before taking the job at the
health center, Baker worked as a
financial analyst for large corpora
tions in New York City.
“1 abandoned that because it just
wasn’t satisfying,” he says. “If I sat
up on top of the World Trade
Center and traded blocks of stock,
that wouldn’t be doing anything.
Here, I feel like I’m doing some
thing.”
When Baker arrived in Nbwton
Grove in the early 1980s, the health
center was on the brink of financial
collapse. Under his guidance, it
not only has survived has expand
ed to become a vitai community
resource for people in Sampson,
Johnston and Harnett counties.
In 1986, Baker created the
Migrant Benevolent Association to
heip in what he calls, the center’s
“unending struggle for financial
viability.”
The association acts like a mini
foundation, raising money for
heaith outreach programs, educa
tion and research. It also funds a
free translator service for health
professionals in North Carolina
whose patients are migrant farm
workers who don’t speak English.
Hunter came to the Tri-County
Health Center after serving two
years in the Peace Corps setting up
loan cooperatives in small moun
tain viliages in Honduras.
In Newton Grove, he helped
launch the health center’s
“jfarmers In Prevention” sub
stance-abuse program, which
offers recreational and other activ
ities to migrant workers.
“Alcohol and drug use is very
prevalent among farmworkers,”
Hunter says. “Part of it is a recruit
ment tool. A lot of people recruit
from the inner city and they look
for people who are down-and-outs.
They go to shelters and soup lines.
Where else would you find people
who’d be willing to stand in line
and do farm work?”
The recreation program tries to
ease the sense of isolation migrant
workers feel on their days off.
“That’s typically a time to
indulge in drugs and alcohol,”
Hunter says. “These camps are
really tucked away in the boon-
docks and people have nothing to
do. A lot of people have no idea this
lifestyle even exists.”
From its beginnings as a tiny
storefront operation run by local
health departments, the Tri-County
Health Center has expanded to a
50-member clinic offering basic
health-care, dental, and substance-
abuse treatment services.
On any given day, as many as
100 people - most of them poor and
Spanish-speaking - may walk
through the clinic doors in need of
care. The nearest public health
center is about 60 miles away in
Nash County.
In addition to supporting the
center’s recreation program, the
Robert Wood Johnson money will
help pay for a new intervention
project with youngsters in the
court system and, perhaps, cre
ation of a grantwriting position to
help raise money for future pro
grams, Baker says.
Challenges facing the center
include finding ways to serve the
growing number of migrant fami
lies that are choosing to settle per
manently in North Carolina.
As for health reform proposals
being debated in Congress, staff
members worry that the type of
care offered by the Newton Grove
center will be overlooked.
“Substance abuse is not high on
the list right now for reimburse
ment,” Hunter says. “We’re sort of
like a stepchild when it comes to
health care.”
In the future, the center may
become part of a network of com
munity health centers serving spe
cial populations or it may continue
to operate independently.
“We have to think strategically
and long-term,” Baker says. “Who
would have thought that a migrant
center a lot of people opposed 15 or
so years ago might be where they’d
get their health care in the future?
At the same time, we never want to
lose our specific mission, which is
to serve migrant and seasonal
farmworkers. We know they would
be the first to go in the competition
of other things.”
Projeq
Continued from page 6
munity foundations had applied
for funding under the initiative by
the September deadline.
Cunningham says at least three
national funding initiatives are
being offered to community foun
dations this year - on the environ
ment, violence and cultural diver
sity.
“When faced with a number of
national initiatives ali at the same
time, particularly at smaller [com
munity foundations] with limited
resources, they have to select
what would work for them at the
moment,” she says. “There is a
fair amount of competition.”
Although Tar Heel community
foundations may not be respond
ing quickly, nonprofits serving
gays and lesbians hope to benefit
from the partnership’s initiative.
Kenda Kirby, executive director
of the statewide Coalition for Gay
and Lesbian Equity based in
Durham, says that while there are
foundations that support gay
issues, she often has to be creative
in her grant proposals.
“An example is a grant I
applied tor through the [federal]
Centers for Disease Control to pro
duce educational materials about
violence against women,” Kirby
says. “The way we looked at it was
that often violence against women
is associated either with a percep
tion [by perpetrators] that their
targets are lesbians or derogatory
terminology about that.”
As part of the national initia
tive, local advisory committees
that include gay and lesbian lead
ers will be set up to help establish
new grantmaking priorities for
community foundations.
“It’s a great way for founda
tions to start researching these
Issues,” says Antonio Maciel, a
program officer at the New York-
based Gilmore foundation.
Other participating foundations
are the Aaron Diamond Found
ation, the Colin Higgins Found
ation, the David Geffen Found
ation, the Edward Hazen Found
ation, the Levi Strauss Foundation
and the Ms. Foundation for
Women.
For information on the national
partnership, call Cunningham at
(212) 475-2930.
For details on the Southern
Outlook project, call Bell at (919)
682-3702.
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