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JANUARY 1995
Raieigh
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 5 / $5.00
PhilanthroDvJoumal
Changing hands
Nonprofits respond to Republican election victories
Nonprofit leaders in North
Carolina and throughout the
U.S. are adapting to major
changes in the legislative land
scape. Recent Republican victo
ries at the local, state and
national levels represent both
challenges and opportunities for
the sector, nonprofit leaders
say.
By The Philanthropy Journal Staff
// 1 yi / e’ve got to hold
our own,” the
speaker said,
pounding her fist on the podium. “We
have to present a united front. After
1/1/
Christmas, we must immediately go
,back to the grassroots and get peo
ple in the communities to get in
contact with their legislators.”
The audience at the Carolina
Theater - a gathering of directors,
fundraisers, funders and lobbyists
for nonprofit arts groups - broke
into hearty applause.
Republican legislative victories
had not been on the original agen
da for the annual state arts meet
ing, but Elizabeth Taylor, executive
director of Arts Advocates of North
Carolina - as well as other confer
ence speakers - knew the issue had
to be addressed.
Nonprofit leaders in North
Carolina and throughout the U.S.
George Pfeiffer Betty McCain
also are responding to the results of
recent mid-term elections. While not
everyone agrees on the outcome, all
feel the urgency of assessing the
impact on the sector.
Republicans made historic
gains in the November balloting -
winning majorities in both houses
of Congress and among state gov
ernorships. In North Carolina,
Republicans took control of the
House and many county boards -
many of which had not seen a GOP
majority this century.
New legislators come armed
with promises to change govern
mental priorities. The state OOP’s
“Contract with the People of North
CaroUna” calls for the rejection of
any new taxes, limits on the growth
of state spending, major reform of
the criminal justice and welfare sys
tems and reductions in the size and
power of the state Department of
Pubhc Instruction.
Nonprofit leaders say the
Republican approach holds mixed
messages for the state’s “indepen
dent sector.”
“It means challenges that include
both problems and opportunities,”
says George Autry, president of
MDC, a nonprofit think tank in
Chapel Hill. “Problems in the sense
that those nonprofits that are pub
lic/private partnerships dependent
on government funding are maybe
endangered. On the other hand, the
opportunities come from the promise
of more reliance on the nonprofit sec
tor.”
Look for GOP, page 22
Gaining access
Clinic
provides
free care
As legislators debate proposals for
health care reform. High Point
residents without health insur
ance can get free care at the
High Point Community Clinic.
By Ealena Callender
High Point
O n an average day, about 14
percent of North Carohna’s
residents go without health
insurance. In Guilford County alone,
the number of uninsured residents is
close to 40,000.
Since 1993, a free clinic in High
Point has
worked to pro
vide free pri
mary care to
the city’s grow
ing population
of citizens with
too little health
Mary Lyons
insurance or
none at all.
When the
Directions
Task Force
was estab
lished by Mayor Becky Smothers in
1992 to make recommendations and
proposals on social issues, including
health care, it found that almost one-
third of Hig^i Point’s residents have
too little health insurance or none at
Look for CLINIC, page 13
Kevin Warner, a
dance instructor at
Sunset Park
Elementary School
in Wilmington,
says using the arts
a teaching tool
helps to inspire
students to think
more creatively
and critically,
improving overall
learning in the
classroom.
Photo by Susan Gray
Creative lessons
Arts breathe new life into classrooms
The arts can effectively improve
classroom learning, say a grow
ing number of North Carolina
educators and arts advocates.
They’ve got proof. They’re tiying
it out. News of their success is
spreading. And funders are
noticing.
By Susan Gray
5:
Wilmington
imon, 8, used to be out of con
trol. He tossed his workbooks
around his third-grade class-
ARTS
room like Frisbees, rebelled against
authority and spent many afternoons
sitting in the corner of his principal’s
office, frowning at the fish.
In November, all that changed
when clarinetist Todd Palmer visited
Simon’s school. Sunset Park
Elementary in Wilmington, to perform
jazz.
Simon - whose name has been
changed here to protect his identity -
was transfixed by the show. He
conldn’t take his eyes off Palmer and,
when it ended, he pranced down the
hall, mimicking Palmer’s riffs with a
make-believe clarinet.
After that, Simon never returned
to the principal’s office. He started lis
tening to his teachers, and his grades
improved.
“It was amazing what happened,”
says Adelaide Kopotic, Sunset Park’s
Principal. “It’s incidents like that can
change a life forever.”
Simon found a new expressive out
let, Kopotic says, and that opened up
a new world of learning to him.
A growing number of educators
and nonprofit leaders are pointing to
examples like Simon’s as ways in
which the arts can effectively improve
the quality of education in schools.
Music, drama, dance and the visual
arts, they say, are valuable education
al tools that can turn around disci
pline problems and enhance learning
for all students by stimulating active
participation, critical thinking and
creative problem solving.
“Because the arts cultivate the
imaginative thought processes - the
source of creativity - they energize the
motivation to learn,” says Charles
Look for ARTS, page 21
Connections 3
Grants and Gifts 17
In January 16
Job Opportunities 20
Opinion 10
People 17
R.S.V.R 16
Professional Services..,!8
NONPROilS
Crafts stimulate
mountain economy
HandMade in America
aims to raise the visibility of
North Carolina crafts and
boost economic opportuni
ties tor craftspeople.
FOUNDATIONS
Page 4
Champions
for children
The Michael Jordan
Foundation, which was cre
ated by the basketball
superstar to support chil
dren, has opened a
Charlotte office and is seek
ing corporate support.
• Page 6
VOLUNTEERS
Helping professionals
volunteer
In Charlotte, a volunteer
organization has found a
way to recruit busy work
ing people by offering
flexibility, convenience
and variety.
• Page 8
f CORPORATE GtVING
New Bern dairy
assists children
Maola Milk Co. has for
malized its support for
youngsters by creating a
foundation to help chil
dren.
Page 12