NOVEMBER 1995
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3 / $5.00
PhiMthix^yJourpal
Rising to the challenge
Community colleges develop fundraising pitch
Development efforts at North
Carolina’s 58 community col
leges are in their infancy, com
pared with larger colleges and
universities. But as their needs
grow, the schools are crafting
effective fundraising strategies.
ByRobLamme
Fayetteville
“We are confronted by insur
mountable opportunities” reads the
sign in Judi Smith’s office at Anson
Community College in Polkton.
“That’s the way fundraising is at a
small community college,” says
Smith, a plucky former Spanish and
reading instructor who now raises
EDUCATION
money for the college’s foundation as
dean for planning and development.
“What we lack in manpower we
make up in enthusiasm.”
Smith, who also is the college’s
chief planning officer and chair of its
developmental studies program,
agrees that wearing so many hats
keeps her from raising more money
for the college. But with just 1,300
students in a rural county with a pop
ulation of 27,000 and few large
employers, the college can’t afford to
give her clerical help - let alone relief
from administrative responsibilities.
“We’re a fly-by-the-seat-of-yonr-
pants operation,” Smith quips. “But
I’ve got a heck of a computer.”
Too little administrative support
and too many job titles aren’t the only
hurdles development officers face in
raising money for North Carolina’s 58
community colleges. Despite helping
hundreds of thousands of students
each year, two-year colleges are still
in their infancy when it comes to pri
vate fundraising.
‘We don’t have the alumni that
four-year schools count on and we
don’t have front-row seats to the foot
ball game,” says Brenda Lea, director
of the foundation for Central
Piedmont Community in Charlotte.
‘We’re about the basics: workforce
development.”
David Hayes, who directs the
foundation at fhyetteville Technical
Community College, says, “We’re
between a rock and a hard place.”
He says that potential donors
“assume that everything is paid for
by the state, but 40 percent of our stu
dents are on some kind of financial
aid.”
Lack of awareness among the
general public isn’t the only problem
for community colleges. Their gradu
ates rarely have the alumni loyalty or
income that a development program
can count on for cash. And while a
local company may hire workers who
received their training at the local
community college, many employers
stiU need a great deal of convincing
when it comes time to make a dona
tion.
Henry Bernhardt says the prob
lems facing fundraisers for communi
ty colleges come with being “the new
guy on the block in educational
fundraising.”
Bernhardt shonld know He spent
14 years raising money for Catawba
Community College before opening
Institutional Development Associates
in 1982. IDA is a Charlotte-based con
sulting firm that specializes in assist
ing community colleges.
“Thirty-one of the community col
leges in North Carolina have some
kind of foundation, but most of them
just got started in the 1980s,” he says.
He estimates that most develop
ment offices at North Carolina com
munity colleges are small - a develop-
Look for COLLEGES, page 13
At the grassroots
Program
boosts
health care
This is the final year of a Kellogg
foundation grant supporting the
Southeast Raleigh Center for
Community Health and
Development. Now, staff mem
bers and supporters of the
grassroots health-care project
must find ways to keep it going.
By Barbara Solow
Raleigh
The coalition members meeting in
a former elementary school building
on Lenoir Street have one major item
underlying everything else on then-
agenda: “sustainability”
Fbr two hours, they talk about how
to keep up the momentum at the
HEALTH CARE
Southeast Raleigh Center for
Community Health and Development.
The center, located in the old
Crosby Garfield school - a stone’s
throw from the Chavis Heists public
housing complex - is a grassroots
effort with nationwide import.
As one of seven programs funded
under a community-based public
health initiative launched by the WK.
Kellogg Fbundation in Battle Creek,
Mich., the center is being eyed as a
model for conmnmity-based solutions
Look for HEALTH CARE, page 5
Overcoming barriers
Nonprofits rise to meet Latino needs
A wide group of nonprofits has
come into being to serve North
Carolina’s growing Latino com
munity.
By Sean Bailey
More than 100 nonprofit oiganiza-
tions in North Carolina provide ser
vices to Latinos, one of the state’s
fastest growing minorities.
The development of a Latino non
profit sector comes as no surprise. As
the number of Spanish-speaking peo
ple entering the state has swelled, it
seems only natnral that organiza
tions should be formed to provide
social, cultural and educational ser
vices for them.
Despite the emergence of these
nonprofits, however, there are many
indications that the task of advocat
ing for this new group of North
Carolinians is about to get tougher:
Congress has eliminated programs
that serve poor immigrants.
Foundations appear reluctant to sup
port the Latino sector. And we^
labor laws and a strong economy in
North Carolina continue to act as a
magnet to immigrants looking to
stake their claim to the American
Dream.
Together, it adds up to a bleak pic
ture. The future may mean more
Latinos in North Carolina with
greater needs and fewer resources to
help them.
HELPING HAND
“There’s a definite correlation
between the increasing Latino popu
lation and poor working conditions,”
says Carol Brooke, coordinator of
Helping Hand, a nonprofit in Siler
City that promotes better job condi-
SOCIAL SERVICES
tions for poultry workers in Lee and
Chatham counties. “People need to be
thinking about that when they are
providing services.”
Brooke’s organization has wit
nessed first-hand the speed with
which immigration in North Carolina
is changing the community in which
many nonprofits work. Less than 10
years ago, poor black women com
prised the majority of workers at the
four poultry processing plants where
Helping Hand targets its activities.
Today, poor Mexicans and Central
Americans occupy most of those.
Latinos are coming to North
Carolina not only from south of the
border, but from southern states like
Texas and Florida. Brooke says busi
nesses in need of cheap labor are
sending recruiters to those states and
bringing Latinos back to North
Carolina. The result is a flow of new,
needy clients nonprofits serving the
poor.
“If you are coming here because
you are desperate for a job and you
have five kids back in Mexico that you
are sending money to, you are willing
to put up with a lot, and a lot of your
problems doubtless are going to come
from the fact that you are being
exploited,” she says. “Employment
and working conditions are inevitably
going to be a problem for Latinos in
North Carolina.”
Brooke sees a serious problem
among the nonprofits serving Latinos
in North Carolina She says many
nonprofits provide services that treat
the symptoms of poor living and
working conditions, but few want to
challenge the cause of those prob-
During the 1980s, many Latinos found jobs in North Carolina's
construction industry.
Photo by Robert Miller
lems because they view the issues as
too political.
QllE TAL, TALL
The arrivi of many Latinos was
practically invisible in the beginning.
Migrant workers tolled in the fields,
picking tobacco and fruit. They lived
in camps and usually were seen only
by the farmers and nearby residents.
But as their numbers grew in the
1980s and the economy of North
Carolina expanded, many migrant
workers saw opportunities in the
state’s urban centers, grabbing jobs
at the bottom nmg of many indus
tries, roofing and framing new
homes, washing (fishes and flipping
hamburgers.
At the same time, many Latin
American countries experienced
bouts of hyper-inflation and wrench
ing economic contractions. A stream
of educated middle- and upper-middle
class Latinos also made their way to
North Carolina, attracted by its repu
tation for good universities and high-
tech industries.
Now, their presence is undeniable.
Officials estimate that the Latino pop
ulation in North Carolina is around
150,000, with an additional 50,000
passing through the state each year
as migrant workers.
SOCIAL SERVICES
For a long time, the Lutheran,
Catholic and Episcopal faiths in
North Carolina have been at the fore
front of providing services for
Look for LATINOS, page 9
1 NONPROFITS
1 FOUNDATIONS
; VOLUNTEERS
[CORPORATE GIVING
1 FUND RAISING
United Way forums
eye government cuts
Public libraries
offer resources
Volunteer families
help kids in need
Group promotes public
school partnerships
Loaned executives
United Way mainstay
A series of recent seminars
sponsored by the United Way
of North Carolina was
designed to help nonprofits
prepare for expected cut
backs in state and federal-
funds for social services.
Foundation grants are help
ing nonprofit resource centers
in public libraries in central
and western North Carolina
make information on non
profit management more
accessible.
A Cary nonprofit helps trou
bled families and kids find
solutions to their problems
without getting caught up in
bureaucracy.
The formation of NC Partners
comes after a year-long look
at how nonprofits, schools,
community groups and busi
nesses can work together to
improve public schools.
Thanks to its flexibility and
increasing sophistication, the
United Way's loaned execu
tive program stands in good
stead in a tight business cli
mate.
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Connections 3
Grants and Gifts 16
In November 16
Job Opportunities 20
Opinion 10
People 17
Professional Services...!8