Impact Alamance 2017 Annual Report

2017 ANNUAL REPORT

impact alamance 2017 annual report . 1

Impact Alamance’s new headquarters at 133 E. Davis Street, Burlington NC. The 38,000-square-foot building houses Impact Alamance’s offices,

2 . table of Alamance contents Achieves, & mission, Alamancevision, Foundation, values a conference center that can be used by local nonprofits and government agencies, and more.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

04 05 06

STAFF & BOARD OF DIRECTORS

TO THE COMMUNITY

COMMUNITY CHANGE

10 12 14

COMMUNITY HEALTH FUND

HEALTHY KIDS

HEALTHY COMMUNITY

MISSION

VISION

VALUES

WE STRATEGICALLY INVEST IN OUR COMMUNITY FOR HEALTH, HOPE AND PROSPERITY.

ALAMANCE COUNTY IS THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE AND THRIVE.

COLLABORATION, COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP, INTEGRITY, INNOVATION, MEASURABLE CHANGE, STEWARDSHIP. impact alamance 2017 annual report . 3

OUR LEADERSHIP

IMPACT ALAMANCE STAFF TRACEY GRAYZER

DONNA BUCKNER

President

Office and Grants Manager

MARCY GREEN

VASHTI K. SHIWMANGAL

Program Director

Elon-Alamance Health Partner 2017-2018

BOARD OF DIRECTORS F.D. HORNADAY JOHN CURRIN

CHAPMAN MCQUEEN, MD

ALAN NORTON

ALLEN GANT

EDWARD WOODALL

TIM CLONTZ

TED CHANDLER

GINETTE ARCHINAL, MD

DAVID LEEPER

VERNETTA BRIDGES

MARTHA KRALL

YUN BOYLSTON, MD

KATHY COLVILLE

4 . our leadership

OUR LEADERSHIP

TO THE COMMUNITY

T

o tell the truth, we can hardly believe it’s been three years. It seems like it was just a few months ago that we were working on the thousand details that go into launching a new foundation, from recruiting board members and developing a strategic plan to choosing office furniture.

We’ve known right from the beginning that we wanted to do more than just issue grants. While funding is vitally important, it is only part of what’s needed to create lasting systemic change in our community. Collaboration, leadership, strategic thinking and more are also just as important.

That’s because Impact Alamance’s goal is to do more than just “help.” Our vision is that “Alamance County is the best place to live and thrive.” That vision is ambitious — and still very much a work in progress — but we’re starting to see what the road looks like to achieve it.

And so Impact Alamance continues to invest strategically across the county.

Some of those investments are easy to see, like the splash pad at Burlington City Park or new playground equipment in Mebane,

Green Level, Graham and other communities. Others, like the Teacher Leadership Academy, have expanded the ability of educators and schools to prepare children for the future.

And some of these investments may not be visible to most people: More effective nonprofit organizations. More partnerships and collaborations. More people and organizations working together to make Alamance County the best place to live and thrive — for everyone.

Perhaps not as important, but still exciting, is one other milestone that we wouldn’t have imagined three years ago: Thanks to the generosity of LabCorp, Impact Alamance will move into a new building in downtown Burlington. We’ll share that space with other organizations devoted to making Alamance County a better place to live, learn and grow. Please come visit us.

Tracey Grayzer, Impact Alamance President F.D. Hornaday, Impact Alamance Chair

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OVERVIEW OF SUCCESS

COMMUNITY CHANGE

A

s we closed out our 2017 fiscal year, signs of our impact are visible across Alamance County: On new and upgraded playgrounds, walking trails, in teacher’s classrooms and physician offices.

From the beginning, we envisioned maximizing the impact of our grant dollars by working with partners in the community: other funders, nonprofits, businesses, churches and government agencies. Our intent was to multiply our impact for the benefit of everyone in Alamance County.

By that measure, we’ve exceeded the goals we set. From 2015 through this year, Impact Alamance awarded $6.1 million in grants.

Those Impact Alamance funds helped our grantees leverage another $6.7 million in additional support through matching funds and grants received through our grant writing assistance program. As a result of this collaborative approach, we’ve been able to more than double our financial impact in Alamance County.

Since 2015, we’ve had a positive impact in the lives of Alamance County residents. Our grant dollars have provided new spaces and updates to existing playgrounds, walking trails, classrooms and doctor’s offices, making for happier and healthier experiences across our community.

6 . overview of success

OVERVIEW OF SUCCESS

We have also sought to amplify our impact by aligning and coordinating efforts among many community partners on mutually agreed areas of focus — healthy kids, healthy communities and capacity building for nonprofits, schools and government agencies.

For example, working with Healthy Alamance, we launched the Alamance Wellness Collaborative. The collaborative brings together a wide-range of local government agencies, nonprofits, colleges and schools, health care providers and

the business community. This group aims to make changes to local policies, systems and the built environment to support healthy living and access to healthy food, especially for children.

It’s an ambitious effort, but has already yielded results beyond what anyone expected. The Wellness Collaborative has, so far, led 12 policy changes. These include things like opening ABSS public school playgrounds to the public during non-school hours and ensuring that bike lanes are included in road-improvement plans.

Thanks to policy initiatives spearheaded by the Wellness Collaborative, ABSS school playgrounds like this one at Newlin Elementary School are now available for public use outside school hours.

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2017 BY THE NUMBERS

$1.93MIL Grants made in Alamance County

$2.97MIL Leveraged in addition to grants

$150K Invested in 3 elementary playgrounds

36 66

Agencies supported

Grants made

56

Site visits made

77

Community meetings

FUNDING BY PRIORITY AREA

$33K Contributions

$630K

$457K

Community Health Fund

Healthy Community

$27K

Responding to community needs

$779K Healthy Kids

COMMUNITY HEALTH FUND

PREVENTING TEEN PREGNANCY

C

ommunity Health Fund projects help strengthen the community-wide grid of resources that make Alamance County a good place to work, live and raise a family. These grants are tied to the community’s priorities of access to care, income and education. Impact Alamance awarded the Alamance County Health Department $100,000 to further combat teen pregnancy.

In 2016, 148 teens aged 15-19 got pregnant — a rate of 24.7/1,000.

10 . community health fund

Though the teen pregnancy rate has fallen significantly in the last 15 years, many of those pregnancies weren’t planned and, in nearly all cases, teen mothers aren’t fully prepared to raise a child.

To help lower the teen pregnancy rate, the health department will use the funds to strengthen its teen outreach efforts, promote longacting reversible contraception methods, create a teen-friendly clinic, and provide training for private health care providers.

COMMUNITY HEALTH FUND

FOSTERING FARMS Impact Alamance funded a joint project by Benevolence Farm, The Food Collaborative and N.C. Cooperative Extension Service office to create a tool share program. It allows farmers to borrow expensive tools that they might only need once or twice a year, increasing the productivity of Alamance County farms and increasing local access to fresh, healthy food.

“I HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO USE SEVERAL DIFFERENT TOOLS THAT MY FARM COULD NOT FINANCIALLY AFFORD ON MY OWN. THESE TOOLS HAVE HELPED TO INCREASE PRODUCTION ON THE SAME AMOUNT OF GROWING SPACE ON THE FARM WHILE ALSO MAKING MY FARM MORE EFFICIENT.” — Jordan Walker, Barking Dog Farms impact alamance 2017 annual report . 11

HEALTHY KIDS

WORK AND PLAY 12 . healthy kids

T

here’s strong scientific evidence that children who are more active are healthier and do better in school. Exercise is also important for the health of parents, caregivers and other adults. That’s why promoting physical activity has been a consistent theme in Impact Alamance’s grant decisions.

In 2017, we continued to partner with local governments to invest in

improvements and expansion of the playgrounds and parks.

In Mebane, an $80,000 grant funded a paved walking track, outdoor fitness equipment and an expression swing. On the expression swing, a parent and baby face each other as they swing together.

Research shows that face-to-face contact and interaction during play is essential to healthy brain development in children.

HEALTHY KIDS

The walking track and fitness equipment provides opportunities for adults and children to exercise and be more active.

We partnered with the city of Graham to invest in a large new park in the southern part of town. Area businesses contributed money or services to the new park, and nearly a million dollars of combined city and state funding was used to purchase the land. The park opened in April 2017.

Impact Alamance provided a $250,000 grant for the 18-acre first phase of the park. The grant paid for a youth challenge course, which includes a zip line and climbing rocks, and a children’s play area.

Over the next few years, the park will grow to approximately 118 acres and include sports fields and other amenities, further amplifying the impact of this investment.

Both children and adults can enjoy the unique features of Graham Regional Park, such as the innovative youth challenge course, complete with a zip line and climbing rocks, pictured above.

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HEALTHY COMMUNITY

ADDING EXPERTISE

O

ne of the most ambitious projects Impact Alamance has helped launch is Alamance Achieves — a community initiative that aims to strengthen the cradle-to-career pathway for all Alamance County children. Research, and common sense, indicate that health, education and career success are all intertwined.

Healthy children do better in school, providing a foundation that leads to better-paying careers. Individuals who have good careers also tend to be healthier. More successful individuals also contribute to a stronger economy, are more engaged as citizens and create a higher quality of life for all.

In 2017, Alamance Achieves hired its first executive director, Tyronna Hooker. Alamance Achieves also hired a full staff, including two collaborative action facilitators and a data manager.

Tyronna Hooker, Executive Director of Alamance Achieves and former NC Teacher of the Year, pictured right. She brings extensive professional experience and a passion for education to our community.

1 234 Alamance Achieves is building community teams to improve four key outcomes — and it’s tracking community-wide, measurable data to assess progress toward these goals.

EVERY CHILD IS WELL, HEALTHY AND READY FOR SCHOOL.

14 . healthy community

EVERY CHILD SUCCEEDS AT SCHOOL.

EVERY CHILD GRADUATES, PREPARED FOR POST-SECONDARY LEARNING.

EVERY CHILD IS ON TRACK TO ACHIEVE THEIR CAREER GOALS.

HEALTHY COMMUNITY

LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

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he Leadership Institute was created in 2017 and is sponsored by the United Way of Alamance County and Impact Alamance.

The program aims to provide nonprofit and government directors with essential leadership skills to enhance their development and advance the mission of their organizations. The program provides a solid foundation of leadership essentials through classroom training, individual development plans, self-discovery, practical application, and personal coaching.

Pictured above, the 2017 Leadership Institute Cohort.

FUNDING SUCCESS

M Pictured above, Rachel Muir.

ore than 70 nonprofit board members, executive directors and other staff attended a half-day workshop by acclaimed fundraising trainer Rachel Muir. They received tips on building strong boards, having meaningful conversations with donors and telling powerful stories that communicate the impact their organizations have in the community.

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KEY SUCCESSES FROM 2014-2017

of Teacher Leadership

of grantees agree that Impact

graduates have an increased

Alamance’s funding priorities

knowledge of the community

match the county’s health priorities

of organizations feel capacity building technical assistance improves their effectiveness

increase in access to exercise opportunities across Alamance County

increase in leader effectiveness of Leadership Institute graduates

policies or plans adopted encouraging physical activity and healthy eating

133 East Davis Street, Burlington, NC 27215 | Tel: 336-221-0011 | Visit Us Online: impactalamance.com