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State Announces Additional $500,000 In Vaccination Effort Grants

TED S. WARREN/AP

Another round of funding has been released to help ensure an equitable response to the COVID-19 pandemic in North Carolina.

The funding is being managed by Healthier Together, a public-private partnership between the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and the NC Counts Coalition. Up to $500,000 in grants will be made available to community-based organizations working to close vaccination equity gaps in the state.

According to an NCDHHS news release, grants for short-term equity initiatives are aimed at improving access to vaccines in vulnerable communities.

Those efforts include vaccine outreach and education, help in scheduling appointments, arranging transportation, and coordinating local vaccination events.

NC Counts Coalition Executive Director Stacey Carless released a statement saying that with more dangerous variants spreading through the state, there is an even greater urgency for people to get their shots, and for communities to close vaccination gaps.

The period for organizations to apply for grants runs through October 6.  

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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