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New funding announced to support access to COVID-19 vaccines

AP Photo/Steven Senne

North Carolina has announced the next round of funding aimed at ensuring an equitable response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An additional $500,000 in grants has been awarded to support a new cohort of local community groups that are working to provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccinations throughout the state.

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.

The grants will support vaccine outreach and education efforts in vulnerable communities to help people get connected to first, second, or booster vaccinations. The initiative includes providing help in scheduling appointments and arranging transportation.

According to a news release, the initial round of community-based efforts this summer reached more than 400,000 people through door-to-door and site-based canvassing, phone and text message outreach, and educational events.

The new round of funding will be available through February 2022.

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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