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Blue Cross NC reports over $4M in child welfare investments

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina is touting the over $4 million in investments it’s made in child welfare programs.  

Blue Cross NC officials say that since 2019, the organization has directed funding to programs and initiatives that support children, youth, and families involved with the state’s child welfare system. They say that their advocacy has helped grow the number of available foster families, address mental health needs, and create paths for youth transitioning out of foster care.

Investments totaling over $4.3 million have been made in 49 organizations that benefit all of the state’s 100 counties.

One example officials point to is SaySo, a statewide association with a program that offers housing assistance to veterans of foster care, group homes, or mental health placements. SaySo has local chapters in Guilford, Forsyth, Randolph, Surry, and Stokes counties, among others. 

Another beneficiary is the Charlotte-based Alexander Youth Network, which offers mental health programs and services.

According to a Blue Cross NC news release, roughly 31,000 children in North Carolina are in foster care, getting adoption assistance, or are former foster youth under the age of 26.

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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