RALEIGH — Healthier Together, a public-private partnership between the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and NC Counts Coalition, has awarded $500,000 in the second round of grants to support a new cohort of local community groups to support equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines throughout North Carolina.

The following organizations and collaboratives have been selected to receive Healthier Together vaccine equity grants ranging from $15,000 to $60,000 to serve their corresponding counties:

• ADLA, Inc. – Wayne

• Advocacy House Services, Inc. – Chatham, Harnett, Johnston, Lee

• CityGate Dream Center – Alamance

• EBC-ATOM, Inc. – Edgecombe, Nash

• Faith & Victory Christian Church (FVCC) – Pasquotank

• Fuerza Y Union Multiple (FUM) – Franklin, Granville, Vance, Warren

• Hola Carolina, UNIDXS Western North Carolina, and Centro Unido Latino-Americano (CULA) – Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Graham, Henderson, Jackson, Rutherford

• HOLLA! Community Development Corporation – Anson

• Jones County Community Hope – Jones, Lenoir

• La Familia Community Health and Comunidad Colectiva – Gaston, Union

• Let’s Make It Happen Together, Inc. – Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Moore, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland, Wake

• Lila Latinx LGBTQI Initiative Inc. – Durham, Orange, Wake

• Lionel Lee Jr. Center for Wellness – Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg

• Mujerxs Organizando Oportunidades Notables/MOON – Chatham, Johnston, Nash, Wake

• Nariah’s Way Foundation – Montgomery, Moore, Randolph

• Shackle Free Community Outreach Agency, Inc. – Duplin, Jones, Onslow, Pender, Sampson

• The Wright’s Center, Inc., Word Tabernacle Church, and the REACH Center – Edgecombe, Nash

• True Ridge – Henderson

• U2U, NAACP Charlotte, and Climate Reality Project – Mecklenburg

• W.A.R. 4 Life, We Are Ready for Life – Alamance, Caswell, Chatham, Durham, Guilford,

• Whole Man Ministries of NC – Forsyth, Wake

Grants will fund activities to conduct vaccine outreach and education efforts to help people get connected to first, second, additional or booster vaccines. The equity initiatives also support activities to connect residents to transportation resources, community health workers and COVID-19 testing resources. The funding period is November 2021 through February 2022.

"We greatly appreciate the partnership with NC Counts and our new grantees. Through Healthier Together we’ve been able to leverage the expertise of community-based organizations to create a two-way street of information from local leaders on how to continue to improve our COVID-19 vaccination and educational efforts,” said NCDHHS Chief Equity Officer Victor Armstrong. “This second round of awards is a part of our ongoing effort to partner with our communities in assuring equitable access to vaccines."

With support and guidance from Healthier Together, the incoming cohort will build on the achievements of the first cohort of 27 local organizations who received funding starting in June 2021. During the first 3 months of the project the original cohort’s community-based efforts reached more than 400,000 people in 50 counties in North Carolina through door-to-door and site-based canvassing, phone and text message outreach and educational events about COVID-19 vaccines.

The incoming cohort will work to continue to close equity gaps, ensure vaccine access for everyone 5 and older, encourage boosters as authorized and develop innovative solutions informed by their experience in and with historically marginalized communities.

The work is part of a larger effort of NCDHHS to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. North Carolina has eliminated the equity gap between Hispanic and non-Hispanic residents and reduced the equity gap between Black/African American and white residents.