News

• Recovery and Rebuilding

  

  After Hurricane Florence made landfall in North Carolina in September 2018, parts of North Carolina and South Carolina suffered extensive flooding and billions of dollars in damage. The death toll across both states climbed to more than 50.

  To support communities impacted by the storm, the Trustees of The Duke Endowment approved $5 million. Initially, $2 million will help the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) address immediate recovery needs in North Carolina and South Carolina. Later, the Endowment will distribute the additional $3 million to support rebuilding efforts long term.

  Founded in 1940, UMCOR is the global humanitarian aid and development agency of The United Methodist Church.

  “In the aftermath of this deadly storm, we know that restoring lives and livelihoods will be a prolonged struggle,” said Minor Shaw, chair of the Endowment’s Board. “The Endowment wanted to support communities now as our neighbors work daily to recover, and still help in the future when it is time to rebuild.”

• Evaluative Thinking

  

  In the spirit of continuous improvement and learning, we’re looking at how we can use evaluative thinking at the Endowment to work better. We invited two experts — Virginia Tech Professor Tom Archibald and Jane Buckley of JCB Consulting — to conduct a series of workshops to help us understand the process.

  Archibald and Buckley explained that evaluative thinkers are proactive, seeking evidence and asking questions to inform action. Skills in their toolbox include the discipline of identifying assumptions, posing thoughtful, targeted questions, engaging with stakeholders to understand what is — or isn’t — working, and applying evidence in real time to make better decisions.

  “It really all comes down to aligning evidence to action so that we can maximize impact,” Buckley says.

• Focusing on Nutrition

  

  When patients in the hospital are diagnosed as malnourished, dietitians create meal plans to meet their special needs and help them grow stronger. For some patients, however, recovery is interrupted when they return to homes that lack nutritious food.

  New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C., is using a grant from The Duke Endowment to bridge that gap. A clinical outreach dietitian visits patients in their homes to reinforce their nutrition plans and connect them to resources. The medical center also offers a discharge box with enough food to provide 2,000 calories a day for up to two weeks.

  The goal is to prevent avoidable readmissions and help patients have what they need to thrive.

  “We cannot expect our patients to bounce back from a trauma, stroke, fall, surgery or any other medical condition if their nutrition is inadequate,” says Angela Lago, manager of clinical nutrition. “Nutrition is connected to everything.”

• Advancing Science and Research

  

  At Duke University, a $50 million grant from The Duke Endowment is supporting the hiring of faculty in fields of science, medicine, technology, engineering and mathematics and helping the university prepare students for current and emerging professions. The new scientist-scholars will work with colleagues in multiple disciplines in Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Pratt School of Engineering and School of Medicine.

  “This transformational grant will allow us to recruit the brightest and boldest thinkers and provide them with the infrastructure they need to solve the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Duke President Vincent E. Price.

• Improving Clergy Health

  

  Spirited Life was a two-year wellness intervention and holistic health study — and now that it has ended, we know that the 1,100 United Methodist pastors enrolled experienced meaningful physical health improvements. The percentage of clergy with metabolic syndrome dropped from 35 to 29; 53 percent had high blood pressure at the start, compared with 47 percent at the end. Cholesterol indicators also improved, and were completely sustained for 18 months after the program concluded. Most impressive, participants who began with the highest levels of obesity not only lost weight, but were able to sustain their weight loss (an average of 13 pounds) for 18 months afterward.

  There was, however, no significant improvement in stress symptoms during Spirited Life. With a grant from The Duke Endowment, the research team is now exploring practical ways to promote psychological well-being by testing stress interventions tailored to clergy. The pilot will test four interventions; based on findings, the most promising two to three will be tested using a randomized trial.

• Building Positive Parenting

  

  Backed by extensive research, Triple P is designed to help build parenting skills and promote positive child development. But like all evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies, it’s most effective when the right supports are in place to ensure quality service delivery and results. Without that infrastructure, it’s harder for evidence-based programs to work the way they were designed.

  In South Carolina, Children’s Trust is expanding Triple P across the state — and it’s partnering with implementation experts at the Impact Center at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC Chapel Hill. The Duke Endowment is funding the work.

  Children’s Trust is a statewide organization focused on the prevention of child abuse, neglect and injury. The Impact Center has been involved in North Carolina’s Triple P implementation.

  “This investment is a watershed moment for how the state approaches the prevention of child maltreatment,” said Children’s Trust CEO Sue Williams. “For the first time ever, South Carolina will have a countywide, coordinated system of prevention that gives us a population-level approach to parenting and preventing child abuse and neglect.”

• Trustee Elected

  

  Our Trustees elected Dr. Clarence G. Newsome to the Board, succeeding Mary D.T. Jones, who retired in December 2017 after serving for three decades. Dr. Newsome is the former president of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and former president of Shaw University.

  Born to a family of educators in northeast North Carolina, he is a triple alumnus of Duke University, receiving a bachelor’s degree in religion in 1972, a Master of Divinity in 1975 and a Ph.D. in religion in 1982.

  Dr. Newsome joined the Board in May.

• Two Retirements

  

  We said goodbye to two long-time staff members in 2018 and wished them well in retirement.

  Nancy Edwards, administrative specialist in Health Care, joined the Endowment in 1999 and served more than 19 years. Janet Haas, senior administrative specialist in Evaluation, came on board in 2002 and served more than 16 years.

  We are grateful for their many contributions.