September 2020 - In This Issue:
WORKING TOGETHER FOR HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES
Since its creation in 1994, The Rapides Foundation has sought to improve the health status of Central Louisiana by developing initiatives and strategies intended to impact our community for decades to come. We invite you to learn more about our work by visiting our website.

The Rapides Foundation focuses its work in three strategic areas:

Healthy People, to improve access to healthcare and promote healthy behaviors.

Education, to increase the level of educational attainment and achievement as the primary path to improved economic, social and health status.

Healthy Communities, to improve economic opportunity and family income, and enhance civic and community opportunities for more effective leaders and organizations.

Contact Us

The Rapides Foundation
1101 Fourth Street, Suite 300
Alexandria, Louisiana 71301
318-443-3394 or 800-994-3394

Visit our website:
THE RAPIDES FOUNDATION'S 2020 SYMPOSIUM MOVED TO NEW DATE
Mark your calendar for October 7 from 3-4:30 p.m.
The Rapides Foundation's 2020 Symposium has been moved to Wednesday, October 7, from 3-4:30 p.m. as a result of impacts from Hurricane Laura.

The seventh annual Symposium will focus on how community health status can be improved by addressing behavioral and social determinants of health. The event will be presented on the Zoom webinar platform. 

Featured speaker for the Symposium is Regina Benjamin, M.D., MBA, who served as U.S. Surgeon General from 2009-2013. As a rural family doctor serving poor communities, Dr. Benjamin has spent her career seeing the impact of healthcare disparities and the social determinants of health on several generations of patients in her community. 

The Symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is required. 
FOUNDATION RELEASES
ANNUAL REPORT
Read the 2019 Annual Report online
The Rapides Foundation's Annual Report, "Honoring the First 25 Years," is now available. 

The 2019 report recognizes the Foundation's 25th anniversary and illustrates the many examples of how the Foundation has evolved since its founding and worked to further its mission of improving the health status of Central Louisiana.

To be mailed a printed copy of the Annual Report, contact The Rapides Foundation at 318-443-3394 or 800-994-3394.  
THE RAPIDES FOUNDATION AWARDS $400,000 TO ADDRESS COVID-19 RESPONSE
Organizations use grant funding to provide assistance to Cenla residents
The Rapides Foundation in April awarded grants totaling $400,000 to two agencies working to provide relief and assistance to Central Louisiana residents whose lives have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Funds have been used in a variety of ways, such as feeding an increased number of hungry families in Central Louisiana, providing quarantine kits to people who have tested positive, and delivering goods to at-risk residents and senior citizens who are unable to safely leave their homes. 
CDW FALL 2020 TRAININGS BEGIN
Most training sessions will be virtual
Community Development Works, a program of The Rapides Foundation, is offering free skill-building trainings for Cenla residents and nonprofits. A majority of the trainings will be in the form of webinars that can be accessed from computers or other devices. 

CDW trainings are free of charge, but registration is required. Topics are geared toward nonprofit staff, board members and volunteers, and people interested in starting a nonprofit. The webinars, plus two in-house workshops, run from September through November. 

Fall trainings are presented within the following topic areas: the Start-Up Series for Nonprofits, the Grant Writing Series, the Fundraising Series, and the Advocacy Series. For the first time, CDW is offering a Self-Paced Learning Series on the topic of "Becoming a Social Media Guru." The self-paced series, which is limited to 15 participants, is presented by Candid, a nonprofit formerly known as the Foundation Center.

To register, visit www.communitydevelopmentworks.org and click on the "Attend Training" tab, or call CDW at 800-803-8075.
CLIP GRADUATES BEGIN TEACHING CAREERS
Applications accepted for 2021 CLIP cohort
Eight individuals from Central Louisiana have completed an intense, 15-month teacher residency program and are now beginning their careers as middle-school math and science teachers. 

They are the first graduates of the Central Louisiana Instructional Partnership, a paid teacher residency program with the goal of improving student achievement in rural school districts by preparing educators to teach in critical shortage areas - middle school math and science. The second cohort of 10 individuals began its residency in June, and recruitment is underway for the third of five cohorts.  

To apply for CLIP, interested persons should complete and submit the CLIP application, release form, essay and a current resume. Application forms and more details can be found at www.theorchardfoundation.org/clip. To learn more, contact CLIP Field Coordinator Lindlay Howell at 318-767-3017.
Joe Rosier

Mission
The mission of The Rapides Foundation is to improve the health status of Central Louisiana. 

Vision
Our vision is to positively impact Central Louisiana by deploying resources to improve key factors of health status.