Our Needs Immediately Met, or NIMble grant, of up to $5,000 per organization is intended to support an organization's one-time critical purchases, immediate needs for stabilization or crisis response, or small-scale opportunities related to work to address health and well-being as defined by our Priority Funding areas.

NIMble applications in 2022 will be accepted on a rolling basis, with notification of award status anticipated within 6 to 8 weeks of submission. The NIMble 2022 program will remain in effect until allocated funds are exhausted. Applicants (organizations) are eligible for one NIMble award only within a 12-month window, i.e., if awarded a grant in May 2022, that organization will be eligible again for another NIMble award in May 2023.

Maverick and Minions and Crawdads, oh, my! The Hollywood summer blockbusters are upon us.

Few summertime experiences are as iconic as seeing the latest much-hyped, mega-hit on the big screen. As soon as you walk into the theater lobby, the smell of buttery fresh popcorn irresistibly pulls you toward the concession stand. With ticket in hand, you enter the air-conditioned theater, where that sticky substance under your feet, try as it might, cannot keep you from reaching your seat. Dim the light, cue the music... 28 'Coming Soon' trailers later, and it's SHOWTIME!

Storytelling on the silver screen started more than 130 years ago, followed by television's introduction to the public at the 1939 World's Fair. For 117 years, Hollywood's major studios and four TV networks dominated the video content we consumed. Until 2005, that is, when this guy used a new online platform called YouTube to describe elephant tusks, thus putting video content creation in the hands of the people.

Through video, your organization's story can find a new audience and help inform others about the needs facing Western North Carolina. As a way of example and perhaps inspiration, this month we are sharing links to partners' videos and a couple of our favorite series dedicated to digging deeper into social determinants of health.

WARNING -- Like everything on the Internet, YouTube content can and should be verified, especially when health-related issues are being presented.

Now grab some popcorn and an icy beverage and enjoy this sampling of a few WNC nonprofit providers using video to share their impact stories.

In this video, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Growing Minds team provides a demonstration on how to do a local foods cooking demonstration for kids and adults! They also invite us to find more farm-to-school resources at growing-minds.org.

ASAP received a 2021 Need Immedite Met (NIMble) investment grant to provide community food sites the funding they needed to purchase local farm products that met the needs of their programs.

HIGHTS' video above features Taylor Foxworth and her story of overcoming a lack of direction as a youth. HIGHTS has received two investment grants from Nantahala Health Foundation. Their first was in our 2019 inaugural year to teach their program participants how to build and market tiny houses; their second was a CHIP 2020 grant to grow their staffing capacity.

Southwestern Commission used its YouTube channel to help gather data related to our region's lack of equitable broadband access. Their four-part series looked at broadband's impact on access to healthcare, economic development, public safety, and to education as seen in the video above. Additionally, they pointed viewers to a survey designed to measure broadband access across the region and to make a case for more resources to be dedicated to this issue.

Southwestern Commission received a 2020 Collaborative Health Innovation Program (CHIP) grant from Nantahala Health Foundation to fill a funding gap in their effort to launch the Southwestern North Carolina Housing Consortium.

As you can see, these providers' videos come with various levels of polish. In fact, more often than not, online video viewers are much less captivated by longer, highly stylized productions. What they all have in common, however, is how they are using this engaging medium to share their stories and connect with broader audiences.

So how 'bout it? Might we find your organization's message coming soon to a small screen near us?

You may have heard about the $750M opioid settlement awarded to North Carolina, but chances are good you still have a lot of questions about how these funds will be distributed and utilized. Even two months ago, PBS NC was grappling with some of these questions:

Join Southwestern Commission for an information session on the opioid settlement funds and for a conversation about the health issues affecting your community. This session will be your opportunity to share information about issues facing your community and how we can work together as a region to create lasting solutions.

Place: Jackson County Department on Aging

Date: Tuesday, August 16

Time: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Lunch will be provided by Dogwood Health Trust

While Nantahala Health Foundation does not yet host our own YouTube channel, we continue to be impressed by the quality of educational resources available on this platform. One we've just discovered is this 11-part (so far) series from Healthcare Triage focusing on the social determinants of health. Their video in the series is linked below.

Here's what Healthcare Triage's content creators want you to know about this series: Over the last year, we at Healthcare Triage have taken some deep dives into issues of health policy, especially those that touch on social determinants of health and health equity. The episodes that do so are a bit longer than usual. They look a little different. They also come to you thanks to the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has generously supported their creation. We’re excited about this opportunity to really dig in, and we hope you will be, too.

Thanks to Marvel Studios, we've learned the value of sticking around to see the after-credits content, or, in this case, THANK YOU for continuing to read this far!

Do you find yourself struggling to help others understand the importance of your work within the social determinants of health framework? The video resource below from the Let's Learn Public Health channel might just get a great conversation started.

What did you think of this July's newsletter? Take a quick 3-question survey to let us know.

Our grant-making priorities are designed to create a strong network of organizations by investing in your strategies to remove barriers to health.

At Nantahala Health Foundation, we build partnerships with forward-thinking organizations focused on improving the overall health of the region. 

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