BCBSNC Foundation Announces Community TIEs Award Winners

BCBSNC Foundation Announces Community TIEs Award Winners

Honors Organizations Serving North Carolina's Farmworker Community

Chapel Hill, N.C. – Three North Carolina nonprofit organizations committed to supporting the state's farmworker population have received $10,000 awards as part of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation (BCBSNC Foundation) Community TIEs Awards Program. This year's recipients include the North Carolina Farmworker Project in Benson, Siler City-based Hispanic Liaison of Chatham County/El Vinculo Hispano, and Greene County Health Care, Inc. in Snow Hill.

Community TIEs awards are given annually to nonprofit organizations that are excelling in their service to the community and recognize excellence in the use of Technology, Innovation and Evaluation. This year's awards honor organizations specifically serving farmworkers, migrant youth or Latinos in North Carolina, and were presented in partnership with Durham-based Student Action with Farmworkers. North Carolina has the sixth largest farmworker population in the nation, according to a 2000 Farmworker Enumeration Study.

"Farmworkers represent some of the hardest working and most vulnerable populations of North Carolina, and it is important that we recognize organizations dedicated to supporting them," said Kathy Higgins, president of the BCBSNC Foundation. "It is also important that we encourage nonprofits to leverage technology, innovation and evaluation as we work to strengthen the impact these groups are having in communities across our state."

The North Carolina Farmworker Project was honored for its use of technology to improve outreach efforts to farmworkers in Johnston, Harnett, Sampson and Wake counties. Technology upgrades have helped improve their overall capacity by 400 percent. GPS navigation was used to locate more than 60 labor camps in the four-county area, which assisted in a program to provide transportation for farmworkers to doctors' appointments.

Hispanic Liaison of Chatham County/El Vinculo Hispano was recognized for its innovative broadcast radio outreach efforts to residents of Alamance, Chatham, Lee and Randolph counties. Faced with not being able to adequately communicate with the local Latino community, La Charla (The Chat) – a half hour call-in talk show – was launched. The program is used to broadcast vital information, mostly related to housing rights, immigration updates, workers' rights, volunteer and educational opportunities and public service announcements.

Greene County Health Care, Inc. was recognized for its use of evaluation techniques related to farmworker outreach efforts serving Beaufort, Craven, Duplin, Green, Lenoir, Martin, Wayne and Wilson counties. The program began in April 1997 and served about 150 farmworkers and 250 Latinos. Ten years later, they are reaching 13,000 farmworkers and more than 15,000 Latinos. The program's growth is largely attributed to their implementation of needs-based assessments and evaluation strategies that help staff determine the best methods for reaching and supporting their target populations.

Since 2004, BCBSNC Foundation has annually partnered with a North Carolina member-based organization to present the Community TIEs Awards. Previous awards have honored affiliates of the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence (2004), North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault (2005) and Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina (2006).

Descriptions of the award categories:

• Technology Award – Rewards exemplary performance and results in using technology to improve effectiveness and efficiency, and to further the mission of the organization in serving its target population.
• Innovation Award – Rewards use of creative, innovative solutions and programs to serve clients as demonstrated through successful implementation of a visionary concept.
• Evaluation Award – Rewards organizations that demonstrate a commitment to measuring and reporting outcomes. Preference is given to organizations that have used evaluation results to improve their programs and services.