Dogwood Health Trust held its Annual Meeting at Blue Ridge Community College on Thursday.
More than 400 nonprofit leaders, community members and partners gathered in Henderson County to hear updates from Dogwood Health Trust. The foundation administers the proceeds from the $1.5 billion sale of 2019 Mission Health System to for-profit HCA Healthcare.
Dogwood CEO Dr. Susan Mims reported that the organization approved about $74 million in grants for 2022 and is looking forward to next year.
“Our goal today will be to share where we are focusing in 2023, to provide more clarity about partnership opportunities and to hear from you our partners and community,” said Mims.
Dogwood has also worked with partners to bring more than $10 million dollars from outside sources and more than $50 million in additional funds pending awards.
Dogwood’s grants and partnerships span the 18 western counties where Mission Health System is located. The organization focuses on the social determinants of health specifically housing, education, economic opportunity and health & wellness.
Mims took over the role of CEO in February 2022 after working as the interim CEO for over a year. The previous CEO was in the position for less than a year.
Mims says Dogwood will be tightening this scope in 2023.
“As we become more focused, this means that we won't be able to fund a broad field of requests as we have done over the past three years. Initially, we cast a wide net to learn from our partners and to respond to the deep needs in the community that we exposed during the pandemic,” said Mims.
Now Mims says Dogwood will work on the root causes of regional issues.
“Now we believe that the best way to address the regions needs is to go deep. Examining the roots of each problem and making changes there will allow strong roots and strong people to grow,” said Mims.
Some of the projects that were highlighted were an upcoming report on the state of K-12 education in WNC and a focus on the region’s workforce.
The next rounds for grant applications will be January and May 2023.
