The Carolinas Collaborative Receives $1.5 Million Grant to Transform Child Mental Health Across North and South Carolina
The Carolinas Collaborative for Child Advocacy and Residency Education (CC) announced it has been awarded $1.5 million in grants over three years to address pressing disparities in child mental health across North and South Carolina. This transformative funding comes from a consortium of leading philanthropic organizations, including The Duke Endowment, Dogwood Health Trust, HopeStar Foundation, and Maynard Family Foundation.
The Carolinas Collaborative, a robust network of advocacy leaders and pediatric health experts representing all eight pediatric academic institutions across North and South Carolina, is built on the fundamental principle that fostering the well-being of all children necessitates the seamless integration of effective clinical, community, and population health strategies. The CC aims to tackle existing inequities in pediatric and adolescent mental health throughout the Carolinas by strengthening infrastructure, dismantling barriers, and expanding capacity to address critical regional equity issues related to mental health.
“This generous investment is a game-changer for child mental health systems change in the Carolinas,” said Dr. Ellie Erickson NC co-lead of the CC. “It empowers us to accelerate our work in building a more equitable and accessible mental health system for children and adolescents across both states. We are deeply grateful to The Duke Endowment, Dogwood Health Trust, HopeStar Foundation, and Maynard Family Foundation for their commitment to this work.”
Leveraging its unique position as a convener and expert in child health, the CC is poised to drive scalable solutions that genuinely reflect the current landscape of child mental health needs. The CC employs a comprehensive approach to systems change, adhering to the widely recognized “Six Conditions of Systems Change” framework. This involves impacting complex issues at three distinct levels: practices, policies, and resource flows (structural level); relationships, connections, and power dynamics (relational change level); and mental models (transformative change). By operating at each of these levels, the CC serves as a pioneering initiative, driving systems-level transformation in pediatric health training and care, and embracing the vision of community pediatrics.
To achieve its ambitious goals, the CC is actively partnering with AP Enterprises and Openfields. This collaboration will facilitate the engagement of a multi-disciplinary network of pediatric and adolescent mental health stakeholders, collectively working to co-create an integrated child mental health strategy across the Carolinas. A crucial component of the CC’s work will be the development of a specialized mental health curriculum. This curriculum, with a strong emphasis on community health and child advocacy, will be integrated into the training for pediatric residents across the Carolinas, equipping the next generation of pediatricians with the skills and knowledge to effectively address mental health needs in their communities.
The Carolinas Collaborative is fiscally sponsored by the Institute for Child Success.
About The Carolinas Collaborative for Child Advocacy and Residency Education (CC): The Carolinas Collaborative for Child Advocacy and Residency Education (CC) is a cohesive network of advocacy leaders and pediatric health experts from all eight pediatric academic institutions across North and South Carolina. Grounded in the belief that promoting the well-being of all children requires the integration of effective clinical, community, and population health strategies, the CC seeks to address health disparities across North and South Carolina. CC works in many different areas addressing important child health topics including food insecurity, toxic stress, and literacy in addition to mental health. Their unique ability to convene stakeholders across sectors, while drawing from their daily experiences with patients, allows their impact to be both broad and deep within the community.