Community foundations aim to pool local resources to address community needs, with the Foundation for the Mid South partnering with nonprofits to enhance local health care. The Daughters of Charity provide health services, including diabetes education and community gardening, to combat high rates of diabetes in the region. Their initiatives focus on improving health outcomes through accessible care and education, supported by grants from the Charles Stewart Mott and W.K. Kellogg Foundations.

1. At its core, a community foundation
is designed to help pool local
resources to meet local needs while
striving to actively involve residents
in determining and prioritizing their
community’s needs.
Through its Cultivating Community
Engagement Project, CFLeads, a
national support organization for
community foundations, is helping
local philanthropies like the
Foundation for the Mid South
partner effectively with local
nonprofits to meet local challenges.
Philanthropy begins
on Main Street

2. The Jackson, Miss.-based Foundation for the Mid South
has supported a rural health care model developed by the
Daughters of Charity Services of Arkansas. Through its
participation with the CFLeads exchange, it is sharing this
model with community foundations across the country.

3. The Daughters of Charity provides
rural residents with a variety of
health services, including exercise
programs that encourage healthy
lifestyles in a region with one of
the nation’s highest rates of
diabetes. Statistics show about
1 million people in the Mid South
– about 10 percent of the
population – have been diagnosed
with diabetes, with another
3 million considered pre-diabetic.
Health matters

4. The Daughters of Charity hosts
community gardens and a farmer’s
market so local residents can grow
and buy affordable fresh produce.
It is one strategy to promote
healthy eating habits overall and
especially for people with diabetes
and pre-diabetes.

5. The two clinics – one in Dumas and one in Gould – provide low-cost, high-quality health
care services for men, women and children who live in rural communities so they do not
have to travel many miles for medical and dental care.

6. The Foundation for the Mid South has supported expansion of the Daughters of Charity’s
diabetes program because diabetes rates are often quite high in rural areas, partially due to
limited access to health services and preventative education.

7. Through its Diabetes Self-Management Education program, clinic staff screen patients and
provide education and medical assistance to manage the disease. Patients learn why it is
important to monitor blood sugar levels, the difference between good and bad cholesterol,
and how to spot problems that, if left untreated, could lead to amputation or death.

8. The Gould clinic provides dental care for adults and children. Increasingly, studies confirm that
oral health is related to the body’s overall health, with evidence showing that gum diseases can
increase the risk of heart disease, put pregnant women at a greater risk for premature delivery,
and affect blood sugar levels for people with diabetes.

9. The Cultivating Community Engagement Project is funded by the
Charles Stewart Mott and W.K. Kellogg foundations.

10. All slideshow photographs were taken by Rick Smith of
Rochester, Mich., to showcase the work of the Foundation for
the Mid South. To learn more about the organization and its
work, visit www.fndmidsouth.org.
To learn more about Mott, visit www.mott.org.