Key Takeaways:

"In recognition of National Diabetes Awareness Month, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the expansion of the Minority Diabetes Prevention Program — an initiative dedicated to reducing the rising rates of diabetes in certain communities. This program provides culturally responsive education, early screening, and personalized resources to empower individuals at high risk for type 2 diabetes to take control of their health."   Click here to read full press release 

 
"The program consists of three key parts:

• Prediabetes screening events in each region;

• Free 12-month class series led by regional lifestyle coaches available in English and Spanish; and

• Community conversations to build awareness and support around health issues within the impacted communities.

Contact your local health department or go to NC Minority Diabetes Prevention Program webpage to find free classes and prevention programs near you. Additional resources are also available through the NC Diabetes Advisory Council’s new Guide to Diabetes Prevention and Management.

Relevant Links:
 

• ADA: The Burden of Diabetes in NC

• Vaccinations for Adults with Diabetes

• Carolina Demography: A  data-driven look at the prevalence of diabetes in North Carolina

Diabetes Notes: Healthy NC 2030

►  In 2019 I served as a member of the Healthy NC 2030 Taskforce.  This month I'm sharing a brief snapshot of my highlighted notes from the final report specifically related to Diabetes and other interconnected factors & outcomes.  Then check out the full HNC 2030 report below!   It's an incredible action, planning, & learning tool  with a lot of statistics & data,  great perspective & context.  It features  nice graphics, clearly defined goals, key next steps,  identified obstacles &  barriers  一  and it's extremely relevant today.  And its a deep dive, core,  prerequisite, & foundational.  Hope you enjoy it! :) 

Relevant Links:

• Minority Diabetes Prevention Program

• Guide to Diabetes Prevention and Management

• Healthy NC 2030 Full, Final Report

• 2025 County Health Rankings, Robeson County NC

• NCbudget.org | 2025 Economic County Snapshots for North Carolina

• NCbudget.org | 2025 Economic County Snapshot, Robeson County

• Robeson County Community Health Needs Assessment 2023 [CHNA]

Every three years, Robeson County conducts a comprehensive community examination through a process known as the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA).

Relevant Links:

• The Eat Smart Move More, Maintain Don't Gain, Holiday Challenge

• ADA Diabetes Food Hub

• ADA Diabetes Friendly Recipes

• ADA Vegetarian Recipes

As food insecurity continues to expand, review the following resources in this section, connect the dots, think outside of the box, and work collaboratively with others in order to help address ongoing and emerging unmet needs at scale. 

An Audiobook version of the text below,  and a companion downloadable interactive .pdf with active links to all resources Coming Soon!   In the Meantime:  Stay Alert,  Prepare,  Survive!

For well over a decade, Jay Leggette [Grassroots Community Health Coordinator & the founder of The Stimulus ] has  successfully written grants, facilitated the development of innovative strategic partnerships with shared use agreements while both helping to design, produce and synchronize well resourced, high impact  community based initiatives promoting sustainability,  capacity development, community resilience and more in collaboration with diverse local, state, national, global, and community stakeholders. 

In 2011 Jay produced and launched an award winning, innovative "All Hands on Deck, All Hazards Approach" centered health improvement strategy with local churches  and other collaborators in Robeson County in order to support the cultivation of  a "Culture of Health and Preparedness" across all  sectors of the community.    The  strategic action plan featured a focus on asset mapping, unmet needs assessments,  public health statistics policy and research, nutrition, increasing physical activity, chronic disease prevention and management, health surveys, smoking cessation, overall health & wellness, safety, food insecurity, gardening, health screenings, written health policies, an immunization clinic, AED & CPR training from the American Red Cross, AED installation, disaster preparedness, disaster response, disaster recovery,  and disaster mitigation.  It also included the integration of Faithful Families Eat Smart Move More classes & peer training,  My Plate and Expanded Food and Nutrition Program educational materials and presentations,  one of the first ACA health care enrollment events both in the county and across the nation, and 2 free North Carolina Baptist Men Mobile Dental Clinics.   These and other actions nurtured the development of well resourced health promotion centers and libraries at churches, faith based organizations, and throughout the community supported by training, workshops, outreach initiatives, and technical support from Legal Aide North Carolina - Pembroke Office,  the UNC Chapel Hill Law School, The American Diabetes Association, The American Heart Association, The American Stroke Association, The American Cancer Society,  Duke Heart Center Education and Outreach,  Duke Cardiology & Cardiovascular in Lumberton, The Robeson County Health Department, The Robeson County Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Church & Community Center, Lumberton Christian Care, the Robeson County Public Library, The Lumberton Housing Authority, the Lumberton Emergency Services Department,   Robeson County Emergency Management,  and Southeastern Health Regional Hospital now currently known as UNC Health Southeastern and many more.  Jay also was a presenter at a breakout session during the RafiUSA Come to the Table gathering at UNCG in Greensboro North Carolina on February 19, 2013 where he shared with other stakeholders across the state specific strategies that can help ministries and non-profits develop asset mapping and other capabilities to expand community support platforms while increasing organizational capacity in order to address unique community needs at scale.  

Both the health programming that Jay designed and the numerous grants that he wrote on the behalf of the congregation were also supported generously by more than $7,000 in grant funding and technical support provided by Partners in Health & Holeness , The North Carolina Council of Churches, Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of North Carolina, The American Red Cross, the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, and an immeasurable volume of hands on technical support and resources from a myriad of cross sector collaborators that collectively helped a congregation in South Lumberton easily access the opportunity to invest in, cultivate, plant, grow, nurture, take care of, sustain, and expand on the following:

Two $1000 mini-grants from Partners Health & Holeness Gold Certified Congregations in 2012 and 2013; The Strive to Revive Grant that provided a free AED, training, and supplemental funding for ongoing maintenance of the new AED program;

Funding to enhance broadband and WiFi capacity in order to invest in the further development of an onsite computer lab focused on expanding access to online learning, education, care net support resources  for both congregants and the community like Adult GED classes; WorkKeys certification;  early college and college courses;  online portal access to NCID, NCESC, SNAP, FEMA, and more;  

A $5,000 Equipment Only Grant to invest in developing a table top garden initiative at a  low-income residential facility for seniors and the disabled owned by the congregation, a greenhouse gardening initiative at the church to support outreach ministries initiatives including the food pantry,  an onsite emergency shelter location  in partnership with the American Red Cross, and funding to purchase new kitchen equipment and to invest in safety and food storage, preparation, and delivery training that could help to expand the congregations capacity to deliver food in the vulnerable community that congregation has been called to serve.  

And as if that was not enough, while working on these initiatives Jay both met the team at The Conservation Fund & Resourceful Communities, attended their training sessions and workshops,  and collaborated with other relevant stakeholders  in preparation for future cross-sector collaboratives focused on expanding a myriad of relevant ongoing and emerging public health improvement strategies to address a series of identified, urgent unmet community needs including but not limited to disaster preparedness, pandemic preparedness, and food insecurity.   And yes, given what we've experienced since then and even today it's ironic that Jay was not only amplifying those unmet needs well before 2012 and 2014, he also worked tirelessly with others to help lay a foundation to help support the community when many grossly underestimated or simply did not believe that waves and waves of intense trauma, loss of life,  and increasing hardship would soon inundate communities everywhere. 

On October 8, 2016 deadly Hurricane Matthew flooding devastated the neighborhood where Jay once lived and grew up in, destroyed his childhood home, and severely damaged both the nearby public housing project and community building where he met with young people and families to expand on the grass-roots community health initiatives that he continually took an active role in.  But rather than quit, Jay once again reached out to an expansive network of diverse local, state and national stakeholders in order to sustain efforts.  Building on previous collaborations with the Public Schools  of Robeson County as well as with funders who invest in grassroots initiatives focused on public health improvement, Jay expanded his previous award winning strategy and adapted it to enhance public school education and community engagement across a much larger countywide footprint.  What emerged is:  Seed to Plate, the innovative blueprint and foundation that features health, nutrition, physical activity, gardening, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math education via a platform that is most often referred to publicly as the "Robeson County Teaching Garden."  Jay wrote the initial grants, developed the core program architecture, and facilitated the cross-sector collaboration that produced the award of the $150,000 Migrant Education Program Move and Eat Healthier Program grant in 2020 from Kate B. Charitable Trust, a $14,000 and an $11,000 grant in 2020 and 2024 from The Conservation Fund  and Resourceful Communities , and very significant funding and technical support from UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, NC TraCS, and more!  

Additionally, while serving as a Disaster Case Manager and Community Resource Coordinator with the county’s official Long Term Recovery Group after both Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence in 2018 Jay also worked collaboratively with  North Carolina Emergency Management, Robeson County Emergency Management, the American Red Cross, the National Institute of Health also known as NIH,  National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences also known as NIEHS, The Centers for Disease Control also known as the CDC,  the North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services, the NC Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities, The North Carolina Division of Public Health, The Lumberton Housing Authority, The Robeson County Housing Authority,  The Robeson County Veterans Service Office, The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina,  Church World Service, and many, many others to ensure that all disaster survivors have access to the all of tools and resources that are needed. 

And as we know during the seasons between 2016 until this present day communities all across the state are still navigating the impacts of Hurricane Florence in 2018, the COVID-19 global pandemic in 2020, Hurricane Helene in 2024, Hurricane Chantel in 2025, and so much more.   Nonetheless Jay's collaborative efforts with cross-sector stakeholders have significantly helped to establish and ensure sustained access and funding for solutions like: The Hope4NC crisis counseling program that provides free and anonymous support, as well as public education and resource information to help people cope with the emotional impact of disasters like hurricanes, and flooding;  and Temporary Relocation Assistance a program that helps low-income hurricane survivors temporarily relocate while their homes are under construction via Rebuild NC, North Carolina Emergency Management, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, and  the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.  Moreover his collaborative work with The Healthy North Carolina 2030 project brought together experts and leaders from multiple fields to inform the development of a common set of public health indicators and targets for the state over the next decade.  These indicators serve as the population health improvement plan for the North Carolina Division of Public Health.

So be encouraged family because today as unmet community needs increasingly expand at an exponentially high rate within municipalities, counties, regions across the state, around the nation, and throughout  the world Jay is literally sharing the state's population health improvement plan, emergency operation plan and disaster recovery framework,  and direct easy access to a wealth of relevant tools and resources that we can use right now if we choose to while also encouraging all of us to remember the following as we push forward no matter what as he has in the past, and will continue to do until his last breath on this earth.   He shares that:  In life there are many seasons, and change is inevitable, so let's stick to the basic, time-tested formula that works even in the midst of the storm:   Cultivate, Plant, Nurture, Grow, Adapt, Change, Move if Necessary, and Repeat.  Again: Cultivate, Plant, Nurture, Grow, Adapt, Change, Move if Necessary, and Repeat because our lives and the lives of others quite literally depend on it, and we can do it!   Finally he highlights that in difficult times he is often reminded of these lessons:   "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few, so pray to the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into His Harvest."   And yet  "Faith without works is dead. Some one will say, You have faith and I have works. So Show me your faith void of work, and I will show you my faith by my works.  Friends, I tell you the truth, if our faith is the size of even a mustard seed, we can say to the mountain,  Move from here and go over there, and  yes even the mountain will move.  And all things will be possible.   

So let's hang in there no matter what, keep the faith, keep on working, and as always let's Stay Alert, Be Prepared, and Survive.