Previously, the BCBSNC Foundation only offered grant opportunities to non-white-run groups, which Laura Morgan, Do No Harm's program manager, says promotes divisiveness "at a new level."
Do No Harm's mission is to investigate and spotlight discriminatory practices within medical institutions. In this case, the BCBSNC Foundation "got caught red-handed when they tried to inject ugly racial politics into their grant-making process."
"Discrimination should have no place in our society, yet they were prepared to reject grant applications from nonprofits led by white CEOs just because of their skin color," Morgan is quoted as saying.
"Do No Harm, along with BCBS customers and North Carolina state policymakers, will be watching very closely how the foundation updates the grant's eligibility criteria."
(Related: Did you know that your tax dollars are being used by the government to fund this kind of anti-white racism?)
Only non-whites are considered poor enough to qualify for help – whites are all rich and privileged, according to the BCBSNC Foundation
The $300,000 grant program in question is known as Advancing Healthy Food Equity (AHFE). It started out as automatically disqualifying all organizations with white directors or CEOs from applying.
In order to qualify for an AHFE grant, an applying organization also had to be serving a community that is non-white, meaning blacks and browns only.
"This opportunity is specifically designed to support community-rooted organizations that are led by, serving, and accountable to American Indians, black, Latino, other people of color, and members of immigrant communities, to increase their ability to engage in advocacy to address the root causes of inequitable access to healthy food," a spokesperson from the program revealed in a promotional video.
The AHFE website further explained that the reason for excluding all things white from the program is because non-white communities are supposedly disproportionately affected by food insecurity, which the BCBSNC Foundation says is caused by "systematic racism."
The only reason the BCBSNC Foundation altered its policy to now include whites is because of all the negative press coverage generated by Do No Harm's investigatory work. In order to preserve the program, which started in 2000, the BCBSNC Foundation relented to Do No Harm's work in exposing its racist policies.
"Since we released this funding opportunity in early January, we have received inquiries from potential applicants and others working in the community whose work aligns with the goals of this opportunity, yet whose organizations don't quite match all aspects of the stated eligibility criteria," the BCBSNC Foundation announced.
"After careful consideration, we have decided to expand both the number of organizations being supported by this grant funding, as well as the eligibility criteria for those seeking an award."
Thanks to the change, the number of organizations funded with grant money from AHFE has reached 14 rather than the previous 10. The new eligibility has been expanded to include a focus on rural communities, and an applying organization's CEO no longer has to be a member of the community being served.
"We are excited about this opportunity to broaden the impact of this work and look forward to partnering with many great organizations as we work together to expand access to healthy food across the state," the foundation added in a statement.
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, founder and chairman of Do No Harm, chastised the BCBSNC Foundation for ever thinking it was okay to exclude white applicants from the program.
"Even having a leader of an organization who is white is enough to prevent the entity, which apparently serves minority communities, from participating in a grant program," he said. "Do Americans really want this sort of apartheid?"
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