The Duke Endowment has announced grants totaling $7.2 million to organizations in North Carolina and South Carolina working to expand opportunities for vulnerable children.  

The grants were awarded through the endowment's Child Care program, which focuses on advancing evidence-based, nationally recognized practices that promote child well-being. To that end, the program works with accredited organizations and other nonprofit groups in North and South Carolina to help children without family support — or at risk of losing such support — reach developmental milestones and prepare for a successful transition to adulthood.

Grant recipients include Forsyth Medical Charitable Foundation, which was awarded $900,000 to expand a  program in North Carolina that provides in-home nurse visits to parents of all newborns; SHIFT NC, which will receive $150,000 for a program to reduce unintended pregnancy for women between the ages of 15 and 29 in Mecklenburg County; the South Carolina Research Foundation, which was awarded $511,000 to develop a health and education information exchange for children and youth in foster care; the National Philanthropic Trust, which will receive $2.2 million to expand a case management program aimed at helping youth transition out of foster care; and the New Hanover County Department of Social Services, which was awarded $800,000 for a program that uses predictive analytics to improve child safety.