Vice President and Director of Client and Community Relations

Page 4 of 7

March 26, 2013

Ms. Rebecca Quinn-Wolf

Vice President and Director of Client and Community Relations

PNC Financial Services Group

PNC Plaza

301 Fayetteville Street, Suite 2100
Raleigh, NC 27601

Dear Ms. Quinn-Wolf:

This letter is a follow-up to the conversation you had with Dr. Dorothy C. Browne at the UNCF event in Raleigh. At that time, she mentioned that we would be writing to invite PNC Financial to become a cosponsor of the upcoming 19th National Health Equity Research Webcast (formerly known as the Annual Summer Public Health Research Institute and Videoconference on Minority Health). The topic for the Webcast, which is scheduled for June 4, 2013, is Early Child Development.

The purpose of the Webcast is to bring together early childhood experts, administrators, policymakers, educators, students, business people, and public health practitioners to discuss how providing all children with a strong start will lead not only to improved life course outcomes (i.e., educational, economic, emotional, and health) for the direct beneficiaries of early childhood programs but will also lead to a healthier, safer, more highly educated, and more economically prosperous and equitable society.

The speakers and moderator for the Webcast are diverse in terms of professional and ethnic backgrounds. In fact, one of the notable features of the Webcast is it always features nationally known racial/ethnic leaders and policy makers who tend to be under-represented in the areas being addressed in the Webcast. This year’s presenters are:

1.  Yvette Sanchez-Fuentes, Director, Office of Head Start, Administration for Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services;

2.  Portia R. Kennel, MSW, Senior Vice President, Program Innovation, Ounce of Prevention Fund, and Executive Director, Educare Learning Network;

3.  Sarah L. (Hicks) Kastelic, MSW, PhD, Deputy Director, National Indian Child Welfare Association.

4.  Khari M. Garvin, MEd, Director, NC Head Start-State Collaboration Office, Office of Early Learning (Pre-K - Grade 3), State Board of Education/Department of Public Instruction (Moderator)

Biographies can be found on the website, www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2013/

The presenters will address, interactively, the key strategies being used in North Carolina and other states to enhance and improve early child development programs, and the importance of collaborating across various disciplines for increasing and enhancing child development initiatives. Additionally, the presenters will highlight the importance of policy development, high quality of service delivery and program implementation, engaging families and communities in early child development efforts and sustaining early child development efforts that have occurred in the State of North Carolina.

Statement of the problem or need to be addressed

The rationale for selecting the topic of Early Child Development is the substantial body of evidence that demonstrates that early childhood development has important influences on later learning, behavior, educational achievement, employment, and social functioning, all of which are fundamental determinants of health and health disparities. Both biological and environmental factors, social and physical, affect brain development and behavior (Anderson et al. 2003). Failure to provide a safe, nurturing environment with appropriate types and amounts of stimulation in the formative years can have devastating effects on cognition, non-cognitive skills (e.g., motivation, ability to defer gratification), and social emotional development of children, and these effects are cumulative and long-lasting (Barnett, 2008; Barnett, 2011a, 2011b). Harvard researcher Jack Shonkoff (2011) in an article in Science noted the broad benefits of early childhood development and early education. According to Shonkoff, “the foundations of educational achievement, lifelong health, economic productivity, and responsible citizenship are formed early in life.” Shonkoff also states that there are toxic and enduring adverse effects of early life stress; he calls for interventions to build the “stress-buffering capacities of parents and providers of early care and education.”

The economic benefits of early child development have also been highlighted by prominent economists, such as Nobel Laureate James Heckman. In an interview in connection with UNESCO’s World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education, Heckman noted that “Experimental evidence on the positive effects of early interventions on children in disadvantaged families is consistent with a large body of nonexperimental evidence showing that the absence of supportive family environments harms child outcomes. If society intervenes early enough, it can improve cognitive and socioemotional abilities, and the health of disadvantaged children. Early interventions promote schooling, reduce crime, foster workforce productivity, and reduce teenage pregnancy. These interventions are estimated to have high benefit-cost ratios and rates of return.” (www.unesco.org/new/en/world-conference-on-ecce/single-view/news/interview_with_professor_james_heckman_noted_scholar_and_nobel_prize_winner/)

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has taken notice: “Economically speaking, early childhood programs are a good investment, with inflation-adjusted annual rates of return on the funds dedicated to these programs estimated to reach 10 percent or higher. Very few alternative investments can promise that kind of return. Notably, a portion of these economic returns accrues to the children themselves and their families, but studies show that the rest of society enjoys the majority of the benefits, reflecting the many contributions that skilled and productive workers make to the economy.” (July 24, 2012 at the Children’s Defense Fund National Conference, www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20120724a.htm).

Several Federal Reserve Banks have become proponents of early childhood education, including the Minneapolis FRB (www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/studies/earlychild/). In addition, Paula Fryland, Regional President of Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina PNC Bank, spoke eloquently to the importance of early childhood education as a pathway for success for children who are the future workforce for North Carolina’s businesses (See News and Observer, March 16, 2013, p.13A).

Brief description of the sponsoring organization

The national Webcast originated in 1995 as a one-week course on minority health research, created by Drs.Dorothy Browne, Trude Bennett, and Lloyd Edwards, faculty in the UNC School of Public Health, with funding from the Minority Statistics Grants Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics. During each of its first two years, the Summer Minority Public Health Institute, as it was called then, attracted some 70 participants from across the country. In 1997 additional funding was obtained to broadcast the afternoon sessions by satellite to 22 downlink sites in 13 states and a total audience of several hundred. In 2000 the fee to downlink the broadcast was discontinued, leading to a dramatic increase in audience size. In 2001 over 140 organizations received the broadcast; the number of participants exceeded 1,000.

Following an invitation from a senior aide to the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, the 2004 Videoconference featured presentations by two members of the Congressional Minority Caucus (Hon. Donna Christiansen and Hon. Madeleine Bordallo). The following year, the Videoconference was broadcast from UNC’s new Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, with a panel that included Congressman Mel Watt. In keeping with public health’s concern with the social determinants of health, the 2009 broadcast examined the intersection of educational inequities and health disparities. The lead presenter was a past president of the National Education Association, and the moderator was NC Senator Howard Lee, then a member of the Governor’s Education Cabinet. The 2012 broadcast, now called the National Health Equity Research Webcast in acknowledgement of the national shift from satellite to Internet, examined the social determinants of health disparities.

Historically, the national Webcast has benefited from funding from various sources. When the original grant ended, a lower level of funding was obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Morgan State University (to which Dr.Browne had moved) became a major cosponsor (and presented one day of the 2006 broadcast from its campus). A CDC reorganization eliminated the program that funded the Webcast, leaving the Dean’s Office of the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health to serve as lead sponsor and UNC Diversity and Multicultural Affairs as a major cosponsor. Dr.Browne arranged cosponsorships from North Carolina A&T State University Institute for Public Health and Norfolk State University Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work when she moved to those institutions. Various other organizations have contributed in different years, according to their resources and interest in particular topics. (To see the full list of cosponsors for any past broadcast, click on that broadcast at the end of the page at www.minority.unc.edu/institute/ and then click “Cosponsors, partnerships, and endorsements” at the bottom of the broadcast page.) Consistent with UNC’s growing institutional commitment to diversity, many of our UNC cosponsors have continued to support the Webcast despite significant state-imposed budget cuts. However, the current level of funding limits our ability to expand the reach and impact of the Webcast.

Over the years, The National Health Equity Research Webcast has presented knowledge, research, and inspiration from nationally recognized experts, who also typically serve as role models for students from backgrounds underrepresented in research and professional careers. Topics selected are of vital importance in helping our nation to become more equitable for all and therefore more successful as a society. The annual interactive broadcasts have now reached thousands of participants at hundreds of organizations (colleges and universities; federal, state, and local agencies; commercial and not-for-profit organizations), plus thousands of additional viewers of archived webcasts, rebroadcasts, videotapes distributed by the Public Health Foundation, and DVDs, including in a number of cases students viewing a recorded broadcast for a class.

The most recent Webcast attracted an estimated 2,000+ participants for the live broadcast. About half attended screenings organized by over 100 organizations in 28 states or provinces (including 27 group viewing sites in North Carolina, 5 in Virginia, 5 in Pennsylvania, 3 in Florida and 2 in South Carolina; see www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2012/broadcast/sites.cfm for the complete list). The other half of participants viewed from personal computers in 45 states and provinces, with the largest proportions in North Carolina (23%), California (10%), New York (5%), Maryland (5%), Washington (5%), Georgia (4%), and Massachusetts, Illinois, Virginia, Florida, District of Columbia and Texas (about 3% each).

The Webcast is planned by a committee co-led by the Minority Health Project (MHP) at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and UNC Diversity and Multicultural Affairs (DMA). While membership of the planning committee varies from year-to-year according to the topic and individuals’ competing commitments, a core group of individuals participate year after year. This year’s planning committee members include staff from the College of Arts and Sciences, Carolina Latina/Latino Collaborative, DMA, FPG Child Development Institute, UNC School of Social Work, and the school of public health.

The Planning Committee Co-Chairs are Victor Schoenbach and Marco Barker, DMA’s Senior Director for Education, Operations, and Initiatives. Other members include: Sharbari Dey: DMA’s new educational programs coordinator, who coordinates the activities of the committee; O.J. McGhee, Manager, Instructional Media Services in the school of public health’s Department of Instructional and Information Systems, who oversees the production of the broadcast (a one-minute clip of O.J. producing the June 2011 webcast is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7Hblcn6s3Q ); Dorothy C. Browne, one of the founders of this educational activity and who has provided funding via her organizational affiliations since 2002, Bill Jenkins (a UNC Distinguished Alumnus and long-time supporter), and Khari Garvin (this year’s moderator). A number of the people who facilitate group viewing sites have done so for many years.

Expected accomplishments and method to evaluate results

It is expected that those who participate in the Webcast will see the value and importance of early childhood development programs and understand the connection between education and health outcomes for educational and economic success. In addition, participants will learn about the importance of creating coalitions across the different constituencies and commit to working to promote early child development initiatives in their communities.

The Webcast is evaluated through audience counts and participant surveys sent to registered participants immediately after the broadcast and/or distributed by group viewing sites. The webform includes questions about the participant’s opinion of the importance of the topic, the extent to which the Webcast increased the participant’s understanding, and the impact that the Webcast will have on the participant. These ratings are typically very high. In addition, each group viewing site is asked to complete an evaluation form concerning the technological integrity of the Webcast, the extent to which the site audience was engaged and interested, the ease of asking questions, and their interest in being a site in the future. (Last year’s evaluation forms are at www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2012/eval/). A report compiling audience statistics and evaluation results is posted on the Website (see links for “Evaluation report” at www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2012/). The data and conclusions gleaned from the evaluations are used to select future topics and to improve subsequent Webcasts. In keeping with past practices, participant and site facilitator evaluations will be administered after the June 4th program on the Early Child Development, and the evaluation report will be posted on the Minority Health Project’s website. We send copies of the report and DVDs of the broadcast to all co-sponsors.

Funding and Budget for 2013

The costs for this year’s broadcast are estimated at $39,000 (see detailed budget in Attachment A). Based on recent experience and commitments received so far, we project donations of $27,000, including $5,000 each from the school of public health (plus video production services), DMA, and the FPG Child Development Institute. We therefore anticipate needing an additional $12,000. Major cosponsors ($5,000 and above) are acknowledged by the moderator in his remarks at the beginning of the broadcast and noted in information for the media. All cosponsors appear in the list of credits at the end of the live broadcast, the archived Webcast, and the DVD recording, and are listed in the printed program distributed to the studio audience and provided to group viewing sites.

If PNC is able to support this effort, the check should be made out to “UNC Department of Epidemiology” (which provides fiscal support services to the Minority Health Project) and specify that the funds are to be used for “Minority Health Project (6435).” If you have any questions or need additional information, please to do not hesitate to contact us at the email addresses and telephone numbers below.

Thank you very much for considering this request.