CURE INTERNATIONAL

CURE International is deeply grateful for the Independent Presbyterian Church Foundation’s longstanding support of the CURE International Hospital of Kabul (CURE Afghanistan). This partnership has helped to advance women’s and children’s health initiatives in Afghanistan by providing high-level maternal and pediatric care and by training national physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals to do the same.

This work continues to be critical, as Afghanistan’s decades of war and isolation from the rest of the developed world have taken an enormous toll on the health sector. Maternal and infant mortality in Afghanistan is among the highest in the world. Afghan mothers are at least 200 times more likely to die during childbirth than from bombs or bullets; one in 11 Afghan women will die from pregnancy or childbirth complications; and nearly one in six children will die before their fifth birthday.

By offering OB/GYN services and training practitioners, CURE aims to improve the quality and accessibility of this care for women and children throughout the country. CURE Afghanistan opened in 2005, specializing in family practice, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and pathology; it also houses one of the country’s only Neonatal Intensive Care Units. CURE Afghanistan continues training for family medicine residents, OB/GYN fellows, pathology residents, and general surgery fellows.

We are humbled by your partnership in making this work possible, and we welcome your prayers.

 

ADDICTION PREVENTION COALITION

The Addiction Prevention Coalition would like to thank the members of Independent Presbyterian Church for your generous support that allows us to provide critical drug prevention programs throughout the greater Birmingham area through our Code Red Chapters. We are bringing students from both sides of the mountain together in hopes to end the substance abuse epidemic plaguing our country.

More specifically, your dollars are enabling us to provide chartered transportation and food for events such as: Service Days, End Heroin Birmingham Walk, and our overnight Youth Retreat Leadership Training. Through these activities, the students are building character, developing compassion and seeing first hand, the harmful effects of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.

~ Vivian Lokey Tucker
Development Director, Addiction Prevention Coalition

 

BREAKTHROUGH BIRMINGHAM

With a mission of closing the achievement gap and developing educational leaders, Breakthrough Birmingham is proud to have celebrated five years serving students in Birmingham City Schools in partnership with the IPC Foundation and Summer Adventures in Learning (SAIL). In Summer 2017, 117 rising 7th, 8th, and 9th grade students participated in the six-week accelerated summer learning program and 24 undergraduates recruited nationally completed the nine-week teaching residence.

Funding from IPC Foundation and SAIL supported compensation, training, and professional development for Teaching Fellows and Instructional Coaches. Funding also allowed Breakthrough to offer daily transportation and free supplies and materials – a critical offering that makes the Breakthrough program accessible to students in greatest need in our community. With hard work, Breakthrough Scholars gained on average 2 months of reading skills and 5.7 months of math skills last summer.

Since launching in 2013, Breakthrough Birmingham has served 255 students and has trained 97 undergraduates. Through their commitment to the program, Breakthrough Scholars return to their school-year classrooms with skills that make them role models and raise the level of achievement for their peers. Breakthrough students enroll in four-year colleges at three times the rate of their under-resourced peers across the country. In the words of one parent, “My son has told me on three different occasions that he has found himself using a Breakthrough tool – taking notes when it wasn’t required, organizing a notebook, and mapping out a study plan. Breakthrough, I think we’ve got a breakthrough!”

~ Linn Grof
Executive Director, Breakthrough Birmingham