RALEIGH, N.C. — Addressing the negative impacts of COVID-19 go beyond vaccines for certain communities in Wake County. 

Five nonprofit organizations, including CASA NC, Families Together, Oak City Cares, Southeastern Wake Adult Day Center and StandUp-SpeakOut North Carolina, are recipients of Wake County’s new Community Innovation Grant. 

The grant will provide each organization with $100,000 a year for the next two years. The funds behind this grant are coming from a portion of the $3.8 million grant given to Wake County Health and Human Services by the CDC last year.

Live Well Wake and United Way of the Greater Triangle partnered to facilitate the process.

The Community Innovation Grant was established to help organizations who are dedicated to serving people that face adversities that impact their health and well-being. 

StandUp-SpeakOut North Carolina relies heavily on fundraising to provide their holistic approach to care. 

“It was hard to plan for the upcoming years because we didn’t know if we would have the funding to continue to do our program,” Founder of StandUp-SpeakOut NC Monica Daye said. 

Daye’s organization provides services to child witnesses and victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. 

“Some folks are leaving a domestic violence situation, borderline homeless, staying with friends, they don’t have access to food... How do we help them with those basic needs and help them as an overall for their treatment - to help them process but also get the services that they need,” Daye said. 

A big part of StandUp-SpeakOut NC is their art therapy program. 

StandUp-SpeakOut holds an art therapy class

“That creative expression can be anything from painting, drama, acting, finding different ways to express and process what you’re feeling, but also focus on your feeling,” Daye said. 

For 17-year-old Aiyana Mardenborough, art therapy has been a way to process her feelings. 

“Art therapy helps me get what I’m feeling out. Sometimes words [are] what we’re feeling. I can’t really put it into words, I would try to visualize it and if I can bring it to life exactly how I see it, that's even better,” Mardenborough said. 

Mardenborough is a survivor of sexual assault. 

“Art therapy has helped me in times when I felt emotionally incapable of continuing to live or a burden or a waste of space. And being able to get into art, also being able to connect with other people that feel the same way,” Mardenborough said. 

StandUp-SpeakOut says with this grant, their programs will be able to expand their reach and help more people like Mardenborough. 

“We’re looking to do a few things, along with preventative wellness in southeast Raleigh. We want to also offer more one-on-one support to survivors and their families, having an additional therapist, resilience coaches, and case management program within our services,” Daye said.