Our Story
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Dayspring Foundation. Who are we? Why are we? Where did we come from?
We were founded in 2022 as the Eleanor Health Foundation when several treatment providers recognized the need for addressing the Social Determinants of Health within their recovery ecosystem of care. Through the Foundation, we began providing small amounts of support with a volunteer-led effort until 2021, when new funding allocations allowed us to hire staff and hold a flex fund to serve all of Western North Carolina. In 2022, we could bill Medicaid through the Healthy Opportunities Pilot and new programs – the Contingency Management pilot and the We Evolve! Pilot Program
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As the Foundation continued to grow and meet the needs of people seeking healing from addiction, the leadership decided for various sound reasons, both strategic and mission-oriented, that a more profound evolution was needed.
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Out of this visioning process and through much research, outreach, and introspection a “new” entity was birthed: Dayspring Foundation.
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The Name
Dayspring is a word used ages ago meaning “the dawn”. It also means the beginning of a new era or order of things.
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A Foundation is many things; it is a supportive structure upon which something is built. A foundation is an idea, principle, or fact that supports something. A foundation is a charitable organization created to help communities and do good to those in need or who have been left to their own devices.
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Our vision and mission is that Dayspring Foundation acts as a bedrock upon which a new era of collaborative healing and recovery can occur for all who seek freedom from addiction and trauma.
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Social Determinants of Health and Recovery from Addiction
The data collected over the initial years at Eleanor Health Foundation, and now continued with Dayspring Foundation, confirms our long-held belief: that individuals need non-medical support with day-to-day needs to access and maintain recovery. These determinants are as vital as accessing residential and outpatient treatment for some people.
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Dayspring Foundation is about Connection, Community, and Collaboration: we connect people to the spectrum of recovery services so that a life of fulfillment, joy, and giving back becomes the standard of wellness for our community.
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Within the ecosystem of addiction recovery, addressing the social determinants of health is about connecting all the variables within the recovery continuum of care –treatment, housing, transportation, childcare, employment at a liveable wage, and equal access to quality healthcare (including the recovery continuum of care) – to safeguard recovery and prevent relapses, systemic inequality, and death.
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Dayspring Foundation elevates – we raise and lift those burdened by addiction and despair.
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Dayspring Foundation promotes – we educate and encourage so that recovery thrives in and around our communities.
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Dayspring Foundation supports – we seek to be the foundation for recovery and wellness for individuals, organizations, and communities.
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Dayspring Foundation transforms – we seek to change the composition and structure of those barriers that prevent healing and perpetuate stigma.