Showing Health Care + Black Philanthropy + Digital Equity.

How Health Care, Black Philanthropy and Digital Equity Intersect

Picture a Charlotte resident managing a chronic condition. To keep up with care, that person may need a patient portal account, a working device and someone who can explain the next step. Across the Carolinas, the groups people trust most to help often run on the time, talent and collective giving that Black philanthropy describes. When one of these pieces is out of reach, the others get harder to use.

Health Carebody and mindDigital Equityaccess to modern lifeBlack Philanthropycommunity investment and leadership
Digital Equity and Health Care: What telehealth and portals assume about the patient
Black Philanthropy and Health Care: Community investment as a bridge to care
Black Philanthropy and Digital Equity: Trusted networks as the on-ramp to digital access
Where all three meet: where daily life compounds

Where all three meet: where daily life compounds

  1. Health Care and Digital Equity: What telehealth and portals assume about the patient
  2. Black Philanthropy and Health Care: Community investment as a bridge to care
  3. Digital Equity and Black Philanthropy: Trusted networks as the on-ramp to digital access
01

Digital Equity + Health Care

What telehealth and portals assume about the patient

Scheduling, lab results, prescription refills and follow-up care now run through online portals. Federal patient-experience research found that roughly 59% of U.S. patients are offered portal access, but only about 38% use it. Use is lowest among lower-income, older and limited-English-proficient patients. In Mecklenburg County, 14% of homes had no internet access in 2023. Those who drop out of digital care often have the greatest health needs.

02

Black Philanthropy + Health Care

Community investment as a bridge to care

Black philanthropy has long backed health priorities that formal programs miss. It draws on five things: time, talent, treasure, testimony and ties. Faith communities, community groups and collective giving can pay for outreach, navigation and trust-building that clinics cannot do alone. The 2026 grants from the Foundation For Black Philanthropy named health care among their issue areas. This kind of giving can support public health care, but it cannot replace it.

03

Black Philanthropy + Digital Equity

Trusted networks as the on-ramp to digital access

Digital equity takes more than devices and broadband. People also need someone to teach them, help when something breaks and encourage them to keep going. Mentors, faith communities, giving circles and community groups are often those trusted helpers, and they can make digital tools feel safe to use. Community investment that flows through these networks can reach people that outreach from large institutions alone often misses.

How access gaps stack up

  1. 01

    No reliable connection

    A household without broadband cannot complete telehealth visits or reach benefits portals.

  2. 02

    Care delayed or missed

    Lab results go unread, and a medication runs out before anyone calls back.

  3. 03

    Community networks absorb the gap

    Faith communities and community groups step in, using collective giving and volunteer time.

  4. 04

    The strain builds

    Networks wear thin while services stay online-first, and residents end up in emergency care.

Affordable internet, digital help in trusted places and giving that keeps those places staffed can break this chain at its first link.

By the numbers

  • $1.6M$1.6M infused into Charlotte by the New Generation of African American Philanthropists
  • 14%14% of homes in Mecklenburg County did not have internet access in 2023
  • 79.2 years79.2 years was the average life expectancy for Mecklenburg County residents in 2024
  • 8,6008,600 households connected to free home-internet services through the City of Charlotte’s “Access Charlotte” initiative

Folio links, articles, and reports

Sources & methodology14 referenced sources

Based on fftc:FWD Folio material for these topics and public data, with broader context on how the issues connect.

AI assists with organizing and explaining selected fftc:FWD source material. It does not replace review by FFTC staff or the judgment of residents and civic partners.