North Carolina was Mary Duke Biddle's home state. Her family's history and legacy were inextricably linked to Durham County and Duke University, but also to the commercial, educational, and social networks that spread across the state. Those connections have deepened and expanded over time, as reflected in the range of grants that the Foundation makes to support activities she held dear.

Among these are projects that seek to improve conditions for North Carolina citizens in the short term and over time. For example, a grant to Girls on the Run of the Triangle will help the organization teach girls ages eight to twelve the importance of teamwork, wellness, goal-setting, and self-confidence through exercise and mentorship. With numerous studies showing that girls' self-confidence plummets in middle school, often leading to risky behaviors, Girls on the Run is focused on fostering the self-assured women of tomorrow.

In 1996, the North Carolina legislature authorized the creation of charter schools, an initiative that has met with mixed success. (The cap on charter schools is 100; to date there have been a total of 138, reflecting a sizable percentage of start-up schools that don't last.) A Foundation grant to the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research will support an evaluation of the state's charter schools, including in-depth analyses of each school's academic performance, educational innovations, racial diversity, and financial stability.

The nonprofit group Second Journey received a Foundation grant to explore what it means to be an active, engaged American citizen, using the physical and social calamity of Hurricane Katrina as a starting point. "Reimagining New Orleans: An Experiment in Citizen Democracy," will invite participants to imagine what could happen if the outpouring of humanity and solidarity extended to New Orleans residents could be captured and directed toward a range of social justice issues. The North Carolina School of the Arts is one of the country's pre-eminent institutions for fostering the talents of young emerging artists, and the Foundation trustees take delight in supporting its mission. Grants this year supported the productions of Our Town and West Side Story, the Gina Bauchauer Music Series, and the Magnolia Baroque Festival, and funded a temporary contemporary dance guest artist. In recognition of Melissa Hayden, the school's indefatigable ballet instructor who died in the fall of 2006, a Foundation grant helped support a tribute celebration of her life.

Other Foundation grants supported small neighborhood organizations, local schools, community soup kitchens, programs for the disabled, and an array of arts programming. In some cases Foundation support made the difference in allowing a good idea to become a tangible project. This was the case with Hidden Voices, an initiative that involves high school students and undergraduates at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that helps underrepresented groups express themselves. Foundation support helped fund Because We Are Still Here (and Moving), a project about Chapel Hill's historic African-American Pine Knolls and Northside communities. The project will yield a theatrical performance, photography exhibit, and a book.