Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Two Suffolk organizations are among 71 in Virginia and North Carolina to share in nearly $5 million in funding from Sentara Healthcare.

“These investments will directly support programs and initiatives that address social determinants of health and promote health equity by eliminating traditional barriers to health and human services,” Sentara officials said in a news release.

The Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts and Suffolk-based Walk In It Inc. are among those receiving funding.

Sentara owns and operates Suffolk’s Obici Hospital.

“Hope is truly at the center of every partnership we embrace and every program we support — hope that health disparities and inequities can be addressed, that opportunities for better careers can continue to expand, that healthy food can make it to every table,” said Sherry Norquist, Sentara’s director of community engagement and impact. “We know these hopes are high, but if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that even when hope comes in small doses, it can last a lifetime.”