5 Organizations We Want You To Know About
Jasmine Stammes, Former User Experience Researcher
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We are honored to highlight the 5 organizations we had the privilege of working with last year through our pro bono initiative. We hope that you are equally driven and inspired to action by taking a quick glimpse of the important work they do.
Last year, Viget released a Commitment to Progress around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in response to the nationwide protests that occurred around police brutality and systemic racism in this country. Viget thought about what we as an organization could offer, and as a result, Viget committed 2,000 hours of our professional time to supporting five Black-led organizations across rural North Carolina. Over the course of a few months, Viget worked with these organizations to improve their digital assets.
Black-led nonprofits are often inadequately funded within the non-profit industrial complex. Many organizations, though rich in human resource and community support, are strapped for financial resources. Despite numerous obstacles these organizations remain essential to providing communities with resources they need to survive.
We are honored to highlight the 5 organizations we had the privilege of working with last year. We hope that you are equally driven and inspired to action by taking a quick glimpse of the important work they do.
To learn more about the overall work we did please read our previously released article.
In the meantime check out these five organizations doing amazing work in their communities.
MWUN supports a range of programs/initiatives for persistently poor counties, including training youth to sustainably grow, market, and sell/ donate local produce and value‐added products. They also launched the first rural, youth of color-led food council, Defy Injustice; and they serve the region during unexpected disasters. Men and Women also manages Vacation Vittles, which aggregates and sells local produce to summer tourists.
Executive Director: Randolph Keaton
Location: Delco North Carolina (servicing rural communities of Bladen, Brunswick, and Columbus counties).
Turning Point CDC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in partnership with Oasis of Hope Ministries. Their four pillars of engagement include education, health (wellness), community engagement, and economic development. They provide educational programs for kids. During the first week of October they kicked off a program called main frame which is a coding school that has 165 kids attending.
Executive Director: Chalis Henderson
Location: Vance, Warren, Franklin, and Granville counties in rural North Carolina.
Project Momentum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization formed in 2005 to assist with the HIV epidemic that was plaguing Nash, Edgecombe, Wilson and Greene counties in North Carolina. They operate under the basic principle that you have to treat the whole individual to make a difference. In 2011 Project Momentum’s mission expanded to begin addressing additional urgent needs in the community: mental illness and substance abuse.
Executive Director: Mysha Wynn
Location: Nash, Edgecombe, Wilson and Greene counties in rural North Carolina.
WAU provides transitional housing and on-the-job training to community members with high barriers to employment (which includes and tends to focus on those who have been recently released from prison or those experiencing homelessness). They have two social enterprises, the Miracle Car Wash and are in the process of planning the Catalyst Kitchen Project which offer career development.
Executive Director: Corey Purdie
Location: New Bern, North Carolina
UCAN
UCAN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. UCAN is a family & community empowerment organization founded in 2003. The all-women board of directors consist of community members. Historically they have been a youth-focused organization but about a year ago they have shifted focus to families as a whole, and particularly women of color. UCAN partners with churches, helps distribute fresh food, and offers guidance for entrepreneurs. They also offer camps for kids which have been virtual since COVID began.
Executive Director: Sandra Brooks
Location: Shallotte, Brunswick County, North Carolina.
