Wrtitten by Emiene Wright
When Charlotte was ranked last in the nation for upward mobility, Frances Hall looked around the Beatties Ford corridor and felt compelled to action. The licensed mental health counselor saw an unaddressed correlation between stress and economic stability. So in 2016 she founded the Beatties Ford Vocational Trade Center, the first mental health agency and Black-owned trade school in Charlotte.
Study after study has shown strong female leadership improves the status of families and lifts entire communities (The World Bank, Peterson Institute, MSCI World
“Dead beat dad” is a common stereotype, and I, admittedly, often assumed this was a choice, but what I’ve recently learned is sometimes it’s for lack of emotional or financial resources that a father is not able to fight for partial custody of a child.
Led by UX designer and computer scientist, Khalia Braswell, INTech has provided numerous opportunities for girls in her home base of Charlotte to get involved in technology and kickstart fruitful careers in computer science. One of their annual events is a summer camp designed to help young girls learn technology skills, meet women mentors in the technology industry, and visit high-profile technology companies across the Carolinas.
The Hornets' Nest is not your mother's Girl Scout council — or maybe it is. The Girl Scouts have been blazing trails since 1912, when founder Juliette Gordon Low started a movement to redefine what was possible for girls everywhere. The nearly 12,000 girls served by our local council continue to redefine what is possible for themselves and the communities they will someday lead.
Right Moves For Youth (RMFY) provides students in the greater Charlotte area the support and guidance they need to succeed by leveraging positive and long-lasting relationships. Using a school-based model, RMFY provides youth services and group mentoring to empower students to graduate from high school and set the stage for what comes next.
Nonprofit Leader Helps Grow Tech Talent in Underserved Youth
By Jonathan McFadden
Two things changed William McNeely’s life when he was just a teenager: court-ordered busing and a mother who took success seriously.
In late 2019 our SHARE Charlotte team began planning our themed Spotlight content for the upcoming year, and we knew we wanted to feature Black Philanthropy Month in August. However, as we looked around the room at our six white faces we realized that while we had the platform and the channels to host a big conversation, it was obvious that a celebration of Black Philanthropy Month was not ours to lead. We knew it would be inauthentic without the perspective, leadership and voices of Black community leaders and philanthropists.
