One of the most important ways to have a large impact in life is by focusing on communities that are ignored and overlooked. These communities are often the ones most in need of help, tools, and services but for a variety of reasons the largest players in most industries chose not to work on serving them. We’ve been so touched by the thousands of members of our community who are working on serving the underserved from tackling food deserts to building empowering solutions for the neurodiverse. Each week, you’ll find us highlighting folks serving underserved communities.
azurae shults
Over the past 15 years my primary focus has been serving the wedding industry and maintaining a high profile for brides to find me when planning destination weddings on the Central Coast. As my children became school age and I started volunteering for school related projects I realized I have more to give. Over the past couple of years I have been hired on by local non-profits to plan and design auctions and events that fundraise for local colleges, non profits and our schools. I have found a satisfaction in this service that I never knew I needed. Read more>>
Felicia Jeffries
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Our business serves the underserved black and minority business owners not only in Texas but across the United States A particular client we helped in 2017 whose business was making over $250,000 a year comes to mind. I saw the potential for it to make seven figures, and I knew there must have been some structural concerns that had to be addressed in order for the business to get the funding it needed to grow. This would lead to the big contracts that would take it to that million dollar mark. The business had an account with a very prominent bank but couldn’t even get a line of credit for $10,000, even though the revenue was flowing through the business bank account each month. Read more>>
Ray Mitchell Jr.
Word Kept Productions was born of a deep calling to create characters and stories that would inspire people who live in dense, overpopulated, low-income neighborhoods (like the ones I grew up in) to believe that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary feats. I think that us film industry minorities are creative enough to create our own wildly compelling, entertaining, and marketable characters and stories. This belief pushed me to transition from an African-American character to an African-American storyteller. For my first short film, I wanted to use the most diverse cast possible to tell a story that had the potential to save lives. Read more>>
Nav Dhillon
The cumulative experience of working in mid-sized to corporate organization, attending large academic institutions and being the middle child belonging to young immigrant parents who were not only building their roots in Canada, but also building their own business, I often felt unseen. So it should come as no surprise that I rarely spoke up for what I believed in or knew how to effectively communicate my needs to others. Read more>>
Mai Ling Chan
The term “exceptional” replaces the term “special needs” as it is inclusive of individuals who are outside of the 50% “highest probability” representation on the graphical representation bell curve. Exceptional Leaders are individuals who are highly focused and passionate about a central mission – supporting universal design and access to all experiences. But they do so at a cost. An Exceptional Leader, may often endure additional challenges to success and growth. This can include, having a disability themselves which impacts activities of daily living, caring for a family member with a disability, limiting financial costs and income opportunities, and related stigma and prejudice. Read more>>
Grace Snavely
In 2011, we founded a non-profit that would take college/seminary level training to indigenous pastors and church leaders who had no access to education and no ability to pay for it. One such pastor was a young man in Rwanda named Fidele Shinga. Fidele pastored a small church and served as our translator for about eight years. He caught a vision for how serving these indigenous leaders could change the face of his nation and continent through the use of intentional multiplication. Fidele now works for us full-time as a trainer. He travels all over East Africa opening up new nations to the training provided by Global Baptist Training Foundation. Read more>>
Antonio Andrews
No Parking Studios was formed and inspired by North Tulsa. Myself , along with NOPS and some key people in Tulsa have been giving our community a new identity for over 10 years Read more>>
Kara Hunter
When I first started in photography, I heard about a painful experience someone had with another photographer. An LGBTQ+ couple reached out to this photographer, as they had been following them for awhile and were so excited to finally be in contact. That excitement quickly turned to pain as the photographer of their dreams told them they do not accept same-sex couples as clients. And, on top of that, this photographer decided to make it about them and how painful that experience was to them. Read more>>
Aleta Barthell
As a theater artist, I am drawn to projects that serve the community where I live — working with youth-at-risk while living in Portland, Oregon, with The Haven Project; developing my own youth theater education program, Kids Act, in North County San Diego; creating an acting program and writing featured plays for neurodiverse performers in Theatre for All at New Village Arts Theatre; and writing an original play called THE DOWAGERS for seniors that featured a role for a performer who uses a wheelchair. The production was at Ocean Hills Country Club in Oceanside this past summer. The woman who played the character who uses a wheelchair has MS (Multiple sclerosis), and shared with me after the production that she was feeling so desperate in her life before this opportunity came up for her. Read more>>
Eni Neadle
A Sweet Chance’s mission is to give teens in the foster care system a sweet 16s birthday event that they will remember forever. A Sweet Chance, together with our community, comes together and gather gowns, heels, accessories and let’s not forget the tiaras and give these teens a day just for them. They are showered with birthday gifts, hair and make-up team glam them up and our professional photographers give them a private photoshoot. After it all, they leave feelings loved and honored as they deserve. Read more>>
JULIANA SCHEIDHAUER
At Reimagine Resources (RR), serving our local community is where we take great pride. At the heart of our business is our one of our main values: social responsibility. We feel we have a duty to give back, to do everything we can to promote wellness. Because RR prioritizes a healthy body, we have selected five local charities, organizations, universities, and nonprofits to donate over 15 pieces of pre-owned exercise equipment to: Read more>>