More than $1.3 Million in Grants Awarded to Advance Equity in Education and Build an Inclusive Economy

The Winston-Salem Foundation (WSF) made 24 grants totaling $1,362,259 in the second half of 2022 in support of its two focus areas for community investment: Building an Inclusive Economy and Advancing Equity in Education, two priorities crucial to ensuring Winston-Salem becomes a place where race no longer predicts life outcomes.  

Focus Area grants are made possible by donations to the Foundation’s flexible grantmaking funds that enable the Foundation to adapt to changing community opportunities and challenges. To learn more, visit wsfoundation.org/focus-areas.

ADVANCING EQUITY IN EDUCATION GRANTS

• Center for Trauma Resilient Communities (CTRC) – $50,600 for trauma-informed staff training at Main Street Academy (MSA), an alternative school that supports students who have been removed from their home school. CTRC will provide a comprehensive, customized training and support model to help MSA leaders and staff use trauma-informed practices with their students. CTRC utilizes a "train-the-trainer" model where champions are identified among the staff and taught to train, support, and onboard other staff, enabling the practices to become embedded in the school culture over time.  
• Get In the Game (GITG) – $10,000 for a pilot project in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. GITG is a youth-led initiative that engages high school students in projects to address social justice issues. Program participants, known as Game Changers, inspire each other to be more intentional about listening, speaking up, and taking action to create permanent change in their communities.
• LEAD Girls of NC – $10,000 for a parent pilot program to equip LEAD parents with the knowledge and skills they need to support their daughters' learning and growth. LEAD Girls provides the tools and resources that preteen girls need to become productive citizens and active leaders in their communities. Using an evidence-based curriculum, LEAD mentors girls so they can achieve greatness academically, emotionally, and creatively.
• School Justice Partnership (SJP) – $20,000 to continue supporting organizational planning and facilitation. Founded in 2018, SJP is a countywide coalition that seeks to disrupt the School-to-Prison Pipeline by identifying systemic factors that lead to disproportionalities in discipline and school-based court referrals. The SJP helps to develop alternative interventions to address behavioral challenges.  ‍
• Triad Cultural Arts (TCA) – $12,000 for a community historian to support the Rooted in Race exhibit. TCA is a local cultural heritage organization and the creator of Rooted in Race: a Community's Journey to Integration, a web-based exhibit focusing on the history of desegregation and student assignment in Forsyth County.  ‍
• Triad Restorative Justice (TRJ) – $90,000 for Restorative Aggression Replacement Training (RESTART) and Impact Circles for three years. TRJ advances peace, equity, and trust in the community by responding to conflict, crime, and injustice through effective restorative practices rooted in respect and interpersonal connection. RESTART combines restorative conferencing with Aggression Replacement Training (ART) and the Impact Circles program helps youth take responsibility for their actions through a Repair Agreement with those they may have harmed. ‍
• Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools – $129,925 for anti-bias training for gifted teachers.
• ‍Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools – $38,984 to support AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), a college readiness system designed to increase the number of students who graduate from four-year colleges and universities. The AVID program provides practical training for teachers to help them better and more authentically connect with students and to leverage students’ backgrounds and experiences to master content in a more personal way. ‍
• Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools – $10,000 for the restructuring of in-school suspension at Main Street Academy (MSA), an alternative school that supports students who have been removed from their home school. MSA will transform its In School Suspension (ISS) classroom into a restorative center and reimagine their overall approach to exclusionary in-house discipline.  ‍
• Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools – $10,000 for the Reset...Release...Restore Project to implement a restorative approach to discipline and transform ISS classrooms in select schools throughout the district. ‍
• Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Career Center – $30,000 to support a Capstone pilot project for a cohort of predominantly Black and Brown students at the Career Center and offer wraparound services to help students be successful in rigorous classroom environments. ‍
• Winston-Salem State University – $50,000 to support WS-TEACH (Winston-Salem Teachers for Equity, Achievement, Community, and Humanity), an inter-institutional project among the schools of education at Winston-Salem State University, Wake Forest University, and Salem College. Over a five-year period, these institutions will work together to execute a sustainable model that recruits, prepares, and retains 120 K-12 teachers who are equipped to improve the academic achievement and well-being of diverse students in high-need schools across the school district.
  

BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE ECONOMY GRANTS

• Asset Building Coalition (ABC) – $96,000 for operating support to continue raising awareness about asset poverty and its effects on individuals, families, and our community. ABC leads a coalition of over 35 nonprofit members to develop advocacy agendas and implement initiatives that address systemic barriers to building assets and obtaining career advancement opportunities.
• Forsyth County Community & Economic Development Department – $240,000 for the Small Business IDA Program over three years. The IDA program helps small businesses expand with a match savings program of up to $16,000, financial literacy education from Experiment in Self Reliance, and small business training from S.G. Atkins Community Development Corporation.  
• Goler Community Development Corporation – $60,000 for operating support to continue revitalizing marginalized neighborhoods. Goler oversees a variety of activities that include housing development, commercial development, entrepreneurship, and workforce development.
• Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC – $100,000 to provide childcare resources for individuals who are participating in workforce training. Goodwill provides employment and training services to help people find jobs, while also providing supportive services that remove barriers to attending and completing training courses.  ‍
• Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC – $40,000 to support an NC Works Program Associate. Goodwill is contracted by The Workforce Development Board to oversee the NC Works Workforce Development System which delivers services and resources to eleven counties to connect businesses with the qualified talent they need and individuals to employment. Goodwill has regional managers and program managers that serve its designated NC Works Counties providing services at local career centers. ‍
• Hispanic League – $37,750 to develop an assessment tool that can be used to ensure that small business ecosystem resources are accessible for all entrepreneurs and business owners. The Hispanic League strives to improve the quality of life for Hispanics/Latinos through promoting community inclusion, education, health and multicultural understanding. The HL formed a committee to help identify capacity needs for Latinx business owners and develop resources to support them.  ‍
• HUSTLE Winston-Salem – $85,000 to expand programming and resources supporting Black and Brown entrepreneurs in Forsyth County and $5,000 to ensure that parking costs are not a barrier to participate in entrepreneurial ecosystem programming. HUSTLE works to provide equitable opportunities for community members, especially women, people of color, and those in marginalized neighborhoods, so they can take advantage of the entrepreneurial pipeline in Forsyth County.  ‍
• Moji Coffee + More – $32,000 to expand hours for a job coach to help Mojistas achieve their individual development and career goals. Moji provides employment opportunities to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities by training and employing them in one of their two café locations as well as cultivating advancement opportunities with other local employers.  ‍
• Simon Green Atkins Community Development Corporation (SGA) – $75,000 for operating support to continue fostering community-based leadership and revitalizing the neighborhoods surrounding Winston-Salem State University. SGA’s initiatives include a business incubator, a banquet hall, affordable real estate development in East Winston-Salem, a commercial kitchen, and a community garden.  ‍
• The Do School – $55,000 for a site supervisor to cultivate a supportive learning environment for trainees. The Do School provides workforce training to prepare individuals for entry level positions in the construction trade. A two-bedroom home purchased by The Do School served as a learning lab for its first cohort of students who received an array of hands-on instruction in plumbing, framing, electrical work and other skills under the supervision of a licensed tradesmen. Once complete, the house will be sold to a first-time homebuyer and proceeds from the sale will facilitate the purchase of another home that needs renovation.  ‍
• Winston-Salem / Forsyth County Continuum of Care (COC) – $75,000 to hire a full-time director of trauma resilient strategies to lead trauma-informed practices across the Continuum of Care. The COC is a membership-based planning body made up of seven partner agencies, all of whom provide services to individuals experiencing homelessness. These agencies and their staff provide a critical safety net of support in our community, and this work can often be demanding and lead to burn out; trauma-informed practices will not only improve work culture and keep staff healthy, but also lead to stronger care networks for houseless individuals.

ABOUT WSF

The Winston-Salem Foundation strengthens Forsyth County by inspiring giving and linking resources to action. For more than 100 years, the Foundation has partnered with generous community members to build a better future by providing grants and scholarships to local nonprofits, students, and educators. The Foundation is also investing significant resources in advancing equity in education and building an inclusive economy to ensure that Winston-Salem can become a place where race no longer predicts life outcomes. The Foundation ended 2021 with more than $770 million in assets and almost $79 million in total grantmaking. 

‍