April 22, 2024
– By Uyen Truong –
An ancient proverb goes: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Addressing the immediate needs of underserved communities is crucial, but equipping each community to stand on its own feet is even more important.
The Equitable Neighborhoods Initiative (ENI) aims to “connect neighborhoods to resources to improve health equity and the development of each community.” To achieve this goal, ENI partners with other nonprofit organizations. Together, these organizations provide ENI community members with training in leadership skills and foster a network of support for their community-building projects.
A valuable partner of ENI is the Greater Peace Community Development Corporation (GPCDC). It is a faith-based nonprofit organization from Opelika, Alabama, with over 20 years of experience in advancing community development and health equity. ENI is partnering with GPCDC to help our partner communities establish 501(c)(3)s. GPCDC is also offering regional workshops on how faith-based organizations are combating COVID-19. Through this collaboration, both ENI and GPCDC hope to support the growth of local nonprofits aimed at improving the well-being of rural Alabama.
With a longstanding history of 24 years, GPCDC initially focused on serving East Alabama communities. However, the organization has now expanded its services to other underserved areas, especially through its partnership with ENI. ENI currently serves 20 communities across 16 Alabama counties. These communities are organized into five main regions: Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, East Central, and Southeast.
Since the start of this partnership, GPCDC has worked closely with ENI communities across the state. They are best known to ENI communities for their presentations on “Ways Faith-based Non-Profits Are Combatting COVID.” GPCDC coordinates with ENI Regional Directors and Community Liaisons to host these presentations, sharing GPCDC’s journey as a 501(c)(3) in the fight against COVID-19. Typically, their presentations attract participants who are community leaders, local business owners, or individuals interested in starting a non-governmental organization (NGO).
To date, GPCDC has served 19 out of 20 ENI communities, holding workshops in central locations within each ENI region for better community access. The final session with Camp Hill is scheduled for mid-May. As noted by Clarinda Jones-Turner, the executive director of GPCDC, accessibility is always a high priority for GPCDC. Additional “lunch and learn” Zoom sessions are in their plans for people who cannot attend in person.
The workshop topics are based on community needs. ENI Community Liaisons gather insights from community members through questionnaires, daily conversations, and interactions. They pass this information on to the Regional Directors, who then partner with GPCDC to host tailored workshops. This helps the team serve the communities the way they want to be served. GPCDC encourages attendees to ask questions at the end of every session. This helps her team tailor topics for future presentations.
A universal theme of these workshops is GPCDC’s experience as a nonprofit serving rural communities. “Faith-based nonprofit is our focus,” emphasized Clarinda. GPCDC helps community members who are interested in starting a nonprofit. They also help nonprofits in ENI partner communities learn how to continue programs for years to come.
For members from existing nonprofits, GPCDC’s presentations usually highlight successful programs that GPCDC has done well in the past and how they achieved them. These case studies help participants understand the complexities of nonprofit work.
For those who are just starting out, the subjects are usually about guidance on registering for a 501(c) organization or advice on managing one. A popular topic requested by community members is grant applications. Clarinda highlighted that the key to sustaining a nonprofit and its programs is securing enough funding. “Money is always a big issue,” she added, “you can’t have these programs without money.”
Impacts of ENI partnerships on local nonprofit support
The partnership between ENI and GPCDC has not only provided community members with the needed tools but also emotional support.
“I think it gives them hope,” remarked Clarinda, “when you’re in an underserved, underprivileged community, sometimes, you’ll feel like you are on an island by yourself.” She believes that GPCDC and ENI help these communities realize they’re not alone in this battle.
GPCDC is fortunate to be in a college town with better access to helpful resources than other communities. “But we also know what it’s like when you don’t have any resources when we started out,” Clarinda shared. Therefore, the experiences that GPCDC has had, both mistakes and successes, are valuable insights that other organizations can learn from to build their own communities.
Creating lasting impact
Clarinda is putting together a toolbox for ENI communities on how to start and run a successful community program. This will include, among other resources, a framework of GPCDC’s summer and afterschool programs that ENI communities can use as a model for their own initiatives. Clarinda believes that the toolbox can help ENI communities cut down the time and effort spent on tasks that have already been done successfully and focus more on the critical aspects of their programs.
Looking to the future, Clarinda believes that building relationships between communities and organizations is the essential key to sustaining the work of both organizations in the long run. GPCDC didn’t know much about ENI communities before, and many ENI communities had no idea that such organizations like GPCDC exist. It is important for both programs to continue forming new relationships and strengthen the existing ones, creating a network of support and unity among others.
