At the beginning of 2018, our leadership team decided to make more effort to connect with those within our hometown who are already giving back, so we can celebrate and support them in the work they do.
A little about our community: we are headquartered in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. This north-central area of the state includes the cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point, which along with all the surrounding towns and rural areas, has a population of around 1.7 million. It’s a diverse community that includes urban and rural areas, fine-dining and food trucks, tobacco and farming history, multiple universities and colleges, immigrant communities from all over the world, waterfalls, mountains and hiking paths, farmer’s markets, theater and the arts, entrepreneurship programs, and much, much more.
We are fortunate to call this place “home,” and have discovered SO many people and organizations here who are giving back. Over the summer, we thoughtfully selected four ways to support our hometown community, and although we continue our original focus on the work to be done in rural Jamaica (such as this), we are so appreciative that because of our funding partners, we can support and be inspired by the people who are hard at work in our hometown!
To learn more about partnering with us to create more sustainable communities, check out how you can Give Back.
Project Funding Total: $1,245 USD
- Sponsored the advertising for and donated just over $100 of supplies to a school supply drive in the town of Walkertown, which was organized by a group of friends who saw a need and simply did something about it
- Sponsored a “GAP Girl for a Year” at $500 in the pilot Girls & Production program, a partnership between the Sawtooth School for Visual Art and a/perture Cinema in Winston-Salem to immerse high-school-age girls in the world of filmmaking, and help “close the gap” in gender pay and opportunity differences within the industry
- Aided a crisis situation for a Pfafftown family who were working their way back from being under-employed and who had no electricity or food. We connected them with various local resources we knew of who could help, and sent a $100 gift card to assist with school supplies and clothing for their five children to be better prepared for the coming school year.
- Sponsored $500 worth of materials for a Kindergarten teacher at Smith Farm Elementary in Winston-Salem, who is using play-based-learning materials to bring basic engineering principles into a classroom of at-risk children.
Project Locations:
Winston-Salem, Walkertown and Pfafftown, within the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, USA
The pilot Girls & Production program will give high-school girls access to education about the film-making industry. 
Kids at Smith Farm Elementary, taking their learning to a higher level! 
Many Walkertown families benefited from and supported this drive. A true community effort, all around!
Jah Works, Inc. 
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