WS Chronicle

Three local organizations Action4Equity, Crossnore’s Center for Trauma Resilient Communities, and Forsyth Futures have formed an initiative to uplift families and individuals in the East Winston Community through a $4 million federal grant program. 

Here’s what we know: In May 2023, it was announced that Crossnore Communities for Children was a recipient of a 4-year, $4 million grant ($1 million per year) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to support the We Heal Together initiative (WHT). The initiative seeks to employ a community-driven resilience framework to reduce the impact of trauma and uplift the East Winston community. WHT’s goals include increasing community-based research participation, enhancing youth engagement, reducing high-risk behaviors, and addressing families’ mental health needs.  

We Heal Together is just one of seven initiatives throughout the entire country to receive the grant from SAMHSA. WHT is also one of the only nonprofits to receive the grant. Brett Loftis, CEO of Crossnore Communities for Children, said the grant is usually awarded to bigger cities and organizations.  

“Normally these grants are going to places like Detroit, Nashville and San Antonio. So we were a little bit of an underdog, which is a little bit of our story here,” Loftis said. “It’s testament to the community coming together to write the application and we’ve been partnering long before there was money on the table.” 

Over the years there have been several initiatives started to help uplift East Winston that seem to fizzle out after a short period of time. Micha James, director of Winston-Salem Trauma Resilient Communities, said what makes this initiative different, is that it brings together three organizations already doing the work. “What I love about it is everybody has their own work to do. We’re not fighting for funding saying we can do something we can’t do … everybody is working to their strengths,” said James while discussing the initiative last week. 

Shantae Graham with Action4Equity and founder of Full Circle Mentoring, said this initiative is something that is needed because there is a lack of resources and willingness to work together. She said they want to show the entire community what collaboration looks like.

“There is a lack of resources and we want to show what a united front looks like to attack an issue head on,” Graham continued. “We are their ears, their voices. We are bridging the equality gap and closing the empathy gap as well.”

On March 7, We Heal Together held a ribbon cutting ceremony for its headquarters at St. Stephen Missionary Baptist Church, 5000 Noble St. On Tuesday, April 9, WHT will host their Partnership Launch, where organizations will have an opportunity to hear about the goals and objectives for the initiative. Dr. Laura Gerald, president of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, will be the guest speaker

For more information or to register to attend, visit https://traumaresilient.org/our-services/initiatives/.