Meet Our 2024 Unite Charlotte Partners

Unite Charlotte was founded in 2016 by United Way of Greater Charlotte following civil unrest sparked by the killing of Keith Lamont Scott, an unarmed Black man, by Charlotte police. The initiative’s purpose is to address the structural racism that exists within the nonprofit sector and in the broader community.

The Unite Charlotte program provides up to three years of funding and capacity-building support to local grassroots organizations led by people of color. For first-year grantees, United Way pays for agency executives to earn a certificate in nonprofit management from Duke University’s Center for Continuing Studies. In the second and third year, agencies receive larger annual grants as well as stipends for executive coaching.

55 UNITE CHARLOTTE PARTNERS IN 2024

Unite Charlotte First Year

Achieving Success on Purpose, Inc. | Helps underserved youth, develop the emotional and social intelligence needed to counteract delinquency and refute negative social narratives. 

BFIT Big Dreams Youth, Inc. | Supports the mental, physical, and social development of youth between the ages of 8-11 through healthy, diverse, enriching experiences that empower young minds and allow them to dream big!

Changing Lives Outreach Center CDC | Decreases food insecurities by breaking the cycle of poverty and providing services to children and adults that will reduce barriers that hinder self-sufficiency and growth.

Charlotte Gaymers Network, Inc. | Creates a safe, inclusive, and vibrant space for LGBTQ+ gaymers. Fosters a supportive community that celebrates diversity, empowers individuals, and promotes positive gaming experiences through engaging events, educational initiatives, and advocacy efforts. 

Cine Casual, LLC | Encourages cross-cultural understanding by educating, entertaining and challenging the community via films to foster empathy and action. Redefines the traditional role of film programs, utilizing movies to create a more equitable and diverse community and connecting residents with resources via high-quality programs and works of art.

Deep Roots Farm Foundation | Ignites and engages people to participate in agriculture and address food insecurity in the Charlotte community. We do this by providing access to education, providing funding and other resources, and advocacy.

Erika’s Closet | Supports those in need that are transitioning out of incarceration, individuals that are homeless and failed on hard times, with the essential items necessary for daily living and in the workforce development.

Evolutionary Aquatics | Creates an encouraging, inclusive, diverse environment that spreads throughout the recreational aquatic community. We provide a platform for people of color, regardless of income, zip code, history, and culture, who deserves the opportunity to participate in such activities and join a fulfilling community that simultaneously corrects historical inequalities.

Freedom in Me Business Showers | Increases the success rate of new minority owned and women owned entrepreneurs who are new start ups or in business for one year or less by combatting the top four reasons that new businesses fail: lack of training, money and people resources, marketing strategies and business plans.  

Generational Wealth Educators | Helps families create generational legacies by promoting financial and mental wellness, investing, and homeownership in underserved communities.

Hard Grinderz Kings Growing Kings Mentoring | Empowers and educates the inner-city at-risk youth using diverse mentoring programs from Title I schools in Charlotte-Mecklenburg and surrounding areas. Uses sports and dynamic mentoring to improve life-skills of the underserved disenfranchised youth and increase economic inclusion and mobility in the community which fosters workforce development.

Hearts for the Invisible Charlotte Coalition, Inc. | Eradicates housing inequities for people experiencing homelessness.

Konspicuous Foundation Inc. | Provides financial literacy and education programs which help people, especially people of color, improve financial skills, empowering them to make more informed economic decisions which directly impacts wealth.

Life Interventions Incorporated | Improves the quality of life for youth and young adults by teaching them the essential life skills needed to be self-sufficient, productive members of society.

Pathways NC Inc. | Prepares and equips both the technologically savvy and the novice learner with a variety of pathway support systems that will enable them to have the knowledge and computer skills to complete and pass various certification courses.

Peoples Private Learning Center, Inc. | Ensures the continuous growth of underserved students through community partnerships. 

Queen City Cocoa BEANS Incorporated | Decreases healthcare inequities and disparities in chronic disease management and prevention for families of color in the Charlotte Metro area and surrounding communities. We strive to build healthier communities by improving child and maternal health outcomes.

Sojourner Truth Place | Provides business resources, direct care support, & safe gathering space for members of the BIPOC community to launch and grow their businesses or nonprofits organizations.

StriveCLT, Inc. | Helps families who aspire to increase their social capital. We provide reading, digital, financial and civic literacy education, as well as family mentoring and networking opportunities to help them reach their full potential.

The Agape Allen’s Foundation II | Supports all individuals with mental, physical, social, and/or emotional challenges as well as the adolescents and adults that have an exceptionality and/or a disability by providing employment opportunities and secure jobs. Quality of life is important to us, as well as each person having a purpose.

The Education Over Debt Foundation | Provides scholarships to African American high school students in North Carolina attending a four-year College and University, Historically Black College and University (HBCU), and undocumented high school students of color in North Carolina on the path to citizenship attending a two-year or four-year College and University while emphasizing training on money management and wealth accumulation techniques to enhance financial literacy. 

The Males Place Inc.* | Provides comprehensive and prevention-based behavior, health educational programming, mentoring and life skills training necessary for manhood development for African American boys, ages 12 through 18, while creating a safe environment for young men to grow experientially in community settings in the US and abroad.

TruSolace Community Foundation | Provides a safe haven where girls and women of color can focus on wellness, self-care, and healing through education, community support and advocacy. TruSolace offers licensed therapists to provide one-on-one and group therapy, interventions promoting holistic wellness, and pathways to personal and professional development. 

Young Icons | Inspires recording artists and builds their confidence in the natural ability to dream and create. 

Youth Style Fitness Inc. | Fosters an awareness of healthy eating, exercise, and mental health to empower healthy youth development and wellness.

Unite Charlotte Second Year

A Brighter Day Ministries* | Supports children and families in Historic Hoskins by providing physical and emotional support, mentorship, and community outreach events.

A Giving Heart Project | Serves the community and those in need through engagement, encouragement, empowerment, and education.

Another Chance House of Refuge, Inc.* | Empowers underserved individuals to reach their fullest potential by providing a safe environment, safe housing, educational support, employment training, and self-sufficiency skills.

Barre Belle | Creates little dancers with big futures and aims for students to achieve an increased level of self-awareness, self-esteem and encourage movement through the art of dance.

Center 360* | Empowers youth who are at risk of disengaging from school by providing non-traditional enrichment opportunities.

Champions of Change* | Provides foster and homeless children with amazing experiences that inspire hope, dreams, and achievements for a lifetime.

Connecting the Gap | Empowers youth grieving the loss of a parent or guardian by creating mentor-based relationships to enable healthy and optimistic futures.

Despierta* | Empowers and integrates newly arrived Latina immigrants to help them become self reliant and supportive within the community by giving them the emotional tools and life skills to find their identity and independence.

Elizabeth House Foundation | Increases access to critical, preventive breast health screenings for under-and uninsured minority women in the Charlotte Region.

Exposure Project Incorporated | Equips middle and high school youth with the practical tools for character and career development by curating transformative experiences that impact future income opportunities.

Hack & Hustle Social Entrepreneurship Academy | Exposes underserved youth in Charlotte to STEM technology and entrepreneurship training. 

Jennings O’Neil Career Academy and Workforce Development Program | Educates, engages, and equips young adults ages 18-29 with the tools needed to eradicate poverty and unemployment leading to economic  self-sufficiency, self-employment and success.

Jumping Dreams DD* |  Improves and maintains the health and nutrition of children in our community while promoting the development of good citizenship.

Just Do It Movement Inc | Educates and provides resources and skills to individuals that will help them become self-sufficient, while empowering them beyond their circumstances.

Let’s Talk About It – The Autism Center | Educates, engages and helps people with Autism Spectrum Disorder and their caregivers to maximize their opportunities and life experiences.

POP’s Passion* | Provides life changing resources to families and communities in need.

ProjectiGive, Inc. | Provides a communal approach of linking groups, individuals and organizations together for the purposes of funding projects that solve community level problems.

Step Up to Leadership | Assists youth and young adults in widening their views on life by recreating their self image and self-esteem while helping them develop structure.

Team Trublue* | Educates and mentors individuals in order to reduce poverty and decrease violence in the community so children and families can have the opportunity to live a more conducive life.

The Frankie Mae Foundation* | Advocates for the caregiver as a whole person, by providing resources for his or her physical, emotional and spiritual well-being through programs, resources and services that inform, inspire and help improve quality of life.

Unite Charlotte Third Year

Do Greater Foundation | Empowers communities to do greater by facilitating exposure and access to creativity, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Exodus Foundation.org | Stops the flow of all Americans to prison through clemency efforts, with programs that stop the involvement of African-American men and women in the prison system by reducing recidivism and preventing incarceration.

Family Mankind* | Seeks to permanently eradicate domestic violence (DV), sexual assault, child abuse, and bullying by passionately working with individuals and their families who have participated in violent behavior.

Healing Vine Harbor | Reduces the number of single women living in shelters or unsafe situations, providing a pathway out of poverty to ensure self-sufficiency.

Money Magnets Club* | Serves as a community that encourages entrepreneurship among elementary school kids and their responsible adults through business concepts, exposure, planning, and resources.

Promise Youth Development Inc.* | Helps underserved youth in East Charlotte develop optimal health through education, resilience focused mentoring and anti-violence programs.

She Built This City* | Sparks interest in high-demand construction and “maker” trades among women and girls attending Title I middle schools and high schools.

The Bulb Gallery* | Provides mostly local produce, as well as health and wellness education, via weekly farmers markets to food insecure neighborhoods in the Charlotte area.

The FACTS Initiative | Provides community-based mental health services to high-risk children and families.

Urban Institute for Strengthening Families* | Provides opportunities for marginalized communities to thrive by supporting youth and their families and providing or connecting employment opportunities to veterans.

* Indicates United Neighborhoods Partner

Believe in the racial equity work United Way is doing? Support initiatives like Unite Charlotte by making a gift today.