BRCC Enactus Team Uses Grants to Empower Others – Locally and Globally
The Blue Ridge Community College Enactus team has had great success in securing national grants to help achieve their goals of empowering others and supporting businesses. This year, three of those grants were:
Walmart Women’s Economic Empowerment Project Partnership Grant
Enactus and Walmart joined together to enable women to contribute to their family’s financial success by providing them workforce training. BRCC Enactus has received this $1,500 partnership grant for the past five years, including this year. The BRCC Enactus BRIDGE project assists low-income women and rehabilitated, nonviolent drug offenders by providing support for their journey back into higher education, and also providing workforce skills training. The BRIDGE is different from other programs in that its goal is to offer participants the financial, social and academic support to earn a degree or vocational certification to gain employment.
Sam’s Club Step Up for Small Business Project Partnership Grant
The Sam’s Club Step Up for Small Business Project Partnership mobilizes Enactus United States teams who help underserved Main Street business owners navigate the lending market and equip themselves with the skills and knowledge necessary to make sound business decisions.
Each participating Enactus team collaborates with local resources to conduct borrower education for the small business community, and to provide one-on-one mentorship and training for a small business in need of additional assistance. BRCC Enactus received the $2,100 grant this academic year to assist businesses through the VINE virtual incubator. The VINE, which is in its second year, helps small businesses increase their sustainability including solid borrowing and financing practices.
Unilever Bright Future Project Partnership
The Unilever Bright Future Project Partnership activates Enactus United States teams to implement scalable projects that empower food insecure families in the US to apply viable solutions towards addressing root causes of hunger. Through their projects, teams identify a low-income community (with at least 500 individuals) and perform a needs assessment to determine the barriers to that community eating healthily. They empower the community to apply a sustainable, comprehensive approach to improve its health and wellbeing through better nutrition, and to implement solutions addressing healthy eating barriers. Enactus then enables the community to adopt a healthy eating lifestyle by applying the skills and education provided.
BRCC Enactus’s project funded through this grant is Recipe for a Bright Future. Recipe for a Bright Future takes BRCC Enactus students to the Staunton Salvation Army Program to teach children about proper nutrition and exercise to combat obesity. Then, team members instruct students in financial literacy to improve their financial wellbeing. The program culminates in a Master Chef Cook-Off, where teams compete to prepare meals that will win tastiest, most nutritious and most economical dish awards.
To get involved or learn more, contact BRCC Enactus Adviser Rebecca Evans at evansr@brcc.edu or call (540) 453-2366.
