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Joe Wright wants to be more involved in youth mentoring and help provide leadership for a local organization that serves young people.
“I want to make a difference in my community,” said Wright, who works at Novelis and is an assistant football coach at Terre Haute North Vigo High School.
He hopes his participation in a United Way of the Wabash Valley Black leadership institute helps him achieve those goals.
Wright is one of 19 members who make up the inaugural cohort of the African American Board Leadership Institute (AABLI). United Way hosted a well-attended celebration event at the Ohio Building Thursday.
The goal of the new program is to increase the number and broaden the participation of Blacks in leadership roles in the Wabash Valley. The group met from February through July.
The program offered a deep-dive look into board governance responsibilities and included guest speakers, group discussions, exercises, case studies and the building of problem-solving skills.
Participants inter-acted with community leaders and various organizations.
“I feel I gained an understanding of how community boards work and how to operate on these boards,” Wright said. “We had the opportunity to meet various leaders in our community … what their goals are and what they do.”
He built networks and contacts and hopes to become more involved with the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club, both as a mentor and potentially in a leadership role.
He believes the leadership institute for Black community members is important.
“Our community is often neglected,” Wright said. “So in order to make a difference in our community, we have to be on these boards.”
Abby Desboro, United Way co-executive director, described the participants as “an amazing group of individuals who want to give back to our community and didn’t know where to start.
“So the connections they’ve made within their group, but also being able to turn outward to organizations that are always looking for volunteers and help, is a win-win for the entire community.”
The leadership institute is important “because our community organizations need to represent the community they serve,” she said.
When a new program begins, “You never know what to expect. I would say after the very first meeting, I was in tears because you could tell there was something there,” Desboro said. “You could tell that group needed each other. They wanted to lean on each other, but they were raring and ready to go out into the community to give back.”
The first cohort includes a diverse mix of members, including individuals wanting to gain knowledge to start a non-profit to professionals looking to expand their connections in the community.
Also among the first group is Sonja Jordan, who is a campus diversity lead and academic adviser at Ivy Tech.
She’s not from Terre Haute and “it gave me an opportunity to meet other people like myself, other professionals who are African American, and just help me learn about what is available, how I can join and how I can help the community.”
Through AABLI, she gained community connections, additional tools to help her grow professionally and she has “a support system for anything I plan to do going forward.”
Jordan hopes to volunteer in the community and with United Way. She’s especially interested in organizations involved with health and wellness.
In addition to United Way support, the leadership institute received grant funding from the Wabash Valley Community Foundation.
The program partnered with Global Perspective Culture Company founded by Camille Wallace, a Terre Haute native, to help design and implement it, including one-on-one mentoring.
Participants were Kelsey Bogard, Nichelle Campbell-Miller, Janell Chatman, Tiffany Cherry, Sherah Crosby, Sade Denton, Shanda Holliman, Sonja Jordan, Jasmine Lewis, Samuel Lewis, Janie Myers, James Porter, Stephanie Stewart, Shanya Tompkins, LT Thompson, Tante Vaughn, Destiny Wilson, Garien Woods and Joseph Wright Jr.
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