2021 Non-Profit Organisation Awards

Acquisition International - 2021 Non-Profit Organisations Awards Apr21693 Best Family-Friendly School Support Program - Michigan rilliant Detroit is a non-profit organization striving to build a better future for its region and its communities. It creates ‘kid success neighbourhoods’, places where children from ages 0-8 are prepared for a healthy, productive, well-rounded, and stable school life, approaching this by supporting the whole family and helping them to build up a dependable support network. Fundamentally, its work focuses on the improvement of health, literacy, and the health of family units, motivated by a neighbourly attitude that allows it to work ‘with, for, and by’ its communities. Right from the moment it is invited to do work in a neighbourhood, it offers ongoing listening sessions that inform the ongoing plan, as Brilliant Detroit knows that no two communities will need the same support. Furthermore, it coordinates the needs of individuals with the goals and needs of the group, its evidence based programmes striving for the betterment of all involved on personal and wider neighbourhood scale; in addition, its programs are available to support families continuously throughout their child’s development. Starting up this organization has taught Brilliant Detroit a lot since its founding. Crucially, that it’s not just about the large scale and hugely impactful programs that target a vast number of people and make use of big funding to do big things, but that it’s about the power of people coming together. It fosters the importance of building a support network within a neighbourhood – having always championed truly listening to the people it serves – whilst creating an atmosphere of love, safety, and care. Brilliant Detroit also works through making use of feedback loops, and it channels its listening skills into boosting the voices of those it works with. This, overall, ensures that the communities in question can tangibly see what difference their feedback makes, and how their engaging with the program is bettering the community around them, all bolstered by its asset-boosted lens that lifts up the skills and talents of its families. By fostering places where such things can flourish, it makes the existing gifts found within local people the drivers of communal growth, aided by its team of encouraging and enthusiastic people with a passion for their work. This team is central to the effectiveness of its work. Internally, it hires largely from the communities it works with themselves, therefore creating a culture of those it teaches being able to transfer their skills to help others along their own growth journeys, believing in a ‘pay it forward’ mentality. In addition, its advisory team is made up of current and future community leaders who all keep the hub aligned with good neighbourhood priorities; this is also built upon an entrepreneurial and ambitious culture that is boasts productiveness, decentralized A non-profit organization prioritizing the role of community in childhood development, it takes pride in fostering better environments that encourage learning, growth, and self-improvement. Embodying the adage of ‘it takes a village’, it realizes the importance for children to have a good local support network, working with communities to cultivate such a thing by helping everyone be a part of it. Company: Brilliant Detroit Contact: Cindy Eggleton Website: brilliantdetroit.org B decision making, and the value of different perspectives. Another core part of its foundation is its core values: being direct, caring, solving underlying issues, doing the right thing, moving mountains, being responsive, and sharing the spotlight. Despite the initial challenge of restructuring as it grew in scale, and the impact of Covid-19 on its most vulnerable communities, it responded by stepping up to the plate. Initially, this was through its ‘We’re Here For You’ effort that created at-home learning kits and resources, as well as virtual learning and support, something that evolved to include an online learning and enrichment platform. This has allowed it to make itself more accessible, which it is looking forward to continuing as it strives to have 24-hour hubs open by 2021, launching 3 hubs per year until then. In tandem with this, it will be setting up a Brilliant Cities umbrella organization in order to help many more neighbourhoods across more geographical areas – resulting in 24 Detroit hubs and the beginnings of replicating this plan in Philadelphia or Chicago – as well as many more in the future.