Meet Our New Development Director: Faith E. Briggs
Hello GWCF Family,
I write to you from Portland, Oregon on a delightfully rainy Thursday morning. It feels like a promising new decade and I am filled with invigorated energy as I begin my time as the new Development Director at The Global Works Community Fund.
I am here because at fourteen I took a leap and landed at a boarding school in Lakeville, Connecticut. Adjusting was difficult. But the opportunities were vast. A fully-funded opportunity to spend two months on a service trip in Panama was among them. It is how I became the first person in my family to ever leave the country. And it made me committed to the importance of global citizenship.
As a Black American, I grew up taught to be proud of who I am in spite of what I see and hear about myself. Communities of color are full of resilience despite the negative imagery in media combined with the continued effects of systemic disenfranchisement that plague us. These factors affect one's self-esteem and limits horizons for young people.
Feeling connected to a widespread, cross-cultural community made me feel empowered. I came back from Panama and got so engaged in my school community. My friend groups broadened and I joined every school club I could. Eventually, I was a two-sport captain, a Residential Assistant and the school president. My passion for people and stories blossomed at Yale University and New York University's Journalism Insititute. It has allowed me to travel the world as a documentary filmmaker sharing stories aimed at equity. It isn’t all tied directly to my experiences in Panama and Honduras, but those experiences were an incredible kickstart to rethinking what my role in my own life could be. Not just because I had been afforded the opportunity to go do something amazing, but because I was able to contribute.
I believe in Global Works Community Fund because the opportunity for leadership development offered by the program is incredible. My experiences changed my life. GWCF does that for our fellows and takes a step further to prepare them. The eight-month Global Works Community Fund fellowship assures that our fellows enter the service-learning abroad phase of their time with GWCF ready.
“I think it made us value it differently - we had the mentorship beforehand so there was purpose and we were thinking about it constantly…I was thinking: ‘What is in this community that is also in my community?” What are the similarities that I can tie to my life? What connects us?’ I went into the experience very intentional about how I’m interacting with people."
-Anayah Tora, GWCF alumna, on the importance of the mentoring program.
When the students return and begin their Bring It Home Projects, they draw on their new empowered self. It is my hope as Development Director to grow the resources that allow them to take what they’ve learned and use it to plant roots back home. We have some new exciting programs in the works, including creating three categories for our community-based projects: Community Health, Unity Through Arts and Nature in Neighborhoods. We believe this will help our fellows create and successfully carry out directed projects while building local coalitions to help them accomplish their goald in the neighborhoods where they learn, work and play.
I am so honored to be a part of this mission, this team, and this community. If you do feel moved to support our youth today, please click the donate button below. We’re currently reviewing applications for this year and your donations today could directly affect the number of fellows we are able to select.
Please also feel free to send me a note with any ideas about how to grow our incredible mission and support our youth leaders or just to say hi! Looking forward to sharing more stories and learning from all of you.
Gracias por su apoyo!
Thank you for your support!
Faith E. Briggs
faith@globalworksfund.org