REUNION
EMPOWERING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY HEALTH
INTRODUCTION
WHY WE EXIST
Reunion exists because America is critically divided, socially and economically, holding everyone back.
America has led the world for generations. However, just as people cannot lead others without first righting themselves, America must mend its fractures to lead globally again. While we are immersed in incendiary rhetoric used to draw eyes and divide minds, we must be the change that we want to see in order for many to be one.
WHY WE EXIST
Reunion exists because America is critically divided, socially and economically, holding everyone back.
America has led the world for generations. However, just as people cannot lead others without first righting themselves, America must mend its fractures to lead globally again. While we are immersed in incendiary rhetoric used to draw eyes and divide minds, we must be the change that we want to see in order for many to be one.
OUR VISION
Our vision is an America moving forward together, united around a common health, opportunity, and dignity.
This is not about left or right, but forward, with all Americans secure in their vision of a future.
OUR VISION
Our vision is an America moving forward together, united around a common health, opportunity, and dignity.
This is not about left or right, but forward, with all Americans secure in their vision of a future.
OUR WORK
Achieving this vision starts by working with the least resourced communities in America, which are the least resourced communities in rural America.
- There are 300% more high-poverty rural counties than urban and, in 2018, all extreme poverty counties in America were rural. These counties have faced this poverty for decades.
- Childhood poverty is 30% more prevalent in rural counties than urban, and rural America has double the amount of counties with the lowest educational attainment compared to urban America.
- At the same time, rural America gets less than 25% of grant funding per-person compared to urban America.
In every community we work with, we integrate resources from national best-in-class partners while designing programs with community leaders. We then empower those leaders to deploy these tailored resources, launching lifetime health, opportunity, and dignity, together. That’s why we’re Together For Good.
Here’s what our work includes.
Our Deep Empathy Incubator program initiates and empowers grassroots projects by creating safe, open, accessible spaces to cultivate discussion of root issues around health.
We then facilitate a design-thinking process to co-develop community-led projects to solve root issues. To help scale, we directly seed the best projects with Reunion’s resources.
Our Community Building Events foster diverse relationships and weave communities together by creating inclusive gatherings around food and well-known themes.
We collaborate with community leaders in developing and deploying these events, and focus on creating spaces that are accessible, and experiential, yet non-competitive.
Our Sustainable Culinary Schools empower hard working young folks with the economic self reliance and the dignity of a career in culinary arts.
We do this by co-developing experiential culinary courses with partner restaurants and student communities, selecting cohorts based on need and work-ethic, not finances, and securing positions at partner restaurants for graduating students.
Our Pioneering Economic Trails program mobilizes rural communities to meet urban business needs and connects the two in fair partnership.
We do this by working with urban chambers of commerce to understand commercial labor demand, and work with rural communities to develop job skill training toward connecting these centers of demand and supply.
And our newest program, Catalyst Academy, empowers America’s poorest children toward the same academic and behavioral successes as America’s highest income children.
We do this by pioneering academic and life-skills instruction that is trauma-informed, project-based, and student-led, leading to measurable outcomes within months.
OUR WORK
Achieving this vision starts by working with the least resourced communities in America, which are the least resourced communities in rural America.
-
There are 300% more high-poverty rural counties than urban and, in 2018, all extreme poverty counties in America were rural. These counties have faced this poverty for decades.
-
Childhood poverty is 30% more prevalent in rural counties than urban, and rural America has double the amount of counties with the lowest educational attainment compared to urban America.
-
At the same time, rural America gets less than 25% of grant funding per-person compared to urban America.
In every community we work with, we integrate resources from national best-in-class partners while designing programs with community leaders. We then empower those leaders to deploy these tailored resources, launching lifetime health, opportunity, and dignity, together. That’s why we’re Together For Good.
Here’s what our work includes.
Our Deep Empathy Incubator program initiates and empowers grassroots projects by creating safe, open, accessible spaces to cultivate discussion of root issues around health.
We then facilitate a design-thinking process to co-develop community-led projects to solve root issues. To help scale, we directly seed the best projects with Reunion’s resources.
Our Community Building Events foster diverse relationships and weave communities together by creating inclusive gatherings around food and well-known themes.
We collaborate with community leaders in developing and deploying these events, and focus on creating spaces that are accessible, and experiential, yet non-competitive.
Our Sustainable Culinary Schools empower hard working young folks with the economic self reliance and the dignity of a career in culinary arts.
We do this by co-developing experiential culinary courses with partner restaurants and student communities, selecting cohorts based on need and work-ethic, not finances, and securing positions at partner restaurants for graduating students.
Our Pioneering Economic Trails program mobilizes rural communities to meet urban business needs and connects the two in fair partnership.
We do this by working with urban chambers of commerce to understand commercial labor demand, and work with rural communities to develop job skill training toward connecting these centers of demand and supply.
And our newest program, Catalyst Academy, empowers America’s poorest children toward the same academic and behavioral successes as America’s highest income children.
We do this by pioneering academic and life-skills instruction that is trauma-informed, project-based, and student-led, leading to measurable outcomes within months.
LEADERSHIP
TESTIMONIALS
“My experience at Reunion has taught me a lot about the culinary industry, though not only culinary, but about life. Reunion has shown me that you can help your community, or someone else’s community, by doing something you love. Reunion has also set my ambitions to succeed much higher. I will succeed in the culinary industry and give my family a better life later down the road, period. Coming from a small town in Madison has shown me a lot, and now I feel I have a lot to show the world. “
“Reverend JT Billy Simon grew up in Jasper, Florida, served his country in the US Military, and after a world of experience, came back to serve his home town. Since then, he married his beloved late wife of 50 years, was active in the civil rights movement, and even more active in his community, leading from various positions including roles at the Hamilton County Development Authority, State Instructional Material Committee, and the Systematic Council on Training for Effective Parenting, among many others. Always a student, after earning his associates degree in book keeping and accounting, Reverend Simon recently completed and submitted his doctoral thesis at an age we only wish we were allowed to disclose. A lifelong student, a lifelong person of service, and a lifelong leader, Reverend Simon intends to work with Reunion to tackle community health in all ways. “
PERFORMANCE RATING
We engaged with a third party to calculate our organizational performance based on Charity Navigator’s methodology and audited data from our IRS Filings.
Program Expense
= 9.6/10
Administrative Expense
= 10/10
Fundraising Expense
= 10/10
Fundraising Efficiency
= 10/10
Program Expense Growth
= 10/10
Working Capital Ratio
= 10/10
Liabilities to Assets Ratio
= 2.5/10
Total Finance Score
= 92.1/100