Stand Together Foundation Announces Next Slate of Nation's Top Performing Nonprofits To Join Its Ranks

ARLINGTON, Va., May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Stand Together Foundation announced that 12-new non-profit partners are joining its Catalyst Program, a management and leadership development experience designed to help top performing organizations increase their effectiveness and show the country a better way to tackle poverty. Selected leaders will join the program to help evolve and grow the bottom-up solutions they are driving to create change in local communities.

This new cohort of organizations kicks-off their programming on May 25, growing the Stand Together Foundation Catalyst Community to more than 200 non-profit partners now active in 47 states.

"We are thrilled to welcome a group of transformative organizations into our community of nonprofits," said Evan Feinberg, executive director, Stand Together Foundation. "We've chosen to partner with these leaders because their unique, bottom-up solutions can and will transform the way our country tackles poverty -- going from managing people as broken and deficient, to empowering people to discover their unique gifts and reach their full potential."  

To identify cohort participants, Stand Together Foundation evaluates each organization's leadership, culture, demonstrated outcomes, ability to scale impact, and potential for sustained societal-level change. Importantly, Stand Together Foundation works exclusively with organizations that demonstrate a deep belief in people and approaches that empower individuals closest to the problem to drive on solutions.  

For social entrepreneurs selected to the Catalyst program, the six-month management training experience serves as an on-ramp to long-term partnership, including management coaching, leadership development, operational support, and access to a community of entrepreneurial peers, influential philanthropists, and business leaders.

The diverse group of incoming non-profits and their leaders are driving a range of solutions to help reduce poverty, including trust-based loans for low-income entrepreneurs, workforce training for adults with autism, and neighborhood-level programs to reduce gun violence. The following is a full list of Stand Together Foundation's newest Catalyst Partners:

• Advance Peace (Richmond, CA) - Advance Peace reduces urban gun violence by employing Neighborhood Change Agents to support high-risk individuals with mentoring, conflict resolution, anger management, and other services. Through its groundbreaking Peacemaker Fellowship, which supports young men involved in lethal firearm offenses, Advance Peace is proving that the cycle of gun violence can be broken by community-driven strategies that provide real alternatives, rather than the threat of incarceration.
• Adaptive Training Foundation (Carrollton, TX) - Adaptive Training Foundation provides athletic training and holistic recovery services to help citizens of various abilities and veterans overcome physical, mental, and external barriers to their self-sufficiency. Unlike most programs for people with disabilities which lean heavily on medication and focus on physical deficits, ATF emphasizes whole-person recovery to build up physical abilities while providing space for emotional healing—and elevating the potential of all individuals.
• ECHO (Memphis, TN) - ECHO is building a network of independent charitable care clinics across the nation to provide crucial healthcare services to the millions of underinsured or uninsured Americans that are falling through the cracks of the traditional healthcare system. ECHO partners with healthcare providers and faith communities to launch clinics that address the unique needs of their community by providing free consulting services and best practices to enable rapid scale. ECHO's strategy demonstrates that community-led cultures of health have the potential to improve equity, access, and quality of care for underserved individuals.
• Entrepreneurs Forever (Pittsburgh, PA) - Entrepreneurs Forever (eforever) organizes small business owners into facilitated, peer-to-peer groups operating in communities with unmet needs. Through these groups, entrepreneurs build peer relationships, share solutions, and set the stage for long-term success. EForever is filling an important need for entrepreneurs who are isolated, disconnected, and priced out of mainstream peer-to-peer organizations. EForever's work has a multiplying effect on communities it serves, by equipping its participants to generate wealth and contribute to the economic stability of their neighborhoods.
• JUST (Austin, TX) - JUST builds resilient communities by making loans to low-income female entrepreneurs based on trust. Its innovative lending process applies best practices in microfinance, leveraging peer support groups and coaching to improve repayment and debt management outcomes, rather than traditional measures like credit scores or bank account information. JUST envisions a world where women and minority business owners benefit from inclusive community and access to capital, rather than relying on predatory lending products.
• Sky's the Limit (Oakland, CA) - Sky's the Limit is taking on the nonfinancial barriers—like professional relationships and skills development—that prevent underrepresented entrepreneurs from achieving their full potential. Its team runs a powerful matchmaking software that connects entrepreneurs with expert volunteers to help them overcome their obstacles. As a result, Sky's the Limit has cultivated a digital community that's leveling the playing field for entrepreneurial success.
• Son of a Saint (New Orleans, LA) - Son of a Saint enhances the lives of boys growing up without a father through long-term peer-to-peer relationships. Designed in response to research that shows boys without fathers face higher rates of justice involvement, substance abuse, and dropping out of high school, Son of a Saint initiates mentor-mentee relationships to positively shape boys' personal development and unlock their full potential. Instead of a short-term fix, Son of a Saint invests in enduring personal relationships to address every boy's unique needs.
• Teaching the Autism Community Trades (Denver, CO) - Teaching the Autism Community Trades (TACT) exists to break the historical patterns of unemployment among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of the highest unemployed groups in the country. Through highly individualized training and employer partnerships, TACT provides opportunities for adults with autism to leverage their unique gifts and work in skilled trades where they can thrive. In the process, TACT is writing a new narrative: that all people are capable of extraordinary things.
• The Confess Project (Little Rock, AR) - The Confess Project (TCP) is reducing the stigma around mental health for Black men and boys by turning barbershops into safe spaces for open and vulnerable conversation. Its program leverages the respect and trust barbers already hold within Black communities, training them in active listening, stigma reduction, validation, and positive communication strategies to become mental health advocates. TCP's community-driven strategy is restoring agency for health back to individuals and communities instead of relying on traditional medical systems that have fallen short for Black men as it relates to their mental health.
• The Root Cause (Dallas, TX) - The Root Cause supports individuals with chronic and preventable illnesses facing social and financial hardship by providing direct access to the "in-between care" they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In an expensive healthcare industry that often forces patients in marginalized communities to make difficult tradeoffs with their health, The Root Cause is charting an alternative path. It hires and trains trusted health workers in the community to live alongside those they serve, which improves individual outcomes and generates job opportunities for the community.
• UNDIVIDED (Cincinnati, OH) - LivingUNDIVIDED provides space for tough conversations about racial justice in the American Evangelical Church. It activates church leadership and congregations to engage with topics including racial history. Fighting against the trend of polarization along political and racial lines, LivingUNDIVIDED is showing that empathetic conversation has the power to strengthen community and engage with racial justice, within the church and beyond.
• Veterans Alternative (Holiday, FL) - Veterans Alternative offers a people-centric approach to mental health, enabling veterans to successfully transition back into civilian life and become more healthy, connected, and resilient. Veterans Alternative provides alternative therapies to combat veterans and their families that aren't traditionally available through the Department of Veterans Affairs, using evidence- and community-based strategies to heal the hidden wounds of war.

About Stand Together Foundation
Stand Together Foundation is committed to breaking the cycle of poverty in America by driving change from within communities. We are building a community of social entrepreneurs who believe in people, work from the bottom up, and unite with anyone to do right. Since 2016, we have committed $100 million and counting to fuel the innovation of nonprofits throughout the country to build stronger, safer communities where all people can learn, contribute, and realize their full potential. Our goal is to help nonprofit leaders maximize their impact to transform more lives out of poverty. Learn more at www.StandTogetherFoundation.org 

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