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Belonging Contributes to the Collective Good

Posted on by NCCJ

Belonging Contributes to the Collective Good


March 26, 2025
Category: Perspectives
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The recent conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) present an opportunity for NCCJ (North Carolina for Community and Justice) to share our core values and mission.  We are committed to the kind of justice where people of diverse lived experiences and perspectives are equally valued.

Values uplifting inclusivity shaped NCCJ long before contested cultural buzzwords like DEI existed. For us, DEI means valuing a wide variety of cultural, racial, and religious backgrounds, but also different types of body shapes, ages, physical abilities, and lived experiences. NCCJ understands that diverse communities contribute to the collective good.

In 1937, NCCJ was born out of the idea that open, respectful dialogue between people of different backgrounds builds stronger communities. At that time, religious differences were the challenge we worked to overcome. Over the years, NCCJ has evolved to meet the challenges of each new era, expanding our focus beyond interfaith cooperation to also include issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, and other aspects of identity.

Our origin story continues to inform the values that we believe are inherent to the American experience. The ability to see and hear each other – even when we disagree – is essential for democracy and healthy communities.

For eighty-eight years, NCCJ has empowered multiple generations of those living in the Triad (and beyond) to advocate for the right of everyone to belong in our community. Our flagship programs like Anytown (a youth leadership and humans relation program), the Interfaith Tour, and the annual Citation Award Dinner continues to support and honor leaders of all ages as they shape the world.

Our legacy speaks to our commitment to creating a community where all feel valued and seen.

These commitments to belonging are goalposts for our programming. Anytown is an experience open to any rising sophomore, junior, or high school senior across North Carolina to learn how to build a strong community. Origins: Stories of American Democracy and Civil Rights is a cohort-style program for adults to engage in the history of social change in the United States. We offer STARR:  Students Talking about Race + Racism as a two-day program for high school students to explore these issues in a nonjudgmental space. Our Interfaith Tour continues to promote understanding among the Triad’s different faith communities.

Through the Anytown experiences, we witness how young people can engage in difficult conversations on race, identity, and belonging when they are supported. We see how a shy teenager can blossom and grow into a leader when they feel safe to be themselves. Through Origins, participants are learning how to re-invest in the American story.

Since 1964, the Citation Award Dinner has honored leaders that uphold our shared values. We’ve celebrated changemakers like Jane M Armfield, Betty Cone, Bob Page, Dr. Henry W.B. Smith, III and 82 other individuals.

NCCJ remains committed to fighting for a more just community for all of us — not just some of us. We believe that creating brave spaces for building relationships with each other matters more than ever.  We want everyone to feel like they belong in our community.

We are honored to serve you – our community – as we continue this work.

 

Inclusive Leader Spotlights 2024

Posted on by NCCJ

Inclusive Leader Spotlights 2024


November 6, 2024
Category: Citation Award Dinner
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NCCJ’s mission of fighting bias, bigotry and racism and building more inclusive and compassionate communities for all of us – not just some of us, is a big mission that takes all of us, and not just some of us, to advance.

Everyone has a role to play in advancing inclusion.

That’s why we invite sponsoring organizations (at the Inclusion Champion level and above) to spotlight someone on their team who has gone above and beyond to advance inclusion efforts in their workplace.

Keep scrolling (or click here for the downloadable PDF) to learn more about each of these 15 local leaders and the work they are doing to advance inclusion at the organizations that nominated them for this spotlight.

Tiffany Randolph, MD – Cardiologist (Cone Health)

        

Tonya Battle – HR Business Partner (Arch MI)

David Coleman – Financial Specialist / DEI co-lead (Pinnacle Financial Partners)

Lewis Winestock – Immediate Past President, Board of Trustees (Beth David Synagogue)

Miguel Jimenez – Greensboro APDO Site Initiative Leader (Procter & Gamble)

Jill Wilson – Partner (Brooks Pierce)

Larry Eisenberg – Board Chair/Chair Emeritus (Triad Health Project)

Jacquelyn Clark Johnson – Vice-President of People and Culture, Region North America (Volvo Financial Services)

Jerrie Carter – Manager of Credit (Volvo Financial Services)

Kate Phillips – Director of Accelerate Greensboro (Greensboro Chamber of Commerce)

Lynn Fick-Cooper – Chief Equity and Societal Impact Officer (Center for Creative Leadership)

Jennifer Himes – Vice President, Associate Counsel (Tanger)

Rita Shadwell – Talent & Acquisition Recruiter for the Ralph Lauren People Team (Ralph Lauren)

Margarita Kerkadó – Senior Assistant Director of Admissions (UNCG)

Jonathan Cabeza – Manager Natural Gas Continuous Improvement and Data Performance and Analytics (Piedmont Natural Gas)

 

We’re looking for our next executive director

Posted on by NCCJ

We’re looking for our next executive director


May 22, 2024
Category: News
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We are hiring! Following our longtime executive director Ivan Canada’s departure in January for an incredible professional opportunity as the president & CEO for the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits, NCCJ is looking for our next leader. (In the meantime, Erika Rain Wilhite – previously NCCJ’s development and communications director since 2016 – is serving as the organization’s interim executive director.)

Can you help us find our next executive director?

NCCJ’s Executive Director (ED) is a full-time professional charged with leading the NCCJ organization, including NCCJ’s overall program, communications, administrative, marketing, and fund development goals; working to support and uplift NCCJ’s Mission and Vision and moving NCCJ effectively to the next level of impact and success. The NCCJ Executive Director must be mission-driven, collaborative, innovative, equity minded and social impact focused. This person will serve as the brand ambassador and champion of NCCJ in the community, across all stakeholders, including donors, volunteers, business leaders, community members, nonprofit leaders, government, education partners, families served and more. The Executive Director will leverage the power of relationships and networks, working across private, public, and corporate sectors. Click here to learn more about the position.

Interested in applying? NCCJ has selected Charles Aris Executive Search as our search partner. Interested candidates should email Charles Aris Senior Associate Lauren Boone at lauren.boone@charlesaris.com directly with their resume and cover letter.

Organizational Overview

NCCJ is a human relations organization that promotes understanding and respect among people of all cultures, races, and religions through advocacy, education, and dialogue. NCCJ does not advocate for any group; we work to build mutual respect among all people – regardless of race, culture, sexual orientation, gender, socioeconomic background, faith, or any other aspect of identity.

To fulfill our mission, NCCJ’s key initiatives strive to create inclusive, respectful, and just communities; and we do that work by committing to the following activities and areas of focus:

  • Ongoing workplace, community, and interfaith programs
  • Anytown, STARR: Students Talking About Race + Racism, Anyday, and other youth programs, including the Ambassador program
  • Targeted advocacy and communication aimed at eliminating bias, bigotry, and racism

Our current strategic plan is focused on taking NCCJ to the next level in fulfilling our mission, with a common thread of growth and expansion. The work of our current strategic plan can be summed up by the following Top 5 Big Ideas:

  • Evolve and establish the most timely, high impact programs
  • Develop, expand and grow donor base and total contributions
  • Superior marketing that expands awareness and recognition of NCCJ
  • Best in class staffing, systems and management practices
  • Establish process and action steps that are responsive to community needs to further NCCJ’s mission and vision.

History/Milestones/Recognitions 

NCCJ recently celebrated 85 years of service to the community. We are the oldest human relations organization in North Carolina, and the one with the greatest depth of experience working with teens on social justice issues. NCCJ (originally short for “National Conference for Christians and Jews”) was formed in the 1920s to promote interfaith tolerance at a time of deepening divisions between religious, racial and ethnic groups. In the following decades, NCCJ’s focus broadened to encompass aspects of diversity including race, gender, and sexual orientation and we became “National Conference for Community and Justice” in the 1990s. Greensboro’s NCCJ, which had long been one of the strongest NCCJ chapters in the Southeast, became an independent nonprofit in 2005 after the national organization dissolved. For the next decade, we focused on serving teens in Guilford County.

Between 2015 and 2020, our Greensboro NCCJ began to shift our focus to statewide expansion. By that point, we were the last remaining NCCJ entity in North Carolina. Our strong reputation as a trusted convener of respectful, nonpartisan conversations led to invitations and requests for help from across the state. In August 2022, we officially changed our full name to North Carolina for Community and Justice to reflect our increasing reach across the state.

Recognitions:

  • 2011 – Nonprofit of the Year by the Guilford Nonprofit Consortium.
  • 2020, 2021 & 2022 – Recognized Duke Energy as one of 40 North Carolina nonprofit organizations committed to social justice and racial equity and awarded a generous grant.
  • 2021-22 – Partnered with Guilford County Schools to provide programming to students participating in the innovative Learning Hubs project.
  • 2023 – We are celebrating the 35th anniversary of Anytown, our flagship leadership and human relations program for high school students.
  • 2023 – NCCJ, the Kellin Foundation and Guilford County Schools were awarded a 4-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to address and support mental health at a cohort of schools.

 

 

Meet our 2024 Citation Award Honorees

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Meet our 2024 Citation Award Honorees


May 20, 2024
Category: Citation Award Dinner
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NCCJ will honor community leaders Ellen “Lennie” W. Gerber and Dr. Henry “Hank” W.B. Smith, III with the Citation Award at its 58th annual Citation Award Dinner on Wednesday, November 6, chaired by Sue and Gary Simmons.

“NCCJ is proud to honor Lennie and Hank,” says Erika Rain Wilhite, NCCJ’s interim executive director. “The opportunity to celebrate these exceptional leaders feels especially meaningful now, when the hard-won civil rights of all people – and specifically, the rights of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ folks – are being challenged and rolled back at local, state and federal levels at an alarming rate.”

Sue and Gary Simmons are chairing this year’s event. “We are honored to chair NCCJ’s Citation Award Dinner,” says Gary. “Our relationship with NCCJ started in 2001 when we sent our son, Brent, to Anytown. Since then, we have been proud to support this wonderful organization.”

“It is more important now than ever to support NCCJ, which has never strayed from its purpose of creating space for open and respectful dialogue between people of different backgrounds,” says Sue. “In doing so, NCCJ has made our community a more welcoming, just and inclusive place to live, work and play. Gary and I hope you will join us on November 6th in support of NCCJ’s mission and in celebration of these two remarkable leaders.”

ABOUT OUR HONOREES

Ellen “Lennie” W. Gerber is a tireless advocate for marriage equality and the civil rights of all people. After an esteemed career in academia and law, Lennie settled in the Piedmont Triad and took up the fight for equity in North Carolina. Driven by her own experience navigating life with her wife and partner of 52 years, Pearl Berlin (of blessed memory), Lennie worked extensively to advance women’s rights and ensure that LGBTQ+ couples had access to the same rights and protections as heterosexual couples.

Lennie has been fighting for civil rights for over 60 years. In 1963, she traveled from Ithaca NY, where she was working, to Washington, DC, to take part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In the 1970s, Lennie toured college campuses to speak about the impact of Title IX on women’s athletics. Realizing legal change was necessary to ensure gender equality, Lennie enrolled in UNC’s School of Law. After graduation she worked with Legal Aid of North Carolina, focusing her efforts on consumer protection laws. Lennie also served on the ACLU Board and Legal Committee in the 1990s.

After her retirement, Lennie spent over 20 years volunteering for the VITA program, working out of the High Point library filing taxes for people who did not have the ability to access an accountant. Lennie is also a founding member of the North Carolina Association of Woman Attorneys and served as the group’s second president.

Most notable, since retiring, Lennie has given her time and talent to continuously advocate for marriage equality throughout North Carolina. In 2012, Lennie and Pearl became the face of the fight against Amendment 1. They appeared in various articles and ads on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign to explain that they were no different from that of any other couple, often using the phrase “love is love.” Amendment 1 was overturned, but Lennie’s work did not stop there. She and Pearl became the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit against North Carolina to fight for marriage equality. In 2013 (two years before Obergefell v. Hodges would grant legal recognition to their union), their rabbi, Eliezer “Eli” Havivi, agreed to officiate their wedding and Lennie and Pearl became the first same-sex couple married at Beth David Synagogue.

Dr. Henry “Hank” W.B. Smith, III is a resolute champion for racial and healthcare equity. Hank, who had asthma as a child, grew up in a small Georgia town where Black people’s access to healthcare was severely limited. He saw firsthand the way systemic barriers and inequities limited the ability of his friends and family to realize their full potential. His childhood experiences motivated Hank not only to pursue a career in medicine and become a cardiologist but to maintain a focus on work that would improve the health and longevity of life for Black people. Now retired after a celebrated 37-year career, he continues to advocate for racial justice. His love of community is evident in every action of his diligent work to advance access, opportunity, and health equity for Greensboro’s Black communities.

After a remarkable career at Emory University School of Medicine, Moses Cone Hospital drew Hank to the Greensboro area. Hank integrated group practice in Greensboro when he joined Tannenbaum Medical Associates in 1987. He is a co-founder of Eagle Cardiology, which became part of Cone Health HeartCare in 2014. Hank was the first Black to serve as President of the Medical Staff at Moses Cone Memorial Hospital. He is the only physician to serve as Chairman of the Trustee Board at Cone Health.

Beyond his impact in clinical and interventional cardiology, Hank is directly impacting racial equity in Greensboro. Hank is one of Black Investments in Greensboro (BIG) Equity Fund’s founding donors and steering committee members. The mission of the BIG Equity Fund is to improve health, education, and economic advancements for Black people and underserved communities in Greensboro by removing structural and systemic barriers.

In 2017, Hank received the LeBauer Visionary Award from CHMG Healthcare and the American Heart Association. The following year, he was named the 50 most influential Triad African Americans by Black Business Inc. in 2018. In his most recent string of honors, the Greensboro Medical Society recognized Hank as its “2024 Physician of the Year” and Morehouse College gave Hank the “Distinguished Alumnus Award, Class of 1974.” Hank is deeply engaged with his church community. He has served as the Chairman of the Trustee Board and of the Deacon Board at Providence Baptist Church. Hank is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Greensboro Medical Society, and the Greensboro Men’s Club.

 

ABOUT THE CITATION AWARD DINNER

The Citation Award Dinner is the Triad’s largest annual event dedicated to diversity and inclusion. It is also NCCJ’s biggest community program and fundraiser.

The 2024 Citation Award Dinner will be held in-person and virtually on Wednesday, November 6. The event will be held at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro. Doors to the Guilford Ballroom will open at 5:30 p.m. for the reception, and with the dinner and program taking place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Guests who chose the “virtual attendance” option can pick up carryout meals from Green Valley Grill and watch the event program livestream from 7 – 8:30 p.m.

Reserve your tickets or become an event sponsor.

María says “farewell” and embarks on a new journey

Posted on by NCCJ

María says “farewell” and embarks on a new journey


February 28, 2024
Category: Anytown
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In March, our team will say a bittersweet farewell to María Perdomo (Anytown 2010 and NCCJ’s assistant program director since 2019) as her time on staff at NCCJ comes to a close and she embarks on a new journey. We will miss her terribly and we are deeply grateful for the many gifts María has brought to this organization and our community over the years.

Under her leadership, Anytown and all of NCCJ’s youth programs have grown tremendously. From playing a key role in developing and piloting STARR: Students Talking About Race + Racism to working with NCCJ’s Youth Ambassadors to create and launch The Reset, María has shaped and grown NCCJ’s youth programs in ways that will continue to uplift and benefit young people in our community for many years to come.

A letter to you, from María:

Dearest friends, it’s not long ago you received an NCCJ message that started with “I’m writing to share some bittersweet news.”  

That last announcement included Ivan’s parting and now here I am announcing mine.  

Susan Cain talks a lot about bittersweetness, in fact Bittersweet is the title of one of her books. She speaks of holding joy and sorrow in one and how this ability to hold both the bitter and the sweet comes with a heightened awareness of impermanence in all things and the “piercing joy of the beauty of the world.”  

When I announced my parting to the NCCJ team a few months ago, I became attuned to the beauty that has inundated the last 14 years of my life in relation to this organization.  

María with her mom in 2010, about to board the bus to Anytown

I first attended Anytown as a 16-year-old in the summer of 2010. I was a junior in high school and had arrived in the United States just a few years prior and still learning the ropes. At Anytown, I spoke about my native country of Colombia proudly in front of a group of people for the first time since I’d arrived. I learned that it takes courage to be yourself and I began to form life-long friendships – the kind that will pick up the phone in the middle of the night (even on weekdays.)  

For the first time since I’d moved, I was home.  

When I was walking toward the bus on the last day of that first Anytown session. Jody Clayton (who held my position at NCCJ at the time), walked up to me and said: “you should apply to be a counselor.” I looked at him quite honestly like he’d made a mistake. “Me? An Anytown counselor?”  

Jody’s words would then inform the next decade of my life. Sometimes when we don’t believe in ourselves, we need someone to do it for us. As time went on, I became a counselor, advisor, intern and eventually, a staff member. It’s been an honor to learn new things each step of the way. NCCJ helped me find my footing and place in this country as an immigrant, it taught me that women always have a place at the table and that I don’t have to agree with everything I’m told. I learned that my body will always be the body it needs to be and that a conversation can truly, truly, change a life.  

Throwback to 2012, when Ivan (then an NCCJ board member) gave a shout-out to María (the in high school and serving as an NCCJ Youth Ambassador) for speaking on behalf of NCCJ about the importance of marriage equality.

Making the decision to leave has not been easy. It’s hard to imagine a summer without Anytown but I look forward to the shifts that are coming. In the coming months, I plan to do some traveling and focus on my writing. My social justice journey does not end here but for us to show up for work that is in constant service of others, we too, must serve and honor ourselves.  

The last few months, our team has been going through a hiring process for the new Assistant Program Director and I can’t wait for you all to meet the new addition to the NCCJ team! I have no doubt that they will continue to represent our organization in the best light and are committed to making a difference in the lives of young people. 

A fresh perspective for our NCCJ team and youth programs will be exciting and refreshing for our work. As they say, “change is the only constant” and this organization has become what it is because of it.  

Thank you all for your support over the years. I’m so proud of all that we’ve created together and will carry all the lessons with me on my new journey. 

I leave you with the bittersweet but, life feels a little more precious this way.  

With love, 

María.  

NCCJ