Standing in the Gap
- What’s New?
- Team Highlight
- How Can I Get Involved?
What’s New?!
- One of our cohort participants, Mecca, just graduated from her Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) program through the Henrico County St. Mary’s Hospital School of Practical Nursing. We’re so proud of her hard work! During her clinicals she needed to reduce her work hours and said that CAPUP “…stood in the gap,” with provision of household essentials, financial assistance, access to our food pantry, and coaching from her cohort leader. As a single mother of five children, she wanted each of them to be represented on her nursing jacket as a heart. If you look closer, you’ll see that within the heart, there are different colored puzzle pieces to represent each of them and autism, in honor of her son. We can’t wait to see how this new career impacts her family!
- Our Project Discovery (PD) team took students to explore all that Richmond has to offer in VCU with a campus tour. As first generation college-seeking students, these tours enable students to become familiar with the idea of attending a four-year university and what might be possible for their futures.
- Our PD team also won tickets to take students on a movie trip! All of our Buckingham students came with our team to see Zootopia 2. Who doesn’t love getting out with friends and enjoying some buttery movie theater popcorn?!
Team Highlight
Meet Keith Mulvin, Director of Programs
- As the Director of Programs, I am heavily involved in the Results Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA) model for our programs. This model ensures that each program within CAPUP has unique goals, that these goals can be evaluated, and after evaluation, they can continually be improved. While most organizations focus on service provision, CAPUP wants to ensure that we provide meaningful change through outcomes. With support from Angel at OEO, myself and Troy (with TAP) run performance management peer groups for Virginia’s Community Action Agencies (CAAs).
- I am originally from Tempe, Arizona, and spent the majority of my life there. My nonprofit journey began when I started my own organization with a group of like-minded friends. Our goal was to educate elementary students on global issues and cultivate ways for them to impact such issues at a local level. Our great stride came to an end after a year and a half due to the recession. This led me to join AmeriCORPS in Phoenix through which I worked at the International Rescue Committee (IRC). This may sound familiar because we have one here in Richmond too! I was chosen to move out here to start the Richmond office and I haven’t looked back in over ten years.
- My favorite go-to spot in Richmond is SubRosa, located in Church Hill. Although I live in Church Hill, that’s not how I found out about SubRosa. I actually knew about SubRosa first and loved it so much that I had to move nearby! In my free time, I’ve been training for the Richmond marathon (got to work off SubRosa somehow!). Additionally, I’ve been learning about raising chickens, growing fruits and vegetables, and roasting my own coffee beans.
- CAPUP is close to my heart, because my mother participates in a CAA in Phoenix. As she ages in place, participating in the food pantry and the VITA site enables her to budget her limited resources well. I believe CAA’s are the best kept secret. At CAPUP, we help build a community where people don’t have one. We strive to be a place where people don’t feel shamed or ridiculed, regardless of their background in life.
If you need help, we’re here for you! If you want to give help, please sign up to volunteer at the button below. We’ve all experienced difficulty in our lives, but we can strive to advocate and build trails for others behind us.