Born and raised in Wilmington, NC, Brenda has been vested in the community for 30+ years, building relationships and gaining the trust of the community, which allows her access to family homes and their personal issues that need addressing.

She is the first trained Community Health Worker in Violence Prevention in NC and has studied multiple forms of violence through a public health lens. She provides direct services, educational trainings, and is at tables of policy change. Several boards have summoned her presence, including:

• Cafe Fear Coalition - Executive Board Member
• Resiliency Task Force - Law & Justice Subcommittee
• Quality Life Blueprint - Executive Board Member
• Change the Channel - Executive Board Member
• MomsNMourning - Co-founder
• H.O.P.E. - Founder and Director

She managed the Voyage Youth Leadership Council, who initiated the efforts for the Portia Mills Hines Park improvement campaign, addressed city council for lights, water, and restrooms, and was thus awarded $729,000 for the design project.

She maintains relationships with organizations while creating new partnerships and sponsors. She has established a solid youth base in the city, placed in agricultural science, contributing to community gardens in the city and Youth Empowerment Solutions programming.

Lily Nicole Nichelle graduated from UNCW in 2015 with a double major in Theatre and English. Upon graduation she moved to the Northside and began her career at Thalian Hall Center for Performing Arts where she became an integral part of the theatre community via her stage management and technical direction - a position she held until the summer 2020.

In her time on the Northside, Lily Nicole became involved in as many pockets as she could fill. When DC Virgo reopened, she was a teachers’ aid as well as after school program volunteer; after Hurricane Florence ransacked the city, Lily joined grassroots efforts out of Foxes Boxes for months delivering supplies and food while checking on her neighbors - helping to make sure their emergent needs were met. When the world stopped and held their breath for 8 minutes and 46 seconds as we witnessed George Floyd’s murder in the middle of a pandemic - Lily Nicole joined the community in outrage and disgust.

For over 100 days Lily Nicole assisted in organizing peaceful protests on City Hall Steps while planning informational meetings, voter registration as well as cofounding the non profit lowercase leaders - all with the focus on what’s next??

Lily has brought her skill sets and passion to the Southside, landing at Sokoto House - a cultural community hub, where she coauthored the regional implementation of an evidence based strategy locally titled Cape Fear Community Comprehensive Violence Prevention Strategy - a viable option to combating interpersonal and structural violence here in the Cape Fear region.

She has become a community health worker in violence prevention with a focus on popular education - an avenue that allows her to combine art and activism to ensure equitable healing opportunities for her and her community at large.

As a founder of Wilmington School of the Arts, she believes art is pivotal in every day existence. Her partnerships with UNCW allows her to attack racial equity through her lived experiences as well as her training. All experience combined together give her untouchable skills that benefit the Northiside Food Co-op as well as the Arboretum - both of which she holds seats on the board, focusing on community engagement and mobilization through events.

Lily is grateful for the new career and the endless possibilities that lie ahead for the people she cares about - real change is on the horizon.

Mr. Robbie Carter is the executive director of Family and Community. He is also a member of the inaugural group, Sokoto House 10, the first trained cohort of Community Health Worker Violence Prevention Professionals (CHW-VPP) in the nation. His primary function for Family and Community is to strategize and coordinate wraparound services for individuals, families, and communities based on their unique needs. Mr. Carter also ensures that FaC stays in alignment with the Cape Fear Community Comprehensive Violence PRevention Strategy plan.

Mr. Carter brings decades of intimate knowledge of what it means to be an African American man navigating the various levels of crisis and assault in America. Robbie has a deep passion for the plight of the African family in America with specific concern for young African males who grapple with the same challenges he has had to overcome.