Press and Media
August 22, 2023
Former Raleigh gang member reflects on his past, works to heal from trauma
“A lot of the stuff that I’ve seen and went through, that can never be erased from my life,” Anderson, 35, told ABC11 on Monday evening…….
August 10, 2023
SECU Foundation Supports 20 North Carolina Non-Profits with $800,000 in Capacity Building Grants
Twenty non-profits located across North Carolina have been awarded $800,000 in capacity building grants by SECU Foundation. The funding was part of the Foundation’s Mission Development Grant (MDG) program, providing each non-profit with $40,000 and an approved consultant to help address organizational needs for future business goals and sustainability.
May 18, 2023
Newly Crowned Ms. Black North Carolina 2022 is Supporting Healing Around the State
WILSON, N.C., June 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Rural Opportunity Institute (ROI), the local organization supporting trauma-informed and resilient communities by offering various initiatives that foster healing in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, is thrilled to celebrate Eulanda Thorne,…..
April 21, 2023
Conversations Across Generations: Shawn Dove And Seth Saeugling
Building an America where everyone can thrive is not a solo endeavor. It requires us to come together across lines of difference that have largely divided and fragmented us. At New Profit, we firmly believe that, if we are to create the transformational change we seek in our schools, our communities, and our economy, we must work together across racial identities, generations, and sectors.
April 21, 2023
Social Entrepreneur Spotlight: Vichi Jagannathan Of Rural Opportunity Institute
Rural Opportunity Institute (ROI), one of eight organizations in New Profit’s first Health Equity Cohort, supports youth, organizations, and communities in rural North Carolina to help them interrupt the cycle of generational trauma and design innovative solutions for healing and resilience.
April 5, 2023
In light of ‘rural week,’ organizations work to make a difference in less populated areas
Of North Carolina’s 100 counties, 78 contain rural areas — which make up approximately 40 percent of the state. And, on March 20, Gov. Roy Cooper proclaimed “Rural Week” as a celebration of the rural communities in the state.
March 6, 2023
HOPE Alternative Learning Program THRIVE
Alternative school students face stigma and have significantly higher levels of trauma and poverty compared to other students in the district.
February 24, 2023
ROI was recently featured on the Walton Family Foundation’s website, which shared the story of how our organization began. Read the article to learn how ROI’s founders used human-centered design and systems mapping to create an organization that gives rural communities the resources and training they need to thrive after traumatic experiences, build resilience, and spread their ideas to other communities.
February 7, 2023
Whole Community Connection Awards Rural Community-Academic Partnerships
Whole Community Connection (WCC) awarded two Robeson County community-academic partnerships in 2022. In its second year, WCC expanded to support two Edgecombe County community-academic partnerships and two Robeson County community-academic partnerships.
February 7, 2023
Social Entrepreneur Spotlight: Vichi Jagannathan Of Rural Opportunity Institute
Rural Opportunity Institute (ROI), one of eight organizations in New Profit’s first Health Equity Cohort, supports youth, organizations, and communities in rural North Carolina to help them interrupt the cycle of generational trauma and design innovative solutions for healing and resilience.
February 7, 2023
Tapping the Potential of Rural Communities
A North Carolina nonprofit uses human-centered design to find innovative solutions to rural challenges.
January 20, 2023
The Edgecombe Community College Division of College and Career Readiness is providing specialized support to students thanks to a partnership with the Rural Opportunity Institute.
October 27, 2022
I first moved to rural Eastern North Carolina in 2011 as a Teach for America corps member. Up until then, I had only lived in cities and suburbs.
– Philanthropy in the Deep South: Know Your Funding History and Share The Wealth, Camelback Ventures Fellow
October 10, 2022
ROI Co-Founder Vichi Jagannathan shares the path that led her to start the organization and how, when properly resourced, a rural community can become a hotbed of innovative practice.
– Social Entrepreneur Spotlight: Vichi Jagannathan of Rural Opportunity Institute, New Profit.
September 2, 2022
Community members in Edgecombe County gathered on Aug. 18 to celebrate the photography of students from the Honor Opportunity Purpose Excellence (HOPE) alternative learning program.
August 31, 2022
I spent 45 years in classrooms in Stanley, N.C., New York City, and mostly Charlotte. I’ve seen lots of changes in the world and in schools, but the most disturbing shift has happened since the Sandy Hook massacre.
March 8, 2022
As a former school counselor, Quarry Williams spent a lot of time getting to know his students when he became coordinator of the Honor Opportunity Purpose Excellence (HOPE) alternative learning program in Edgecombe County Public Schools. He remembers forming a bond with one student in particular. When the student broke school rules, though, Williams was forced to dole out a consequence. What happened next broke his heart and opened his eyes.
– Using Medicaid to fund more mental health supports for schools, EdNC
March 7, 2022
Beginning this month, a leadership program in Rural North Carolina is helping local organizations implement trauma-informed practices.
Organizers of the Resilient Leaders Initiative explained their goal is to help residents tackle the root cause of harm and promote healing.
According to the Center for Healthcare Strategies, a trauma-informed approach includes understanding how traumatic experiences such as abuse and neglect, displacement from natural disasters, and community violence affects physical and mental health.
– Program Aims to Infuse Trauma-Informed Practices in Rural NC, Public News Service
September 8, 2021
In response to COVID-19, Area L AHEC and Barton College partnered to create online modules that could substitute in-person student clinical experiences. They enlisted the help of Rural Opportunity Institute and fourteen of its Certified Resilience Educators to film and produce a module focused on trauma awareness.
–Rural Opportunity Institute Launches New Resiliency Educational Program with NC AHEC and Barton College, Barton College
May 1, 2021
Four local agencies have partnered with the Rural Opportunity Institute, a nonprofit project incubated within Area L AHEC, to participate in a nine-month program to design and pilot innovative new ways to support the people they serve to heal from and persist through these traumatic events.
–Local Organizations Join Rural Health Initiative, Rocky Mount Telegram
November 30, 2020
In this episode of the Hummingbird Stories, Donnell and Jenny talk to Seth Saeugling and Vichi Jagannathan. In this conversation, we dive into the impact of trauma and the ways in which we can all pursue pathways to healing.
— Ep.3 – “Chop wood, carry wood” featuring Seth Saeugling and Vichi Jagannathan
April 21, 2020
“This year’s group of semi-finalists represents both individuals and teams of entrepreneurs who are working at all levels of the education ecosystem to expand opportunities for students. Learn more about their ventures and big ideas for creating a more equitable future (we provided links to each venture’s website where available). And stay tuned for this year’s winner(s) to be announced in early June.”
— Tackling Inequity From All Angles: The 2020 Social Innovation Award, Teach for America
March 20, 2020
”A big part of that plan is shifting away from punitive measures toward restorative justice, starting in the school system. The hope is to mitigate out-of-school suspensions, which have often led to students getting behind and giving up on school altogether as a result.
In response, Rural Opportunity Institute piloted biofeedback programs for local students and prisoners. At Pattillo Middle School, students prone to misbehaving were placed into the program, where they learned breathing techniques to calm down. Teachers saw better behavior as a result.”
January 4, 2020
“[Byron] Hall learned about the science of adverse childhood experiences three years ago in a two-day training offered by the Rural Opportunity Institute (ROI). The organization was founded by two Teach for America alums trained in human-centered design at IDEO and Frog in Silicon Valley.”
— Byron Hall: A Mentor Rich with Experience Counsels Teen Parents in NC, ACES Connection Network
January 17, 2020
“This is liberation work – from the inside out. To change systems and prevent trauma, first, we gotta heal parts of ourselves.”
December 10, 2019
“I felt that I had missed a vital part of my education. Anyone who is in college for social work or teaching, a class on ACEs and trauma should be a required course.”
November 27, 2019
“We want to keep people out of jail. We want people to realize and think about their actions before they get here,” said Sheriff Clee Atkinson.”
October 1, 2019
“Over two years and thousands of hours of precision-tuned work, the community has determined that unaddressed trauma, specifically trauma caused by adverse childhood experiences, has enabled generational cycles of poverty and pain in Tarboro. In response, Seth and Vichi are working with community members to launch solutions that are spreading through the town like wildfire, reaching into systems from schools to law enforcement to individual families, and transforming them.”
— “Meet the Unexpected Experts Transforming a North Carolina Town,” Teach for America
July 10, 2019
“Do not be afraid to put yourself out there. Often, you will learn more by spending 10 minutes with your customer/user, then you will in 10 hours of isolated research or desk work. It can be uncomfortable, don’t let that stop you. Build the muscle, put yourself in spaces where people think differently from you and learn their worldview, how they view the problem they are living that you are seeking to solve, and how they react to any potential solutions you’ve built to serve them.”
— Seth Saeugling on 14 Social Entrepreneurs Share Ideas on How to Recover from Failure, Cause Artist
July 11, 2019
“Having the direct support of Engaging Inquiry’s team took our community’s systems map to a whole different level. Karen’s (CEO) facilitation and Bailey’s (Principal, Community Health Systems) constant guidance led to a systems map that reflected community member’s stories in a deep and truthful way. This led to buy-in and support from community members and leaders to really engage with the map as a tool for building a community-wide vision for action.”
— Vichi Jagannathan on The Social Innovator’s Guide to Using Systems Practice to Tackle Difficult Problems in Complex Environments, Acumen Academy
March 1, 2019
“I am ruthless for equity in rural, majority-minority communities.”
— Vichi Jagannathan on Welcome to the 2019 Camelback Fellows
January 21, 2019
Speakers Vichi Jagannathan and Seth Saeugling from the Rural Opportunity Institute informed the group about the work they are doing with Edgecombe County regarding ACEs.
— Adverse Childhood Experiences Can Affect Us as Adults, Neuse News
January 11, 2018
Texas A&M gives $80,000 to Edgecombe organizations for teen pregnancy prevention
March 29, 2018
“We’re going to try to find places in the system where we can unlock the opportunity for potentially relatively small interventions to have an outsized impact,” Grattan said. “That’s the idea of leverage.”
— “Trauma Researchers Continue Community-Driven Work to Disrupt Poverty in Edgecombe,” EdNC
December 27, 2017
“We believed in the human-centered design process and had seen positive results in the past, but we sensed the outcome could easily become a ‘touchpoint solution’ that might address a particular facet of trauma, but wouldn’t take into account the deeper reasons why these problems existed.” — Seth Saeugling
“We are lucky to have support to do this crucial research & development work to understand our local context deeply before we have to ‘build’ solutions. We understand how rare this is, and feel a sense of responsibility. Most organizations, especially nonprofits, are stuck in a grant cycle that does not allow for the time and resources to really understand root causes,” — Vichi Jagannathan
