Reidsville Area Foundation

10/16/2026

Our Executive Director, Dawn Charaba, is a finalist for Exponent Philanthropy's 2026 Outsized Impact Award! The Outsized Impact Award celebrates an individual from an Exponent Philanthropy member organization whose giving has achieved results that are greater than expected. Drawing on nearly two decades of nonprofit leadership, Dawn has strengthened RAF’s focus on community-centered philanthropy, elevating resident voices and expanding the foundation’s role as a convener, connector, and strategic partner across the county. Read more about the candidates and vote at

The Outsized Impact Award celebrates an individual from an Exponent Philanthropy member organization whose giving has achieved results that are greater than expected. Get to know the 2026 finalists below. Submit your vote by October 28! VOTE NOW Dawn Charaba Executive Director, Reidsville Area Found...

10/02/2026

Community change begins small to go big!

10/02/2026

Check out this Job Fair hosted by NCWorks of Rockingham & Caswell Counties!

09/23/2026

Attention RoCo markets and farm stores!

Piedmont Triad Regional Council will host an upcoming free in-person workshop in collaboration with Heather Edwards as part of the Growing Food Finance Technical Assistance Hub. Scaling Beyond Startup is open to local food retail (including markets and farm stores) and food hubs located in the Piedmont Triad Region. Workshop content will focus on practical strategies for growing and sustaining your business. You can find additional details on the registration page.

DATE: Tuesday, October 6th, 2026 | Time: 9:30am-12:30pm

Piedmont Triad Regional Council: 1398 Carrollton Crossing Drive, Kernersville, NC 27284

This workshop is facilitated by Heather Edwards who served as Executive Director of the McDowell Local Food Advisory Council from 2018- 2023. She directed development and construction of the Foothills Food Hub and has led community initiatives focused on local food systems, food access, agricultural economic development, health equity, and farmer success.

Register online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/scaling-beyond-startup-tickets-1999806195163?aff=oddtdtcreator

09/17/2026

The community needs to overcome its separation and “go together.” In our community conversations in partnership with The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, we heard many examples, and expressions of great pride in the way people across Rockingham County step up to help one another in response to individual needs. There’s an opportunity to extend that ethic of helping to create a stronger community rather than just individual efforts. To do so, people must overcome their separation and find new ways to “go together.” As one Bethany resident said, “If we could just get together, we can roll on down the road.”

You can read the full community report at https://theharwoodinstitute.org/report-catalog/better-together-rockingham-county

*Photo credits to TVOC ARTS, LLC

09/10/2026

Last month, Reidsville Area Foundation released Better Together: Creating a Shared Direction for Rockingham County in partnership with The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation. This report includes the main themes that emerged from conversations and interviews, as well as key recommendations for investing in and growing the community's civic capacities and renewing a sense of possibility and hope. Over the next few weeks, we will share excerpts from the report and photos from the events leading up to our Community Getting Started Labs. Thank you, TVOC ARTS, LLC, for capturing our community in action!

https://theharwoodinstitute.org/report-catalog/better-together-rockingham-county

09/03/2026

RAF has two team members in the national spotlight. 🔥🔥🔥Both Dawn Charaba, Executive Director, and Tango Barham, Grants Manager, were recently featured in Exponent Philanthropy's Changemaker Campaign! The campaign spotlights 30 individuals shaping community and driving meaningful change.

More than two decades ago, a group of foundation leaders—many working with few or no staff—came together with a shared realization: they were navigating philanthropy largely on their own. What began as a simple gathering sparked something bigger, a community built on connection, shared learning,...

08/17/2026

Mark your calendars! The Piedmont Triad Regional Council (PTRC) is excited to offer an in-person workshop at our office in Kernersville on Tuesday, October 6th from 9 AM till 12:30 PM as part of the Growing Food Finance Technical Assistance Hub. These workshops are open to food retail and food enterprise (food hubs, farmers markets, farm stores, corner stores, grocery stores, mobile markets, cooperatives, distributors) in the Piedmont Triad Region.

Overall, the workshop will focus on how to “Scale Beyond Startup”. We will be addressing profitability, expansion, building relationships with consumers, producers, and volunteers and making community connections for impacts and funding. As we prepare, we ask that you take 5 minutes to give us feedback about your current interests and needs. The survey will be open for responses through COB on August 28, 2026.

Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KW2DYCX

Learn more about the Growing Food Finance program here.

Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

07/29/2026

Last week I was in Rockingham County, NC, a deeply rural and conservative community, to launch a community initiative in partnership with Reidsville Area Foundation.

As documented in our report, Better Together: Creating a Shared Direction for Rockingham County, people there have a strong ethic of helping one another. Now comes the opportunity to extend that ethic of helping to create a stronger community rather than just individual efforts.

I believe Rockingham County can become an example of what's possible in America. Our country needs more communities—especially rural communities—showing that people can come together across political, faith, geographic, racial, and economic differences to shape a shared future.

The regional Fox affiliate, FOX8, covered the launch of the initiative, highlighting the community's efforts to move this work forward. You can watch the story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmlbyU5DS7o

06/30/2026