A Red Circle’s first full year of operating was 2018. It was my first year as its full-time Executive Director and boy, did I learn a lot! From hiring and supervising employees, to marketing and outreach, to streamlining our accounting practices, to negotiating contracts, growing our board, and simply doing the work. I can definitely say I have grown as a leader and a person.

In 2018, A Red Circle did some amazing work to raise awareness of and, bring solutions to, the challenges North County residents face. Thanks to its amazing interns, volunteers, and collaborators, we raised twice the amount I budgeted for 2018. We educated and registered voters, created an Education Advocacy Coalition for North County’s school districts, mentored new and returning children, built a community garden and served meals with the garden harvest, taught classes, cohosted CommonBound 2018, cohosted an ActLocal event for civic engagement, initiated ongoing research projects around healthy food access and equitable education funding, took residents to The Muny in Forest Park, and produced a concert for Kwanzaa! Overall, 2018 was a great, busy, productive year for North County.

This year, we will continue the work we started in 2017, build upon our successes, and revamp our programming where needed. We will continue to ensure that our work aligns with our mission statement: the holistic betterment of our community; reversing the effects of racism one person and cause at a time.

Because A Red Circle is a community betterment organization, we rely on support from the community – including time, attention, and resources. So, join with us in a circle of inclusion, equality, and racial equity, because all blood is red.