Real Change Wilmington is a list of community resources designed to help empower individuals and educate the community on the different solution providers in town so that when we give, we don't just give pocket change, we can connect people with "real change" (hence the name).
Real Change Wilmington is not perfect, but we didn't want to wait for perfection to start getting this resources into the hands of imperfect people who have real needs right now—so we are launching this thing, ready or not, confident that we will grow with community support and get better over time.
In the first episode of our podcast, hosts Dustin Pearce and Emily Spencer discuss the motivation that sparked Real Change Wilmington, and the two key points it is trying to address—individual empowerment, and community education.
“Last summer I noticed a lot of people asking for money outside of Kroger. I wanted to help, but I was skeptical that they actually needed the money, because I knew of many resources in the community that provide food, shelter, etc. So to solve this dilemma, I decided to use my skills to create a resource that both helps people in need to get resources and helps those who want to give, get the education to give wisely—and not just pocket change, but ‘real change’ (hence the name),” Pearce said.
Part of what we are trying to do is empower people, eliminate excuses, and expose true gaps in resources. We live in a small town where information travels by word-of-mouth, but often secondhand information can be misinformed or incomplete. We aim to address that.
The second thing we are trying to do is educate the community, reduce frustration caused by lack of communication, and improve a sense of community pride. That is a big reason we started the podcast, to talk with leaders of local organizations to get a first hand understanding of who they are and what they do.
We know there are bugs and missing information, and we are working on them. However, we trust people are ready for real change and we are encourage by the community support we are receiving.