Today we’d like to introduce you to Utica Cason.
Hi Utica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started my journey 23 years ago with volunteering with a local nonprofit that provided transitional housing to low-income families. I was a college intern at that time. I remember meeting the families and their low points of their life and just being able to bring joy, encouragement, and support to a single mom with three children. I was a Family Mentor and worked with the mom one on one but also an additional support to the children. I always have a passion of wanting to help others in some form of compacity.
I remember being a single mom raising 2 young men and some of hardships I encountered with working and going to school to college and with limited income and having to face the struggles each month with regards to providing a home, clothing, transportation, food, and household items (cleaning supplies and hygiene items). It was a struggle then and it continue to be a struggle now among our homeless and low-income youth and families.
I remember being a nerd in school and being bully due to me wearing glasses, not able to have the latest fashion, the nice hairdos, and not really being one of the cool kids when I young. We also noticed that in 2017, bullying amongst our youth increased and we saw on news stations that youth younger than 8 years committing suicide due to being a victim of bullying. Who would imagine a young child having to endure at such a young age. This was not a thing 30 years ago and it continue to increase and be an ongoing issue amongst our youth.
I decided to do something about it and created our Healthy Hygiene Habits Program and make a part of SOAR Outreach’s programs in 2018.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
No it has not been a smooth road. When I started SOAR Outreach in 2014 our program at that time was to provide underserved men with job training, resume assistance, interviewing skills and professional and business casual clothing and accessories but this was a challenge since we were a new nonprofit but I worked a full-time and part-time at that time which resulted in me working 7 days a week for years. I decided in 2017 to phase this program out and come up with a new program that will make a bigger impact.
The struggles we encountered is being a new nonprofit was hard to obtain funding to grow your organization during the start-up phase but also most funders will not fund your organization until you been in existence for 3 years. We were new so getting the word out in the community about our organization were was a challenge also especially with the new technology such of websites, social media, and etc.
Another few challenges we also faced were creating new community partnerships, marketing, receiving in-kind donations of hygiene items since we was just starting out, being able to reach the youth we wanted to serve.
I think another big challenge all new business owners experience is not wanting to share their business ideas to everyone due to possibly your idea being stole by another individual. That was a real challenge for me but once I faced that fear we started to grow.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I love helping others. I enjoy working and being involved with anything that relates to community empowerment or nonprofit. I love mentoring other nonprofit business owners to help them grow their organization. I didn’t have that when I started 8 years ago so I want to pour back into others to help them become successful and fulfil their passion.
I specialized in property management, affordable housing, nonprofit management, and I’m known as a community leader if you speak to others in the area.
I fulfill my passion of helping others thru my current position as a Team Lead for Yardi Systems Inc. were I manage employees to help them grow and develop their professional career by being a mentor, teacher, and cheerleader. I currently work on our Relief Suite Team that assist state, county, and city agencies to manage and disburse more than $2.5 Billon dollars for economic recovery. Our Relief Products has distribute emergency rental assistance funds to renters and landlords, and expediate homeowner assistance fund payments due to COVID Impact. I love my company because our motto is to take care of our clients, employees, and our community which we do everyday. I’m still making an impact to individuals in the community but also giving back which is my passion.
I’m proud of being a high school drop and single mom that decided to not allow this to define me but decided to go back to school to continue my education and now a successful business owner and a manager at an wonderful company which allows me to fulfill my passion of helping others.
I think what set me apart because I’m passion about what I do, I want to see others succeed, determined, and have a high drive to become successful. I’m working in the evenings and weekends on projects, assignments, and tasks to help my nonprofit grow. I have been the CEO of my nonprofit for 8 years and have not taken a salary at all. I have many roles in my organization (bookkeeping, marketing, social media manager, administrative assistant). I do what needs to be done to get the job done. All our funding goes is used to manage the daily operation of the business. Our organization is built on all volunteers.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I found mentors by speaking to others in the industry, joining nonprofit groups like Triangle YNPN, Nonprofits, North Carolina Center for Nonprofits, joining groups on Facebooks, engaging in more social media platforms.
There was not a local nonprofit group on Facebook 4 years ago. I decided to create a Facebook group called Nonprofits and Community Organizations of North Carolina to help me a group that provides funding info, nonprofit management topics, collaborations, recommendations and processes with regards to starting a nonprofit in NC, for others that want to start a nonprofit , and tools and resources for other nonprofits since there was not much guidance out there when I started SOAR Outreach.
Pricing:
- N/A
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.soaroutreach.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soaroutreach14/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soaroutreach
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/soaroutreach14
