What is the Westside Collaborative?
The Westside Collaborative is a growing network of community partners and resident leaders working together to provide increased opportunities for families, youth, and small businesses on the Westside.
Organizations serving Charleston’s Westside have long sought opportunities to gather, network, learn, and collaborate towards improving quality of life on the Westside. Drawing from the energy, enthusiasm and experience of numerous local groups, the Westside Collaborative includes a broad and diverse mix of community champions invested in a shared mission: to bring together change-makers to positively impact life on the Westside now and for generations to come.
The Collaborative coordinates existing community partners to better serve the needs of Westside residents, connects residents to existing resources and to take a more organized approach to attracting additional resources for the community. The Collaborative serves as a catalyst supporting the near-term outcomes benefiting the Westside as well as systems level changes that will be necessary to create long-term sustainable outcomes.
Some collaborative partners include:
Charleston, WV NAACP
Step by Step, Inc.
Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority
United Way of Central WV
The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation
City of Charleston, WV
HOPE Community Development Corporation
Charleston Urban Renewal Authority
Risen City Church
Keep Your Faith Corporation
Wild, Wonderful, and Healthy West Virginia
A More Excellent Way Life Center Church
Partnership of African American Churches
Midian Leadership Project
Recovery Point West Virginia
Create West Virginia
The shared values guiding our work together
Collaboration & teamwork
Sharing a common mission, leaving egos at the door, leveraging skills & experience, having positive attitudes
Community-driven & inclusive
Valuing resident and community leadership and input
Trust & respect
Valuing differences, building on existing work & relationships, creating safe, accessible opportunities for collaboration & participation
Results-focused & committed
Commitment to the work, accountability, perseverance, follow-through & long-term investmentTrust & respect
Resident Outreach
As a initial step to support organizations serving the Westside, Westside Together organized a resident outreach team that talked with neighbors door to door in 2022. Residents expressed what needs were most important in their lives, and the findings were compiled for the Westside Collaborative to inform where funding and resources will have the most impact.
Thank you to the more than 600 households from all over the Westside that made their voice heard via the Westside Community Outreach efforts
Read more about the collaborative that conducted the resident outreach!
We know many Westsiders face challenges that have a direct impact on our daily lives. We also know that Westsiders share a strong sense of pride and hope for our community. Too often, decisions about what happens in communities happen without the people who live in those communities.
The Westside Collaborative is made up of community organizations that have partnered together to listen and learn about how to do a better job of supporting residents and bring our community together. Our goal is to hear what residents have to say, find out how folks are doing, help folks get involved in Westside activities and make stronger connections to Westside resources.
Neighbors connecting with neighbors.
The Outreach Team includes Westside residents who are passionate about the community and dedicated to supporting positive change on the Westside. The team is hired and trained to reach out and hear what other residents have to say and to listen to neighbors’ needs, concerns, and vision for a better community as well as make connections to resources.
Building on previous and current outreach efforts on the Westside, the goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the current needs and overall well-being of residents, to better connect residents to existing resources and to drive real change and future investments in the community based directly on resident input.