Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has. ~ Margaret Mead
Good Work Team
All members of the Good Work Team have agreed to the Good Work Team Covenant.
Good Work Team Covenant
- We believe in everyone's potential
- We have high expectations of ourselves and others
- We bring out the best in each other by encouraging and challenging one another, keeping each other accountable, and working together in a spirit of excellence
- We are creative stewards of our time, talent, and resources
- We commit to strengthen the communities where we live and work
- We strive to nurture authentic community relationships that affirm the dignity, worth, and potential of everyone
John Parker
John Parker strives to be a good steward of his talents, develop transformative relationships, nurture good work that advances the greater good, and encourage others to do the same.
John leads Good Work, a community development organization with a mission to strengthen people, places, and communities through economic empowerment, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development.
He currently serves on the boards of the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, stone circles, and the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship. Other work experience includes directing the Triad Regional Office of the Self-Help, research and teaching cultural and applied anthropology at the University of Memphis, and extensive ethnographic research in Central America and the U.S. American South.
John is a native from North Carolina's Sandhills area in the Piedmont region and received his masters in applied anthropology from the University of Memphis and bachelors at Wake Forest University.
He can be found on Facebook and Linkedin, and tries to keep some good material and resources on his blog.
At the end of the day, in order to be the change we wish to see in the world, John Parker believes we must stay awake, organize ourselves, have an open mind and a good heart, and work for the greater good.
John enjoys teaching, training, and coaching around issues related to entrepreneurship, small business development, strategic planning, organizational development, vocation, self-reliance, stewardship, and sustainable development.
Murtado Bustillo
Murtado Bustillo conducts the entrepreneurship training and business assistance for the Spanish-speaking Latino community. Committed to providing linguistically appropriate services and education, Murtado is licensed in interpretation and translation services.
For over nine years, he has provided a variety of translation and interpretation services for organizations and institutions.
Past clients include the Highlander Center, Southeast Regional Center for Economic Justice, NC Chapters of the Industrial Areas Foundation, NC Center for Nonprofits, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, El Centro Hispano of Durham, Latino Community Credit Union, Duke University, UNC-CH, Central Carolina Bank, Changeworks, Heifer Project, Dispute Settlement Center of Orange County, City of Durham, Durham County, and Durham Public Schools.
Dennis Gaddy
Dennis Gaddy, Executive Director of the Community Success Initiative, one of Good Work's partner organizations that provides personal and leadership development training, gives leadership in expanding Good Work’s outreach to young adults and ex-offenders.
Dennis places special emphasis in the areas of goal-setting, developing and maintaining a pleasing personality and a positive mental attitude, time management skills, and keys to optimum vision and leadership. Dennis Gaddy’s personal mission is to help others to be their best, and for the last 20 years, he has refined his skills, leading him into the field of success coaching, training, and consulting people, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor, or socio-economic status.
A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and the Campbell University School of Law, Dennis had a 20 year sales career. However, due to some poor financial decisions he experienced the pain of bankruptcy, the loss of his law license, and prison. Dennis was incarcerated for five years in the NC Department of Corrections.
Rather than being overcome by either success or failure, Dennis studied both, and learned valuable and positive insights from the past. He learned the value of using the past as a place of reference, but not residence, and designed and teaches a 15-Step leadership course on "How To Get From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be". This leadership course is the foundation he works from when coaching people in personal growth and development issues.
Johnetta Ruth Alston
Johnetta began her career in the non-profit sector in 1990, serving in an administrative capacity with Edgemont Community Center of Few Gardens. She developed a non-profit to help the homeless, transient, ex-offenders, mentally ill, substance abusers and veterans. JRuth, Inc. was created in 2002 with the following mission: To motivate, develop, educate and support the low income, homeless, ex-offender and transitional population, while training productive families for self-sufficiency and successful homeownership.
Ms. Alston assists individuals to develop a practical plans that leads to self-reliance. With extensive knowledge, compassion and willingness to help her community, Johnetta is the advocate and motivator that continues to make strides in Durham and throughout the Triangle area.
Brandon Hudson
Brandon Hudson has a passion for addressing the needs of young people and believes those needs must be addressed in culturally relevant ways. He is a member of Good Work's Youth Entrepreneurship Team, whose mission is to enhance the entrepreneurial knowledge and capacity of young people in the Triangle area as they grow into adulthood.
Brandon's work experience includes two years as an AmeriCorps*VISTA in California, where his role was to provide leadership and skill-building opportunities for young people in order to create sustainable infrastructure for after school programs, youth philanthropy, and policy influencing. He has also assisted Triangle non-profits JRuth, Inc. and Community Success Initiative in their efforts to address the needs of people coming home from prison.
A graduate of Duke University, Brandon invested his collegiate years in building community among students on campus and across the Triangle. He also mentored young people in the Durham Public Schools and spent two summers in Ghana, West Africa, studying identity and authenticity within hip-hop and youth culture.
Ultimately, Brandon seeks to stretch his imagination in order to envision communities where people are leading simple, satisfying, and sustainable lives.
Christopher Rumbley
Christopher Rumbley is a permaculture designer, practitioner, educator and entrepreneur. Part of Good Work's Green Enterprise and Food Collaborative, he works to make meaningful and sustainable vocations viable and accessible to young adults. From backyards to a community scale, he helps individuals, community organizations, city departments and small businesses apply wholistic and regenerative approaches toward more resilient community development. His focus is currently on 'good for the world' (green, social, cooperative, collaborative and community) enterprise development & consulting, cooperative housing and sustainable & urban agriculture.
A native of Randolph Co. and graduate of UNC Chapel Hill, he has been doing community building work with youth and adults for over 10 years in diverse capacities. He is co-owner of the community enterprise, Bountiful Backyards, an edible landscaping design/build collective. And, is co-founder of Sustainable Vocations--North Carolina, a green jobs training program for young adults.
Rob Jones
Rob Jones is a radical educator and food activist working to make sustainable food accessible and affordable by empowering communities to grow food. As part of Good Work's Green Enterprise and Food collaborative Rob works to expand our understanding of entrepreneurship to include all of the ways we create livelihood for ourselves; from paid work to growing food in a home or community garden.
Rob organizes Crop Mob a group of young, landless, and/or wannabe farmers that works collectively and builds community within sustainable agriculture. He also cooks and collaborates with community organizer/chef Vimala Rajendran in her community kitchen.
In his work Rob draws on his undergraduate studies in Biology and graduate studies in Environmental Education but finds his informal education to be as useful if not more useful. Working with communities and observing the natural world have been some of his biggest teachers.
Kelly Castor
Kelly Castor is the Founding Partner of Practical Lessons, a personal and professional development company, and is the Co-founder and President of Partners for Strong Communities, a non-profit organization dedicated to building strong communities around local food initiatives, renewable and sustainable energy programs and sustainable local economies with a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship.
Kelly brings out the best in people. He focuses on human potential and the deliberate and conscious journey of personal development. Bringing real-world experience to youth entrepreneur programs and community leadership programs alike, in a no-nonsense, practical approach, is Kelly?s trademark. His mission is to support individuals in developing habits that serve them, their peers and their communities in a mutually beneficial manner.
His speaking and seminar programs are energetic, interactive and impactful. Raised in a small farming community in rural Indiana, Kelly brings a no-nonsense, down-to-earth style of speaking and training. He has years of experience on the "business frontlines." This, coupled with his understanding of "how and why people are the way they are," gives him a unique perspective into the "art of leadership and community development."
Kelly believes strongly that we must tap into our human potential to achieve the results we desire as an individual and a community.
Dawn Trembath
Dawn Trembath works to support individuals looking for new paths forward to a more fulfilling life. In today's world, this often means learning new skills or new ways of doing things. Dawn serves as a resource to help individuals gain the technology knowledge they need to achieve their goals.
She is also working to both identify issues in low-income communities that can be addressed by scientific innovation, and bring these needs to the attention of local scientists & engineers.
Dawn has worked as an engineer, research scientist, instructor, and most recently as a research associate with the North Carolina Board of Science & Technology. She studied Community Psychology at North Carolina State University, where she focused on the participation of non-traditional populations in science & technology.
For the past 20 years, Dawn has made her home in Durham. She grew up in the Detroit area, and continues to maintain ties with the many folks she left behind in Michigan.
Her current activities include technology support for Good Work projects at the JOE entrepreneurship center, partnering with Recyclique to turn used materials into low-tech green products, and fostering collaboration between local universities, tech-related organizations, & low-income communities.