Happy New Year!

The Community Expert Solutions team had our first meeting of 2018 and we are excited to get started on some amazing projects! We are proud to announce that we raised over $1000 in donations and generated additional revenue via consulting gigs with FHI 360 and UNC Chapel Hill in 2017 that helped support the development of the Digital LinCS online platform. We are currently working on some grant proposals, incubator programs, and fundraising ideas that we will announce soon.

Many of you may know that we are friends, but few know that we have been friends for nearly 8 years and have collaborated on several projects together! However, as business partners, we felt it was important to deepen our relationship by being proactive about communicating our differences in opinion, checking in with each other about our emotional states and personal experiences, and supporting each other through positive affirmations.

To ensure our continued success and strengthen our friendship, we started off the meeting with some intentions and affirmations. Here are our top intentions and affirmations to guide our work in 2018:

AFFIRMATIONS

• We are our own dream team.
• We can do this. We ARE doing this.
• The community trusts us and we trust them.
• If we build it, the money will come.

INTENTIONS

• Increase our capacities through professional development.

We will continue to spread the message about the power of our new software product, Digital LinCS, to transform the way people access healthcare. As we speak to the media and community-based outlets, we decided to focus on honing our skill sets and sharing what we learn with others. We will be hosting a series of professional development workshops to help others develop their businesses!

Our first workshop on time management will be in early March 2018. Stay tuned for more details!

• Do It for the Culture

We are a majority women-owned and minority-owned business. We come from and live in the communities most affected by health disparities. We continue to keep people of color and those from marginalized and disenfranchised communities at the heart of every decision we make.

Digital LinCS is a human-centered product.

• Prioritize friendship time separately from work time

Our love for the work we do to develop Digital LinCS and consult with institutions to promote health equity stems from our love for each other as friends. Last year, we found ourselves so excited by our work that it was the ONLY thing we talked about! This year, we want to pour into each other as friends so we can have the sustained energy and drive to pour into our community and company.

• Increase our presence in the community

We are planning some fun events and outreach activities this year! First, we will have "Digital LinCS Meet-Ups" in partnership with local pharmacies to answer any questions people may have about their eligibility to access medication assistance programs and other wrap-around health services.

We are looking for students from several fields (i.e., dental, social work, pharmacy, medical, public health, or any other related field) and community members interested in gaining some volunteer hours to help us!

To volunteer, click here.

• Open lines of communication with other start up digital health companies in the area

Do you know of any other digital health companies we should reach out to and learn more about? Feel free to share. We want to connect.

• Respect and develop equitable policies for Parental Leave

Our Project Development Partner, Alexandria Anderson, is pregnant with her second child! We want to make sure we support her as she grows her family. We also want to make sure that our company policies are equitable and well-designed for all parental types in the future. We will be working with NC State's B Corps Program to develop these policies and get B Corps certified.

• Better utilize project management tools

Email and text message are great when you're a small group of friends trying to get something started. However, we have grown to have 5 full-time employees and several volunteers, and work with several sub-contractors. As we expand, we recognize the need for more formalized project management tools.

What are your affirmations and intentions for 2018? We would love to hear from you!

Also, if you're interested in partnering on an event or anything else, please let us know!