For Us, By Us | Celebrating Community Builders at Chime: Kayla Chappell
To Kayla Chappell, community means many things: it’s her friends, family, and neighbors, it’s the activities she participates in, her daily routines. “Community, to me, can be near or far,” she says. “I currently live in Nashville, and I’m the only member of my family here, but my family and hometown are still very much a part of my community. My community is also here, built through my friends, colleagues, kickball team, and softball league. To me, building community happens when we connect through both our differences and our commonalities.”
In celebration of Black History Month, Chimers are grounding themselves in the theme of “For Us, By Us,” focusing on how important Black entrepreneurship and community building are at work, at home, and out in the world. We sat down with Kayla to learn more about how she builds community in her home state of Alabama and in her work at Chime.
For Us, By Us: The M.O.V.E. Community Foundation
“Being a community member involves more than just showing up. It requires a deep understanding of what you and your other community members need to live life.”
Kayla grew up in the town of Selma, Alabama — a place deeply involved with the Civil Rights Movement and a part of the Black Belt region of Alabama. As a result of growing up there, Kayla became deeply aware of the rich history of her community, as well as the abundant opportunity for growth. “Growing up in Selma shaped who I am as a person, and as I advanced in my life and career, I realized that I wanted to still feel connected to my hometown,” she says. “I also knew of many opportunities within my home city to help people financially, physically, and emotionally. That desire for connection and space for meaningful contribution led me to start M.O.V.E.”
Manifesting Our Values Everyday (M.O.V.E.) Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization formed in 2020 to change the lives of families and individuals in need. The foundation creates programs to provide educational, financial, and behavioral health resources for the Autauga, Dallas, Lowndes, and Perry Counties in Alabama. For Kayla, the organization provides something completely different, too: “M.O.V.E. allows me to feel connected to home while working with community and city leaders, as well as residents of these four counties, to assess what each community needs,” she says. “I don’t have all the answers, but I do know that I would love to help more people access the opportunities I’ve had in my life.”
M.O.V.E. is focused on building relationships in its communities and becoming visible to those who need it the most — so that it can help them. “It’s up to us, as members of our communities, to seek out the resources available to us and ask for the things that will further improve our lives,” Kayla says. “To do that, we have to ask questions that are important to the communities we’re helping, like, ‘How do we keep our community members warm?’ and ‘How do we keep our students and faculty safe?’”
Such questions have led to several of M.O.V.E.’s service projects. Last winter, it held its Spread the Warmth initiative, donating blankets, scarves, and other cold-weather essentials to families in need. And at the beginning of the last school year, M.O.V.E. provided newly-required reusable water bottles to students to ensure they could drink clean water at school.
Redefining what success looks like: Starting M.O.V.E.
“M.O.V.E. started when several of the board members, including myself, were talking about how grateful we are for where we are in our careers,” explains Kayla. “The conversation expanded, and eventually, we discussed how to share the opportunities afforded to us in our early lives with others. We all wanted to show people that success can look like more than just being a doctor or a lawyer, which are typical dreams in our communities.” This led Kayla and the other board members to ponder the ultimate goal: What did they want to offer to their communities?
The answer was to start by offering what their communities need: a space to gather, including a place for the elderly to receive care, a place where children can receive tutoring, and a shelter for those affected by tornadoes or other natural disasters. They also wanted to provide another major resource that makes life nearly impossible to live without: the internet. “When the pandemic hit, so many families within our communities didn’t have internet, hindering their children’s transition to online schooling,” Kayla explains. “We used our resources to gather monetary support and work with local schools to help people get access to the internet — and their kids back to school.” Kayla and the M.O.V.E. team continue to focus on providing services that their communities need.
Perhaps the greatest realization when running a community-led organization like M.O.V.E. is that, even with the best of intentions, you can’t do it all on your own. “We couldn’t do any of this without our volunteers,” says Kayla.
M.O.V.E.’s volunteers come from a multitude of experiences, but no matter their backgrounds, they provide support to the organization. “We’ve always said that our volunteers don’t need to be corporate employees or Ivy Leaguers,” Kayla explains. “All they need is the passion to help their communities and realize the strengths they are bringing to the table — and sometimes those strengths are a desire to help and the ability to show up.” Sometimes, those strengths are connections, such as getting introductions to local leaders. Other times, they come in the form of monetary donations. The range of strengths varies, but every bit of effort and enthusiasm helps.
Building community at work
At work, Kayla believes that community improves the quality of her work as well as the quality of her life. “The role that community plays for me at Chime is major — it’s helped me feel more comfortable and makes me enjoy coming to work,” she says. “Even when I’m learning new things, I can rely on my community of colleagues to ask questions, learn from them, and expand my limits.”
Kayla builds community through her involvement in several Chime Resource Groups, including AfroChime and ChimeHers. These groups allow her to connect with people who look like her and understand her experiences at work. “Being a part of these groups helps me build community with fellow Chimers who can relate to my experiences, as well as build connections outside of my day-to-day team,” she says.
Having a sense of community at work can empower, connect, and enhance our lives, allowing us to reach across department lines for help and motivation while building new channels of learning and connectivity. “My community at Chime reminds me that I am human and my perspective matters,” Kayla says. “I’ve learned that it’s ok to rely on others because we are all working together to achieve the same goal–Chime’s mission. The same applies at M.O.V.E. — every board member comes from a different walk of life and has a different perspective to offer to the organization, but together, we move forward towards our shared goals.”
Black History Month and the role of community
“I will always be proud of creating spaces and places where people can be comfortable and show up as who they are — and that, to me, is the essence of community.”
Kayla’s home community motivated her to start a foundation, and it also sparks many conversations about Black History Month. “I’m from the place where Martin Luther King Jr. marched to provoke and implement change among Black individuals in the face of immense adversity,” she says. “That’s had a huge impact on how I connect with people. I make it my business to tell people I’m from Selma, Alabama, and if someone doesn’t know our history, I’m always prepared to offer it up. Especially because of where I’m from, Black History Month means a lot to me.”
In her role as a member of many communities, Kayla shares many things. She shares the history of her hometown with those who don’t know it; blankets, gloves, and access to the internet to those in need; knowledge, positive encouragement, and her unique perspective with her colleagues at work. Whether in her home state of Alabama or on a Zoom call with a coworker, she works to connect with others through their differences and commonalities. Kayla has a knack for building community wherever she lands.
“I will always be proud of creating spaces and places where people can be comfortable and show up as who they are — and that, to me, is the essence of community,” she says.
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To learn more about the M.O.V.E. Foundation, please visit their website.
