Brianna Noble was our first Make a Change Monday feature. Founder of Mulatto Meadows & The Humble Project, Brianna's mission is to expose underprivileged and marginalized communities to the horse world, hoping to create opportunities for young, underserved people of color to gain experience through her horses.

The Compton Cowboys is a collective of life-long friends on a mission to uplift their community through horseback and farming lifestyle –– all while highlighting the rich legacy of African-Americans in equine and western culture. "Streets raised us. Horses saved us." 

Learn more or donate to their Compton Jr. Equestrian

Cowgirls vs. Cancer is a yoga and horse retreat for women who have had breast cancer. As a 501c3, they provide scholarships that allow women to experience solace, rejuvenation and healing through yoga and horses in the wild of Montana. These retreats focus on self-care and encouraging women to take action to do what they can to prevent cancer and recognize the importance of screening for it regularly. 

You can learn more, donate or nominate a family member/friend for a retreat.

Kareem Rosser, an accomplished polo player and financial analyst from Philadelphia, began a life changing equestrian adventure at Work to Ride in Philadelphia. Kareem grew up in the city in a neighborhood where survival was the main focus. His older brothers stumbled upon Work to Ride while biking, joined the program and later introduced Kareem. Kareem and his brothers remained dedicated to the program. It exposed him to a world he wouldn't have had an opportunity to see, gave him a second chance at life, and an incredible amount of support. According to Kareem, most kids he grew up with "talked about surviving and not education." Through his dedication to the program, school, the mentoring of Lezlie Hiner and the WTR community, he completed college at Colorado State to then return home to work as a financial analyst and assist the WTR program as Executive Director of fundraising.

Founded in 1994 by Lezlie Hiner, Work to Ride (WTR) is a 501 c3, non-profit community-based prevention program that aids disadvantaged urban youth in Philadelphia through constructive activities centered on horsemanship, equine sports, and education. This setting provides a unique opportunity to bring urban youth in contact with animals and nature. WTR is designed as a long-term program for 7 to 19 year-old youth who must commit to a minimum of one year of participation and receive help with college enrollment. Most participants, like Kareem, also choose to return to Chamounix to mentor new participants.

Donations can be sent directly to Work to Ride on their website. Additionally, they are seeking volunteer help in any capacity.

John Ferguson is a social documentary photographer and visual storyteller. He is drawn to communities, subcultures, societies, and groups that are sometimes either without voices or presence. He came across the black cowboy community many years ago, so he made his way over to America to seek out these forgotten cowboys.

This lead him on a photographic road trip across six different southern states of America in search of the forgotten African-American cowboys. During his travel, John met modern cattlemen and cowboys to highlight the forgotten cowboy community with a series of environmental and portrait photographs. The journey proved fruitful and enlightening in examining and discovering the rich history of this almost forgotten community. ⠀

Learn more about these forgotten cowboys through John’s beautiful work 

Fletcher Street Stables represents a legacy of horseback riding in urban communities, encouraging youth to express creativity, diversity, and culture from their perspective. Teaching them that it’s not all about how you started, it’s more about how you finish.

Young Black Equestrians is a platform that highlights the passion, culture and lifestyle of Black horsemen and horsewomen in the industry. Through their podcast, YouTube channel and social media platforms, YBE has developed a safe space where Black horse people can consume culturally relevant content and share their experiences within a tight-knit community.

Caring Cowgirl is a full inclusion program giving access to the universal language of empathy through interactions with their mini donkey and mini horse.

As an immigrant’s daughter, founder and executive director, Elizabeth Beeson Evans, grew up watching people speak down to her mother because of her accent or her darker skin. This lead her to be passionate about being fully inclusive and celebrate those with different skin tones, or those who speak different languages. Being raised in a biracial home taught her to be a kind and caring human to all. She has made it her duty to help others that could not help themselves and for this reason she is forever a caring cowgirl.

After teaching adaptive horseback riding to children with special needs at a local ranch, she wanted to reach more people living in the city. So the idea of getting minis to the masses was born.

You can schedule a visit and they can come to you in person or virtually on her website

Our friend and fellow retailer, Trisja Malisoff of Kiki Bean and Bedhead PJs, told us about this charity in Peru. She and a few other concerned people noticed on a trip to Cusco how many children in the community were on the streets with no place to go. Under the direction of Helen Ingelnath, they began Niños del Sol — a children’s home for kids who are survivors of trauma, abuse, and neglect in Cusco, Peru. The goal is to provide a home filled with love where they can heal, grow, and receive the tools they need to break the negative cycles in their families for all future generations. As we produce some of our products by hand in this artisan rich community, we are proud of our friend for the safety net she has created to give these children both care and a chance at life.

Founded in 2008, The Children's Grand Adventure brings childhood cancer survivors to Jackson Hole and the Tetons for week-long programs of adventure and experiential education in an incredible outdoor setting. The children, whose lives have been previously put on hold due to the rigors of cancer treatment, experience travel, nature, introspection, self-reliance, physical activity, bonding, and friendship, enabling them to kickstart their healing processes and to create incredible lives after cancer. Stacey Kayem, CGA's founder, recognized the unforgettable power of place in her own healing process, inspiring her to share these awe-inspiring experiences with others.

Campaign One At A Time, is a non-profit organization that focuses on helping children impacted by life-threatening illnesses around the globe. They are able to provide positive experiences and fulfill the dreams of children fighting a life-threatening illnesses one child and one campaign at a time.

Ally Global Foundation works to prevent human trafficking and restore survivors of abuse through local partners in Nepal, Laos, and Cambodia. They offer long-term safe homes, reintegration support and prevention programs for women and children.

The BOMA Project is helping women entrepreneurs — 33,000 and counting — start new businesses in Eastern Africa. They empower women in communities suffering from climate change, teaching them the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. These women are then able to use the income from their businesses to educate their children and keep them healthy.

Community Forklift provides free and low-cost home repair supplies, building materials, appliances, and other home essentials to households with limited resources, community organizations, and small businesses. Using donated new and gently-used materials, they divert these usable items from the landfill and redistribute them to people who need them.

They continue to help their community and provide green jobs for returning citizens and others with barriers to traditional employment.

Chemocessories’ mission is to help women with cancer hold on to their strength and sense of themselves during treatment. They create personalized sets of accessories, including jewelry, scarves, and turbans that are designed to lift spirits and to remind each woman that treatment in no way diminishes the beautiful woman within.

To date, they have provided over 9,000 sets of scarves, jewelry, and turbans to women across the country –– free of charge. Warming hearts one accessory at a time.

For nearly 25 years, Amazon Watch has worked to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin.

Amazon Watch works in solidarity with Indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon’s ecological systems.

Free For Life International is a Nashville-based organization committed to the identification, assistance and restoration of human trafficking victims and survivors. FFLI accomplishes this through programs in Tennessee and abroad that focus on sustainable, long-term solutions to combat the injustice of human trafficking.

Free For Life is one of the only organizations in the country that has a scholarship specifically for survivors of human trafficking. Through this program, they build relationships with survivors and walk hand-in-hand as they achieve their educational or vocational dreams. Survivors are paired up with a mentor as well to walk with them through this journey.

Education is every child’s right. The goal at The Rahul Kotak Foundation (RKF) is to make education a reality for every child in Kenya. To achieve this goal, they implement several programs in schools that are located in some of the most disadvantaged communities facing abject poverty.

Their programs include a meal, literacy, wash/sanitary pads, school refurbishment program and more, designed to make education accessible to the children living in these communities.

Kurandza is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that invests in the future of women and girls. Their mission is to provide educational and sustainable development programs for girls to become leaders in their villages in Mozambique.

They focus their efforts on providing education to girls in Mozambique because every girl who receives access to education represents one step in the direction of positive global change.

SLB Radio Productions has used radio to amplify voices of youth and members of other communities whose voices are often marginalized for more than 40 years.

They produce “The Saturday Light Brigade,” a weekly radio program blending interviews, live performances, and multigenerational programming that airs on multiple stations and online, as well as four weekly podcasts. Their underlying value is that when we can let people know that their voice matters, they know that they matter.

Since 1994, Kaleidoscope Youth Center has been a leader and expert in meeting the needs of and supporting LGBTQIA+ young people in the community. 

What started as a crisis line, has expanded into an organization that works in partnership with young people and includes a drop in center, community education and training opportunities, advocacy and civic engagement, health and wellness programs, and housing opportunities.

Beauty Out Of Dust's mission is to work as a catalyst in bringing sustainable change by empowering underprivileged children, youth, and women of Burundi through relevant education, vital healthcare, and market-focused livelihood programs. 

They financially assists families who are unable to afford essential healthcare and they support families by providing seed money to start small, sustainable businesses that increase their monthly income to support their families.

Sage to Saddle is focused on giving back to the stewards of our great nation. With the support of the Pine Ridge community, they hope to provide an indoor horse riding arena for kids from 8-18 years old with an after school program focused on equine relationships and the responsibilities horse care involves. 

For an indoor arena they are currently raising donations to build a place of refuge that kids from 8-18 y.o. can spend their days after school with friends and the animals they know so well. It's an easy target considering the key elements needed, horses in pasture all winter, influential elders and adults to guide and too many kids with nowhere to go from September to late May.