Von Gordon: ‘Creating Courageous Spaces’

We’re very proud of our very own Von Gordon, youth engagement manager for the William Winter Institute and a determined community leader in the state of Mississippi.

As a former vice president of the Operation Shoestring board and a founding board member of Refill Cafe, Von is committed to reaching young people at times when they are most vulnerable and helping them find the courage to become their best selves.

In this video, Von talks about how much of his work revolves around “creating spaces.” He talks about creating “courageous spaces” that help people learn more about one another, making a “leap” that allows people to hear each others’ stories and know more about other people in their community than they’d known before.

The result of that is mutual understanding, which can often lead to “shared benefit and shared growth.”

“I’d like for people… to think about wanting for others the same things they want for themselves,” he says. “It’s about a mindset.”

Von Gordon’s video is a part of a video series produced by Blue Magnolia Films as part of a project put on by the Community Foundation for Mississippi.