Community Involvement
JB Media is based in Asheville, in the mountains of western North Carolina. As a company and as individuals, we’re actively involved in giving back to the community we call home. Individuals on the JB Media team regularly serve our community by volunteering with local nonprofits.
Company Support for Local Causes
Bounty & Soul
In 2023, our team supported Bounty & Soul at their Tuesday Market by helping prepare and share healthy food boxes, giving out health and wellness activities for kids, and so much more. We’ve also participated in a ‘love letter’ writing party and created kind and inspirational notes for inclusion in their food boxes.
RiverLink
Starting in 2016, through RiverLink, we adopted Smith Mill Creek, a tributary of the French Broad River that runs through West Asheville. In 2019, team members waded into the creek, hauling out plastic debris, tires, and even a shopping cart. In 2023, our team got together to remove Porcelain Berry—an invasive plant in North Carolina that grows in thick monocultures, shading out native vegetation. We’re committed to cleaning this stream at least once each year.
United Way of Asheville
On MLK Day in 2019, our team volunteered with United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County’s Day of Caring. We cleaned and sanitized the classrooms at Asheville Primary School so teachers, students, and staff could return after the holiday to sparkling clean spaces!
Asheville GreenWorks
In an effort coordinated by Asheville GreenWorks, we picked up litter in the nearby Southside neighborhood, beginning at the Dr. Wesley Grant, Sr. Southside Center.
MANNA FoodBank
The JB Media team split up for two days of volunteering at MANNA FoodBank in 2018. One group helped label cans of food and the other sorted cucumbers and eggplants. With the 15.7+ million pounds of food they distribute each year, we know we only made a dent—but we are so thankful for the opportunity! (Don’t let the Cold Mountain boxes deceive you, inside are just a few of the 5,040 cans of sweet peas we helped label and box.)
Other Nonprofits
We’ve supported numerous nonprofits as agency clients and as Institute students. We offer sliding scale rates to select local nonprofits so that we can help them take their great work further. We also donate a portion of our profits every year to local nonprofits. In recent years, we have supported Green Opportunities, Just Economics, Literacy Council of Buncombe County, Our VOICE, and Veterans Healing Farm.
Leadership Asheville and Leadership North Carolina
A few of our team members have completed Leadership Asheville, an intensive nine-month program that develops leadership skills and promotes collaborative problem solving. The program brings together citizens from a cross section of our community, representing business, government, nonprofit and education. JB Media has sponsored several team members to complete the program. Leadership Asheville alumni on our team include Justin Belleme and Sarah Benoit. Justin has gone on to complete the statewide program, Leadership North Carolina.
Strengthening Asheville’s Business Community
JB Media plays a leading role in strengthening Asheville’s business community—improving residents’ quality of life as we grow our local economy. We’re active in programs that help entrepreneurs get their start, small businesses scale up, and big initiatives take roots. Some highlights of our involvement include:
- We help individuals gain essential marketing skills through the JB Media Institute.
- We’re active participants in networking and business development initiatives including 1 Million Cups and Mountain BizWorks
- Justin Belleme was awarded the Asheville Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2014.
- We sponsored the Western North Carolina Women’s Business Conference several times.
Our Team Loves Volunteering
Individuals on the JB Media team regularly serve our community by volunteering with local nonprofits. Current and past examples include:
- Greeting and de-stressing passengers as they await their flights at Asheville Regional Airport
- Running the photo booth at the Girls on the Run 5k to bring some more to joy to an already fun and empowering day
- Greeting Planned Parenthood patients and welcoming them to the health center
- Tutoring non-native English speakers
- Participating in a legislative response team to counter the potential defunding of Planned Parenthood
- Supporting at-risk teen boys during their transformation into adulthood
- Creating the e-newsletter for an independent, nonprofit radio station
Groups We Volunteer With
Our team members volunteer with all of the following organizations in our community:
- Asheville Chamber of Commerce
- Asheville Creative Arts
- Asheville GreenWorks
- Asheville Humane Society
- Asheville Score
- B Local Asheville + WNC
- BeLoved Asheville
- Bounty & Soul
- Camp Girl Boss
- Community Roots
- Democracy NC
- FernLeaf Community Charter School
- Fur Kidz Sake
- Girls on the Run of WNC
- Haywood Street Congregation
- Journeymen
- Leadership Asheville
- Literacy Council of Buncombe County
- MANNA FoodBank
- NC Stage Company
- Our VOICE
- Pet Partners
- Planned Parenthood South Atlantic
- RiverLink
- Vance Elementary School
- Veterans Healing Farm
- WordCamp Asheville