Today we’d like to introduce you to Chanel Williams.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
HERE Dallas really started from a personal need. After moving to Dallas from Miami, I was looking for ways to get connected to the city beyond just going out. I wanted to know what was happening in the community, where I could volunteer, what organizations were doing meaningful work, and where people could find resources if they needed support. What I kept running into was how scattered everything felt. There were great nonprofits, events, and opportunities happening across the city, but you often had to search multiple websites, social pages, and word-of-mouth recommendations just to find them.
I kept thinking about how much easier it would be if there was one place people could go to discover ways to get involved, find support, and stay connected to what’s happening in the city. That idea eventually became HERE Dallas. HERE being the acronym that stands for Helping Expose Resources Everywhere.
My background is in communications, local government, and public relations, so a lot of my career has centered around connecting people to information, resources, and opportunities. Over time, I saw how powerful visibility can be, especially for nonprofits and community organizations doing important work that people simply don’t know about. I also saw how many residents wanted to volunteer, attend events, or support local causes, but didn’t always know where to start. HERE Dallas was built to help close that gap by making community engagement more visible, accessible, and easier to navigate.
What started as an online platform has grown into real, offline impact. We still do what we set out to do by connecting people to community events, volunteer opportunities, and social service resources, but over time the work has expanded beyond simply sharing information online. To date, HERE Dallas has partnered with more than 100 nonprofits, helped connect hundreds of volunteers to service opportunities, promoted thousands of resources and ways for people to get involved, and partnered with some amazing local businesses to help provide support to the community. I’m proud of how the brand has grown while staying rooted in its original purpose, and I’m excited to see how HERE Dallas continues to evolve because with God, all things are possible.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a completely smooth road. One of the biggest challenges has been building and sustaining a community-centered platform while navigating the realities of financial stability and capital investment. Like many small businesses doing community impact work, there is often a gap between the value of the work and the resources available to grow it at the pace you know it deserves. A lot of what has gone into building HERE Dallas has required me to be creative, strategic, and intentional every step of the way.
The reality is that community impact work rarely comes with the funding it deserves, and sustaining and growing a platform like HERE Dallas requires real investment to match the real need. Additional support would allow us to expand our reach, raise awareness of our services, strengthen our current offerings, and scale initiatives like VOLUN-TOUR in a way that creates an even deeper impact across Dallas. It would also increase our ability to support more nonprofits, promote more community events, and build stronger partnerships with businesses that want to show up for this city in a meaningful way.
So if there are readers or investors out there who believe in making community engagement more accessible and want to support a platform that connects people to service, resources, and local impact, I would welcome that conversation. Whether through sponsorship or investment, the right support can help HERE Dallas grow into everything I know it can be for this community.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
HERE Dallas is a social impact platform that connects people to community events, volunteer opportunities, and social service resources across Dallas. Think of it as a one-stop shop that makes it easier for residents to find what they need, get involved, and feel more connected to the city around them.
What sets us apart is that we don’t just share what’s happening in the community. We help people engage with it. We work with nonprofits, businesses, and organizations to increase visibility for their work and create real pathways for people to show up and get involved. That looks like event promotion, speaking engagements around community engagement and corporate social responsibility, and consulting services for nonprofits looking to strengthen their brand awareness and outreach.
One of our newest initiatives we launched in the Spring this year is VOLUN-TOUR, a curated volunteer experience that brings social groups, businesses, and nonprofits together through meaningful service opportunities across Dallas. We pair groups directly with a nonprofit partner and call it a “tour stop” so they can volunteer, learn about the organization’s mission, and build a deeper investment in the community they’re serving. It also creates an opportunity for businesses to sponsor these tour stops so that the nonprofit receives a financial donation and volunteers at the same time. We are always looking for sponsors that want to give back to some amazing nonprofits in Dallas.
What I’m most proud of is hearing from people who tell me they attended an event, connected with a nonprofit, or started volunteering because they found it through HERE Dallas. That’s always been the goal. Not just to inform people about the community, but to help them find it and become part of it.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I would just encourage readers to stay curious about what’s happening in their own city and not underestimate the impact of getting involved. Community engagement does not always have to look like a major commitment. Sometimes it starts with attending a local event, supporting a nonprofit, sharing a resource, or volunteering a few hours of your time. HERE Dallas was created to make those opportunities easier to find and more accessible, and my hope is that people use the platform as a starting point to build deeper connections with the communities around them.
If you don’t know where to begin, start HERE. Send us an email at info@heredallas or follow us on Instagram and we can help you get connected.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://heredallas.org
- Instagram: here_dallas
- LinkedIn: HERE DALLAS, LLC
