Building Bridges For Community Impact

A quiet room changed everything. When Eli Cologne walked into a networking event and realized he was the only attendee, he stayed anyway—and that choice sparked a wave of community action. We explore how a single conversation with Positively Beautiful led to the creation of Positively Courageous, a mentorship track designed for men who want to grow, serve, and show up for the next generation.

We dig into Eli’s path from Plainfield, New Jersey to Hampton Roads, tracing the lessons learned from a tight-knit community, four years in healthcare, and leadership in the Navy. That mix of empathy and execution powers a practical, no-frills approach to local change: build trust, create small wins, and invite people to own a piece of the solution. Along the way, we highlight the role of Synops, a network that brings nonprofits, entrepreneurs, and small businesses together to find funding, share resources, and amplify impact.

The conversation spotlights partnerships that meet urgent needs with dignity. A Movable Solution offers pro bono services to help survivors of domestic violence step into safety and stability. The period pack initiative delivers essential products to women and girls who lack access, extending reach across borders. We also talk about bringing the Fatherhood Foundation’s programs closer to home, giving dads practical tools to be present, co-parent well, and center their child’s wellbeing. It all adds up to a clear blueprint: when people coordinate instead of compete, gaps close and communities thrive.

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Transcript

Meet Eli And Synops

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Hello, I'm Al Neely with Nealymedia. I'd like to welcome you today. Today we have Eli Cologne. He's with the Synops organization, and it's a nonprofit organization that helps to find funding and uh provide support for nonprofit organizations in the area. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Correct.

Mission Of The Network

SPEAKER_01 0:39

We're a very large network of uh entrepreneurs and small businesses and organizations and area that kind of come together for collaboration to support each other's uh initiatives. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Okay. Let's talk a little bit about that. Um, some of the organizations and things that you um organizations and uh groups that you support.

The Positively Beautiful Origin

SPEAKER_01 1:00

Okay. So I mean for starters, I do want to start off with my origin group, and that's uh Positively Beautiful. Um I met them, and when I met them, I was actually the only person to show up to their networking event. So it was uh it was more of a confusing time for them trying to figure out where everybody was, where the 30 people were that registered to be there. Um but I stuck around because they had free games and free food, so I was there

Launching Positively Courageous For Men

SPEAKER_01 1:27

for a good time. Okay. Uh but uh they ended up talking to me about what Positively Beautiful was providing personal professional development for women, mentoring at risk youth girls. Um and I was just I was amazed by it. And to me, I was like, why why aren't you guys doing this for men? Why where where are the mentors for the boys? Um and their response was they didn't have anybody to do it. So I led into, do you want somebody to do it? And they were waiting for that question. And and I came on board and I helped them start up what's called Positively Courageous. Um, so that was kind of like my my starting point, my turning point when it came to being so involved with the community.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Okay, when did that start? How long have you been doing it?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

That was beginning of August, actually. Oh, this year? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

2025. 2025. Oh, awesome. Okay. And how's the response been?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Response has been good. Um don't get me wrong, I was with them since I was the only guy in the group. Um, we were I was kind of just helping them with everything that they were doing. So I was the only guy in every single event that they were doing. Okay. Um, but when we did that turning point with Courageous, it just started to fill up quickly. You know, we were we were pulling in men who who wanted to not only do better for themselves, but be better for the community. So it was it was like rapid fire, just seeing how many other men and and just younger, uh younger adults to who want to actually come and collaborate and just spread positivity.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

So apparently you have a passion, um, you have compassion and you're inspired. So this where where did all of that come from, Eli?

Roots, Service, And Leadership Journey

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Um, so I mean, I was born and raised in uh Plainfield, New Jersey, a very small town. Uh it was a town filled with just mainly the Hispanic and the Black community. So growing up in that area, experiencing you know the lack of resources that we had, uh, it was just find a way to be together. Uh community picnics, you know, block parties, just always a lot of cohesiveness within that community, um, no matter what other people outside of our town had to say. It kind of just started there. Um that's where I knew um that's where I developed the social skills that I needed to just interact with my community. When I came out here to Virginia in 2018 is because I joined the Navy prior to I did four years in healthcare that taught me those empathetic skills and then into the Navy how to just be a leader and and how to take care of those who are working with me or for me and transitioning out. It just I all those skills that I acquired doing everything led me to pretty much perceive basically helped me develop um the what's needed to be a footprint within the Hampton Rhodes community. Because I didn't know much of the Hampton Rhodes community. I've been living here for so long. But it wasn't until it clicked and I realized that there's something that actually needs to be done, aka filling the gap um for our people because my fiance and I were the gap that needed to be filled one time too. Um, and realizing that we don't have that much support out there, and if we all come together and work together, a lot can get done. So all those skills transferred out with me into the community.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Right.

Partner Services And Initiatives

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Give me an idea of name some of the how many services are you working with at this time.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

So I you know, I did tell you we're working with a positively beautiful and positively courageous. We have a movable solution with a Laura Halcombe business owner who does two initiatives. Um her main one is the pro bono services for domestic violence survivors to help them come out of their situation. Um and then the second is the period pack initiative, helping women and girls uh obtain the much needed feminine products that maybe some can't afford or don't have access to, um, which is now being able to get access in other countries. Um another one is the Fatherhood Foundation. Um right now they are supporting fathers in the Richmond area. We're trying to bring that closer to here as well, um, and helping them just develop the skills to be a good father, to be present in their child's life and and to work together with their significant other. Um, and if they're not with that person, just you know, creating a good relationship for their child. Right.

unknown 6:05

Um,