Southeast
About This Hub
Looking for a place to connect with your peers? Develop your professional skills? Help make your community a more free and prosperous place? If that sounds like you, then join the AF-Southeast Hub today!
We’re a community of young people dedicated to promoting the transformative power of freedom and entrepreneurship to uplift communities and individuals alike. From fun networking events to Q&As with established experts, to dedicated days of giving back to our communities, the Southeast Hub has something for everyone. See below for our upcoming events near you, and sign up here for more info on future updates and events!
Upcoming Events
Past Events
AF-Southeast and the John Locke Foundation: Meck Dec 250: Myth, Memory and Meaning
Two hundred and fifty years ago, North Carolina was the first colony to call for independence. Our state flag commemorates this call with two dates: one for the Halifax Resolves...
AF-Southeast: Book Signing + Q&A with Author Caleb Franz
Join the AF-Southeast Hub for an evening exploring the hidden history of one of abolitionism's founding fathers. Caleb Franz will join us to discuss his book, The Conductor: The Story...
AF-SE: Civic Saturday in the Triangle
Join your friends at AF-Southeast along with our friends at Braver Angels for a time of conversation and common ground focused on improving civic life, locally and nationally. This event...
Hub Director
Chris West
Chris is a native North Carolinian who teaches philosophy and economics, serves as a nonprofit consultant, and small business owner. In 2023, Chris founded Box the Good, a business that works to connect social enterprise ventures from across the Southeast with new customers. Chris is a graduate of Campbell University, Wake Forest University’s Faith-Based Nonprofit Leadership program, and of Duke Divinity, where he earned his Masters of Divinity and completed the certificate program in faith-based organizing, advocacy, and social transformation. He has completed fellowships with SPN, Locke, The Martin Center, and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. From Chris: “As a chapter leader of AF Raleigh and part of the Southeast Hub, I have been able to organize around issues that matter deeply to me. I’m helping make my community a safer, happier, and more welcoming place to be. It’s has given me some of my closest friendships and helped me deepened roots in my community. AF has given me so much- I’m thankful to be part of this network.”
Hub Leadership
Mike Viola
Mike Viola is AF's Southeast Hub Coordinator, as well as the Senior Manager for Development Special Projects at the American Enterprise Institute. He discovered his love of liberty at the University of Chicago, where he majored in Political Science and Egyptology. He previously worked in investment research, analyzing and writing about mutual funds in the U.S. and Latin America. In his free time, Mike enjoys ancient history, writing music, and making just about any Italian dish you can think of.