GRASSROOTS ORGANIZATIONS NEED HELP

Members of the public, including community advocacy groups, asked Tuesday about additional funding. Panelists who responded represented larger and legacy nonprofit organizations such as Atrium Health, the United Way, Habitat for Humanity and Goodwill Industries.

Tiffany Fant, executive director of climate justice organization Sol Nation, and Apryl Lewis, community organizer with housing justice organization Action NC, both asked when money would be directed to grassroots organizations that directly help Charlotteans get jobs and housing.

MAP: Charlotte’s affordable housing

Laura Clark, president and CEO of United Way of Central Carolinas, announced that going forward the majority of her organization’s funding would go to grassroots, neighborhood-based organizations. Dionne Nelson, president and CEO real estate development group Laurel Street, said her organization is open to including more neighborhood organizations in conversations.

“I will admit that these last couple of years, it’s been hard to do what we always used to do,” Nelson said. “So we’ve been buried in, trying to dig out of what we committed to deliver to the city in 2019 and 2020, has been difficult to action.

read more: https://digitalbranch.cmlibrary.org/charlotte-journalism-collaborative/is-50-million-enough-for-affordable-housing-and-4-more-charlotte-summit-takeaways/