Pride Magazine 2019 - November/December "Living" Issue

Living with

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t Novant Health, our mission is to improve the health of communities, one person at a time. We take this mission very seriously, and are committed to ensuring that “one person at a time” includes every person.

All people deserve to have access to quality health care, regardless of their circumstances. Our teams have been laser-focused on finding solutions and bridging the gap between those who have access to care and those who do not. In short, we’re dedicated to health equity.

Health equity means reducing disparities among people, regardless of their backgrounds and their ability to pay. We have a strong focus on health equity to ensure that patients, families, communities and team members receive the high-quality care and services they deserve.

We’re working hard to weave diversity, inclusion and health equity throughout the fabric of our organization. Some efforts now underway include identifying and eliminating health disparities among the patients we serve, addressing economic mobility by investing in our own team members and placing providers in communities most in need. In 2018 alone, we also invested more than $883 million through our community benefit programs, including more than $154 million in financial assistance for the uninsured.

But no one entity can address this issue alone. In partnership with other organizations, such as the One Charlotte Health Alliance, we can make a significant difference to reduce disparities and ensure that all people in the greater Charlotte area have access to remarkable care.

We recognize that these changes don’t happen overnight. And while we have made improvements, we will not be satisfied until disparities in health care have been eliminated.

At Novant Health, we are your partners in health. We are committed to helping you access affordable, convenient and quality health care. Our hope is that as we heal individual people, we’re also healing neighborhoods, cities and regions for generations to come.

Tanya Blackmon, Executive vice president and chief diversity, inclusion and equity officer, Novant Health

Jesse Cureton, Executive vice president and chief consumer officer, Novant Health

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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PROUD TO GIVE BUSINESSES A LIFT CATS is proud to provide opportunities for businesses to create local jobs through the advancement of transit projects. CATS also seeks to create an environment that gives small and socially or economically challenged local businesses the opportunity to compete for publicly funded contracts by participating in the Small Business Opportunity (SBO) and the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Programs.

To date, 11 DBE firms have been awarded contracts of over $13 million to help build the CityLYNX Gold Line Streetcar.

As the major provider of public transportation to Charlotte and the surrounding region, CATS relies on the communities we serve to build and operate the service every day. By working together on these new opportunities, we can all keep our communities moving in the right direction.

For more information, visit ridetransit.org.

CATS. YOUR RIDE IS HERE.

Table of contents For these stories and more, visit us on the web! www.pridemagazineonline.com

From Our Sponsor..........................................................................................7 From The Publisher...................................................................................... 12

Features

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Novant Health: Improving the Health of Our Communities......................... 14 The Shaping of Black Charlotte.................................................................. 16 What's Really Going on in Charlotte?......................................................... 20 Novant Health: Scholarships Help Nursing Assistants............................... 25 Novant Health: Working to Care for the Whole Person............................... 28 Can Planner Alysia Osborne Inject Soul into Uptown?............................... 30 Cork & Crate: Not Your Average Wine Shop............................................... 32 The Stats on Black Charlotte...................................................................... 34 Novant Health: How One Woman Is Fighting to Close the Gap................. 40

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Pushing Black Homeownership.................................................................. 41 Eye On Style: Sisters Step Into the Design Space...................................... 44

Arts and Culture Pride’s Gift Guide........................................................................................ 47 The Shaping of Higher Education............................................................... 49 Eddie Bell: Renaissance Man...................................................................... 51

of the Best

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cancer acute President,

rn Region c over site vices at harlotte

anning, cial

Taking on Tokyo........................................................................................... 52 Scene and Seen.......................................................................................... 55

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Mark Your Calendar..................................................................................... 56

On the Cover

Novant Health Care doctors with Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown and

Beasley Group Dr. JeromeMedia Williams.

PhotoLLC. of Dr. Garmon-Brown and Dr. Williams

by Tyrus Ortega Gaines.

Elizabeth Nifong

General Sales Manager Beth has been a devoted teammate to Power98 and V101.9 for the last On page 31 ofeight years. the 2019 May Issue (Best of the Best section), the wrong photo was placed for

Leslie Baylor. Below is the correct photo. We apologize for this error.

Leslie Baylor

WBAV & WPEG Promotions Director Leslie creates, manages and executes all events, promotions and contesting for Power98 and V101.9.

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Jacinda Jacobs

WBAV’s Sunday Morning Gospel host Jacinda hosts Sunday Morning Inspiration on V101.9FM in addition to being the host for the Charlotte Hornets.

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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The most important

lessons in life are learned at home…

So Don’t Just Recycle…Recycle Right!

Please just recycle the basic materials listed here in your curbside bin. Nothing else!

Just because you wish it to be recycled, does not make it recyclable.

PLASTIC BOTTLES

CARDBOARD

CANS

CARTONS

PAPER

GLASS BOTTLES

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A

G

A

Z

I

N

E

Charlotte’s African-American Magazine

CEO/Publisher Dee Dixon

Editor-in-Chief

Lashawnda Becoats

Copy Editor Polly Paddock

Lead Writer Angela Lindsay

Creative Director Larry Preslar

Design & Production SPARK Publications www.SPARKpublications.com

Distribution Watch Dog Entertainment®

©

Account Executive Nikelle Fesperman

Public Relations Nepherterra Estrada

Subscribe to Pride

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Copyright© 2019 Pride Magazine All rights reserved. Copying or reproduction, in part or in whole, is strictly prohibited.

Pride Magazine reserves the right to deny any advertisement, listing or feature that does not meet Pride Magazine standards or that is outside the scope or mission of our magazine. Pride Magazine assumes no responsibility for information, products, services, or statements made by advertisers or editorial contributors.

Pride Magazine prints with soy ink.

Vol. 27 No. 6 November-December 2019 All rights reserved for PRIDE Communications Inc. Find us on Facebook: Facebook.com/PrideMagazineNC

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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FROM THE PUBLISHER

This Edition is Special

By Dee Dixon

W

hy? Because it contains a special focus on Black Charlotte, underwritten by one of our community partners, Novant Health. We all know Charlotte is in the midst of dynamic change, with rapid growth as a major driving force. (Driving through uptown is like navigating a war zone.) Newcomers are moving here in droves. (Where can we squeeze in another apartment complex?) At the same time, with affordable housing in the forefront, we continue to face major socioeconomic challenges with regard to upward mobility, primarily in certain African American zip codes.

With all this in mind, we felt the need to provide a synopsis of the history of Black Charlotte, give some stats about this demographic for newcomers and conduct a focus group of grassroots leaders in Black neighborhoods in order to give voice to their concerns.

I want to personally thank Tanya Blackmon, Raki McGregor, Tamara Smith, Dr. Jerome Williams and the entire Novant Health team for their willingness to listen, act on and support our vision. It is a testament to their commitment to communities of color in Charlotte. You will learn a great deal more about how Novant is reaching out and touching lives in this special November edition, as well.

A big shout to Fannie Flono, former Charlotte Observer editorial writer, with whom I serve on the Charlotte Museum of History Board.

She didn’t hesitate when asked to write about the history of Black Charlotte. In fact, she has already written a book on the subject, called “Thriving in the Shadows.”

It’s a great book, and I recommend getting your hands on a copy to further learn about our history.

(Understand, space is limited in terms of how much we could cover in the magazine.)

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Pride Awards 2020 Fast Facts We’re changing gears with this year’s luncheon. With the target of decreasing and eliminating socioeconomic challenges in our city still in sight, we’re going to celebrate some outstanding success stories, designed to cultivate a

“winning” experience, which will motivate us corporately, individually and as a community to continue to move forward. (There’s an athlete somewhere in us all.)

1. What: A Black history motivational luncheon on Friday, February 14 2. Where and When: The Westin Charlotte, noon 3. Theme: PEP Rally – People Empowering People 4. Honoree: The legendary Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown 5. Nonprofit Honoree: ASPIRE Community Capital 6. Sponsors: Atrium, Bank of America, Ernst & Young, Food Lion, Wells Fargo, V 101.9, WCNC 7. Seating: Log on to PrideAwards.net or call 704-375-9553 Please enjoy this special edition, and let’s plan to touch base in January.

We should have a lot more updates about Pride Awards 2020 then. In the meantime, meditate on this: “The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory.” --Les Brown Take care,

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Novant Health: Improving the health of our communities, one person at a time

B

efore Brooklyn started sixth grade last fall, her mom, Africa Haley, made an important stop: to the back-to-school event at Project 658, a community ministry in Charlotte providing services for families in need.

Novant Health joined the Smith Family Wellness Center and Project 658 to provide free back-to-school physicals and immunizations in August. More than 100 children received screenings and enjoyed giveaways, too.

Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown and Dr. Jerome Williams.

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For Haley, the health and wellness check lifted a burden. Brooklyn could get the physical she needed to play sports, including cheerleading, at no cost. “I read it once, twice, three times, just to be sure it’s free,” Haley said.

Novant Health has partnered with former NFL star wide receiver Steve Smith and his Smith Family Wellness Center since 2017. Novant Health providers at the clinic offer safe, quality care for uninsured families — services that are often hard to come by in at-risk neighborhoods.

Providers were accessible at the back-to-school event, too, which Haley appreciated: “You can talk to a physician or a physician assistant. If I do have any worries, I have people on hand that can assist me and lead me in the right direction.

“I really appreciate it and I really like it …. It’s giving back to the community.”

Partnerships such as this — and the ONE Charlotte Health Alliance — allow Novant Health to magnify our impact in the community. ONE Charlotte Health Alliance is a partnership among Novant Health, Atrium Health and the Mecklenburg County Health Department. The ONE Charlotte Health Alliance builds on existing community efforts, fostering partnerships and creating new opportunities to improve access to care in Charlotte’s excluded communities.

The Power of Partnership

At Novant Health, we know no one entity can do that alone. There’s power in collaboration — and in building strong partnerships to provide remarkable care.

One example: The teamwork of Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown and Dr. Jerome Williams.

Garmon-Brown has made Charlotte a better place to live by dedicating her life to service at Novant Health and in the larger community. She advocates for others, promotes health and wellness and works to reduce health care disparities and improve economic mobility.

As the senior chief community wellness and health equity executive, Garmon-Brown has worked tirelessly to ensure that every person has access to quality health care, both in the United States and abroad. She also laid the groundwork at Novant Health for Dr. Jerome Williams to bring his vision for Novant Health’s future in community engagement to life.

Williams began his work to address health disparities in the Charlotte area in 1996. He developed a team to approach the problem of cardiovascular risk factors, which led to the creation of the Carolinas Association of Community Healthy Equity (CACHE), connecting Novant Health and ONE Charlotte Health Alliance with the work of grassroots and faith-based organizations to address health disparities. Williams, still passionate about this work, recently moved from practicing physician to senior vice president of consumer engagement at Novant Health. In this role, he has the opportunity to build off his expertise as a physician and develop new ways to provide access to care. From creating relationships and providing connection points to community resources, to sharing information that empowers people toward wellness, Williams is now leading the charge to create and diversify opportunities for gaining access to health care.

Improving Access to Care

Novant Health continues to deliver on its commitment to improve access to care by placing providers in communities most in need, including the Movement Family Wellness Center powered

by Novant Health, Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Clinics and the Steve Smith Family Wellness Center.

In addition to clinics and providers, Novant Health creates increased access by: • Delivering more than 19,300 free immunizations and caring for more than 10,900 children via the Novant Health Community Care Cruiser.

• Providing 8,168 free screenings for community members in 2018, with Novant Health team members volunteering 5,827 hours.

• Launching the ONE Charlotte Health Alliance.

That effort paid off this year with the delivery of two mobile units to help offer additional heath care where it was most needed.

Investing in the Community

Novant Health’s community benefit as a nonprofit includes hundreds of programs that address the most pressing health needs of the communities we serve, particularly among groups who may not have had access to health care. This includes unreimbursed health services to individuals with Medicaid and Medicare coverage; free community health education and screenings; support groups; partnerships with health-focused community groups; and participation in medical research and academic health programs.

In 2018, Novant Health delivered $883.7 million in total community benefits, including $154.7 million in financial assistance to people in the communities we serve.

Supporting Economic Mobility

Novant Health supports the upward mobility of both Novant Health team members and community members, through programs designed to improve opportunities for professional growth. Most recently these included: • 23 participants of the H: Drive Experience, a program that identifies less-heard, high-potential leaders who are deeply engaged in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community, but may lack access to leadership training. The program includes fullday coaching sessions, group experiences and interaction with community leaders. Opera Carolina’s I Dream served as a catalyst for the H: Drive Experience.

• 20 recipients of the Upward Mobility RN Scholarship. Formerly the CNA to RN program in Charlotte, the initiative has been expanded to include team members who are not CNAs and support team members who aspire to be registered nurses but are experiencing financial hardship.

• A $25,000 grant provided to the Urban League of Central Carolinas to support training for women and minorities for greater participation in medical sector careers that lead to a living wage. Novant Health continuously invests in similar organizations seeking to change lives through workforce development. P Content sponsored by Novant Health.

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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The Shaping of

Black Charlotte

By Fannie Flono

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harlotte is often listed among the best places for African Americans to live and work. It placed sixth on the 2018 Forbes magazine list of cities where Blacks are doing best economically. And, with more than 13,000 Black-owned businesses, Black Enterprise has called the city a mecca for Black entrepreneurs.

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1 Good Samaritan Hospital.

2 Charlotte’s Second Ward, also known as Brooklyn 3 Julius Chambers 4 Hotel Alexander.

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Access to such prosperity is uneven, and ongoing challenges for African Americans remain. Yet those achievements are a testament to the resilience and perseverance of Blacks who’ve played a vital role in the area’s development since Charlottetown was incorporated in 1768.

The story of African Americans here begins where you’d expect – in slavery. The enslaved population of Mecklenburg County hovered around 40 percent through the 1860s. Most slaves worked on farms with five or fewer other Black people.

With that free labor, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County prospered as a trading center, farm community, cotton producer and gold mining site.

Enslaved Blacks agitated for freedom. With the help of a group of free Blacks (they were about 1 percent of Mecklenburg’s population), a rebellion was hatched, but failed, in the fall of 1852. The enslaved workers were undaunted. They practiced daily resistance – destroying farm equipment, stealing money and food, pulling down fences. And many escaped. Newspapers were peppered with ads offering rewards for Mecklenburg County runaways.

The Civil War brought freedom, but Blacks faced bleak prospects.

With few possessions and encountering white resentment and violence, they struggled to become self-sufficient. But by the 1890s, many were sharecroppers and some owned farms. A few even had enough resources to hire whites as well as Blacks to work their land.

Many became barbers, blacksmiths, bakers, laundry women and domestic servants – building on the skills they had honed during slavery.

Though Jim Crow laws were quickly approved to restrict the Black success, some Blacks became college-educated – many at Johnson C. Smith University, established in 1867 (first called Biddle Memorial Institute). Among its graduates were Thad Tate, whose statue stands on the Sugar Creek Greenway near Central Piedmont

Community College. He cofounded several businesses during the 1920s, including the Afro-American Mutual Insurance Company and the Mecklenburg Investment Company.

Others would include John Taylor (J.T.) Williams, a teacher, physician and respected businessman, who U.S. President William McKinley appointed consul to Sierra Leone in the late 1800s.

Many of those Black professionals lived in Charlotte’s Second Ward, also known as Brooklyn, which stretched from South Tryon eastward to South McDowell Street. This was home to the city’s largest and most vibrant African American community. It was known as Logtown in the 1860s, but by the early 1900s, it was called Brooklyn. It was the site of thriving businesses, schools, theaters, nightclubs, bars, restaurants and churches.

Among those churches was the United House of Prayer, founded by the charismatic Charles Emmanuel “Sweet Daddy” Grace in 1925. Grace AME Zion, founded in 1886, is the only church from Brooklyn’s heyday still standing.

Today, it is a national historic landmark, though no longer used as a church.

Brooklyn also contained the first free Black library in the South – the Brevard Street Library. It had the first public high school for Blacks in the state – Second Ward, which operated from 1925-1969. Only the school’s gym remains. The Mecklenburg Courthouse complex now sits in the heart of the Brooklyn community, which was bulldozed and destroyed during the city’s urban renewal of the 1960s and ‘70s. A redevelopment effort is also underway.

Brooklyn was located near Good Samaritan Hospital, the first private independent hospital in North Carolina built exclusively for treating Blacks. Good Sam, as it came to be known, was built in 1891 in the city’s Third Ward, between Mint and Graham streets, on a site where Bank of America Stadium now stands.

The story of African Americans here begins where you’d expect – in slavery. The enslaved population of Mecklenburg County hovered around 40 percent through the 1860s. Most slaves worked on farms with five or fewer other Black people.

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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Today, African Americans in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are business, community and political leaders who have both influence and support. One testament to that progress is this: Blacks hold most of top political leadership spots in the city and county.

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When urban renewal took their homes and businesses in Brooklyn, many Blacks relocated to another historically significant Black area – Washington Heights. Located along Beatties Ford Road, the community was established in 1913 as the first streetcar suburb built specifically for Charlotte’s Black middle class.

Residents could take the fivecent trolley to work downtown. In 1938, West Charlotte High School was built in the neighborhood as the second Black high school in the city.

Washington Heights and Biddleville (the oldest surviving Black community in Charlotte, established in the 1800s) became centers of civil rights activism. The Excelsior Club, built in Washington Heights in 1910 as a private social club, emerged as an important political gathering and strategizing place for African Americans.

In the 1960s, Johnson C. Smith University became a force in the Civil Rights Movement.

Students participated in sit-ins and protests. Charlotte dentist and activist Reginald Hawkins recruited hundreds to march against local segregated facilities. That led to the end of segregated restaurants.

Hawkins, whose home was firebombed in 1965, along with the homes of lawyer Julius Chambers and political activists Fred and Kelly Alexander over school desegregation efforts, became the first Black person to run for N.C. governor in 1968.

Both Alexander brothers were influential in Charlotte politics. Kelly became president of the state NAACP and chairman of the national NAACP board. Fred was the first African American elected to the Charlotte City Council. In 1974, he became the first Black person to serve in the N.C. Senate since Reconstruction.

The Alexanders were instrumental in the nationally publicized attempts to desegregate Charlotte’s public schools in 1957. Dorothy Counts was one of four Blacks to integrate formerly all-white schools in the city that year. Her stoic determination, while being jeered at and spat upon by an angry mob of white students,

was captured in an iconic photo that became a catalyst for desegregation efforts across the nation.

Charlotte’s school desegregation received national attention again in a landmark case that was argued all the way to the Supreme Court in 1971. The Swann case established Julius Chambers as one of the preeminent civil rights attorneys in the nation, and set busing as a remedy for school segregation nationwide.

Charlotte again was in the national spotlight when Harvey Gantt became the first Black person elected mayor of Charlotte, in 1983. The Gantt Museum is named for him.

African Americans have had great impact on Charlotte’s arts and culture. Romare Bearden Park, built in 2013, honors Charlotte-born and internationally acclaimed visual artist Romare Bearden.

Today, African Americans in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are business, community and political leaders who have both influence and support.

One testament to that progress is this: Blacks hold most of top political leadership spots in the city and county. Mayor Vi Lyles, Mecklenburg County commissioners’ chairman George Dunlap, Police Chief Kerr Putney, Sheriff Garry McFadden, District Attorney Spencer Merriweather, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Earnest Winston and retiring school board chair Mary McCray are all African American.

Still, Charlotte has stalled and retrenched on African American progress. Studies show it’s harder to find affordable housing or move out of poverty here than in most cities. The public schools have resegregated, and frustration over police shootings of Black men led to a clash between protesters and police in 2016 that left one person dead.

Yet, history shows resilience and perseverance are part of the DNA of Black Charlotte. New ways are being forged to tackle challenges and to continue the legacy of Blacks who paved the way for others. P

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In 1995 they adopted their current name to reflect their decades of growth and deepening of services around being the “link” to help people find (and keep) affordable housing.

Today, their official mission is “to enable individuals and families to obtain and sustain safe, decent and affordable

housing.” They do so by offering advocacy and a continuum of services that help people go from homelessness to homeownership, every step of the way.

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November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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What’s Really Going On in Charlotte?

By Fannie Flono

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harlotte is a city of opportunity and achievement, but not for many of its low-income and Black residents. That’s the view of African Americans representing 16 of Charlotte’s predominantly Black neighborhoods, who were part of a focus group sponsored by Pride magazine and Novant Health in August.

The participants included young and older Charlotte residents; 13 of them women and three men. They highlighted challenges and accomplishments in the city for African Americans in a 90-minute conversation that was lively and passionate. Listed as vital concerns were crime and policing, education, wages and upward mobility, housing and health care.

At the core of those concerns, most said, are persistent racism and discrimination, as well as a lack of personal responsibility and engagement.

“Charlotte has a national reputation for being progressive, but everything is not as it seems,” a Reid Park resident said. “We hide the real realities, while putting on a face, because what you see in Charlotte is the result of historic patterns of racism. It’s baked into our system.”

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Neighborhoods represented in the focus group • University Park • Druid Hills • The Park at Oaklawn • Hunterbrook • Reid Park • Historic Camp Green • Dalebrook

• Howie Acres • Moores Chapel • Enderly Park • Bridlewood • Westerly Hills • Hidden Valley • Genesis Park • Prosperity Church • McCrorey Heights

Those patterns have helped create a Charlotte where people born in poverty are likely to stay impoverished all their lives, a 2013 national report concluded.

Researchers from Harvard and UC Berkeley reported that Charlotte is last among the nation’s 50 largest cities in the chances of children born in poverty escaping it. A report from the 2017 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Opportunity Task Force, created in response to the report, linked several factors to that lack of economic mobility. They included a lack

of early childcare and quality education, poor college and career readiness, lack of child and family stability, the impact of segregation and a lack of social capital or influence.

Many in the focus group expressed similar views to those of the task force.

“If we (African Americans in Charlotte) had (a) high quality of education, that would help a lot with jobs and competitive wages,” said a resident from The Park at Oaklawn. “But it (high-quality education) has to start at an early age.”

Crime and Police

Problems with crime and policing angered some. “Our children are afraid in the streets,” said one woman. That is due in part to both “under-policing and over-policing” in neighborhoods, added another. “We don’t have enough Black police officers in our communities” and there is a “lack of trust in police,” others chimed in.

Still, most said crime had decreased in their own individual neighborhoods. They attributed it to the work of their neighborhood associations, and to collaboration and improved relations with police officers. “Police come to our association meetings,” a Hidden Valley resident said. “We have really good community police officers,” added another resident. “Sometimes, they’ll start a little basketball game with my son,” said a young mother.

A Bridlewood resident offered advice to communities seeking ways to deal with crime: “Stay close with police officers. Know who the officers are who work in your neighborhood. When you hear or see something wrong, call police. If you don’t call, they think you don’t need them. The noisy wheel gets the attention.”

Crime doesn’t happen in a vacuum, residents said. It’s associated with other things. Lack of jobs, poor education, racism and prejudice top the list.

“The system is preparing our children to be commodities in the prison industrial complex,” one man said.

Court System

Charlotte’s court system is failing African Americans, many said. It is a biased system in which whites are treated more leniently than Blacks, residents said. “Sometimes, their cases don’t even make it to the courthouse,” one resident said. Their crimes are plea-bargained for light sentences or dismissed altogether, some said. The system is inequitable and was “very intentionally set up that way by whites,” a University Park resident declared.

The court system fails African Americans in another way. They said criminals who plague their communities and should be kept in jail are often released. “They are arrested and in a few days are out again,” one woman said in exasperation. “Our courts are the most inefficient system in the world,” another resident chimed in.

“Charlotte has a national reputation for being progressive, but everything is not as it seems.”

—Anonymous Reid Park resident

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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Charlotte Latin School Young Alumni Spotlight

Michelle Charles �17, Villanova University �21 Michelle embodies Latin’s vision to educate students in the importance of learning, citizenship, service to others, hard work, and Honor Above All. Michelle is pursuing a double major in Political Science and Spanish and a minor in Peace and Justice Studies.

Some of Michelle’s noteworthy accomplishments at Villanova include: • Receiving the Presidential Scholarship • Serving as an Executive Board Member of the Blue Key Society • Earning a Summer Legal Internship with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Pennsylvania • Serving as Outreach and Logistics Director of Get Woke Nova • Studying abroad in Spain While at Charlotte Latin School, Michelle was a stellar student.

She earned the Headmaster’s Award, was inducted into the Edward Jordan Fox, Jr. chapter of the Cum Laude Society, served as a MOSAIC leader, and co-founded the Black Student Alliance.

We are Hawk Proud and celebrate Michelle’s continued personal and professional success.

Interested in learning what Charlotte Latin School can do for your child? Call today to learn more and to schedule a tour: 704.846.7207.

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“There’s power in homeownership. Ownership of property gives you a say. ” —Anonymous McCrorey Heights resident

CharlotteMecklenburg Schools

Residents gave Charlotte’s public schools poor marks. They said schools in their communities get the least qualified teachers and fewer resources than in wealthier areas. They said African American children are often treated differently – receiving more in-school and out-of-school suspensions than white students for similar offenses.

Worse, one parent said, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools “are not teaching, not engaging, not challenging” most Black students. CMS’s magnet schools are good, though, some said.

Healthcare

agreed, observing that many Black communities also have no nearby or easily accessible dental and mental health facilities.

That links to another problem, they said: a lack of grocery stores or farmers’ markets in low-income communities. That makes it harder and more expensive to eat healthier, residents said. “I don’t call the system health care,” a Westerly Hills woman said. “It’s sick care. It does not promote healthy living.”

Other concerns included:

Housing

A 2017 Urban Institute report said Mecklenburg County was one of the hardest places to find affordable housing, ranking 79th of 100 counties in the nation. The focus group agreed, attributing part of the problem to “racist housing policies,” which a McCrorey Heights resident said have helped “disenfranchise Black people.” That resident is working to increase Black homeownership in McCrorey Heights. There’s “power in homeownership,” he said. “Ownership of property gives you a say.” But many can’t afford the costs to rent or buy in Charlotte, so what can be done? Require inclusionary zoning, one said. Others said businesses must pay workers a livable wage.

“You can’t have affordable housing without competitive wages. They go together,” a Dalebrook resident said.

On health care in Charlotte, residents said it was neither affordable nor accessible. Residents in low-income or moderateincome communities struggle to pay the health costs of medical care and insurance coverage, they said. Therefore, many skimp on or skip medical care. Said a woman from the Hunterbrook neighborhood: “Many residents in my neighborhood are young.

They don’t go to doctors. They don’t have the income to pay for it.

They don’t want to create a bill they can’t afford.”

Residents highlighted one universal annoyance – the absence of urgent care facilities in Black communities. So, residents end up in the emergency room, which is more costly for everyone. Others

“Many residents in my neighborhood are young. They don’t go to doctors. They don’t have the income to pay for it.

They don’t want to create a bill they can’t afford.”

—Anonymous Hunterbrook resident

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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Gentrification

Because low-income and moderate-income Black neighborhoods are often close to the center city, developers are aggressively buying land and homes there, then building new, more expensive residences and businesses – and increasing taxes for many longtime, lower income residents, participants said. Code enforcement is used as a ruse to displace residents, they said.

Loss of cultural identity

Some residents felt residents in new developments or houses in the area were “changing the dynamics of communities” and trying to “wash away Black culture” instead of embracing long-standing cultural influences. That has created tension between residents.

Newcomers come in and “make us feel like we’re not welcome in our own neighborhoods,” one resident said.

Several residents said African Americans’ own lack of personal responsibility and civic engagement contributed to problems they experience here. Said a Genesis Park resident: “We as Black people don’t stand with each. We don’t help each other.” Added another resident: “We’ve lost our values… Take care of your property, cut your grass. Show you care… Vote.”

The group had more pointed observations about those issues and Charlotte itself. When asked a series of questions about how the Queen City is viewed, residents expressed frustrations. An overwhelming majority (13 of 16) said the city was poorly managed.

Only six of the 16 would call the city “world class,” as many of Charlotte’s boosters often label it.

Most said it is was a welcoming city, and a good place to work,

“Newcomers come in and make us feel like we’re not welcome in our own neighborhoods”

—Anonymous Charlotte resident 24

Pride Magazine | www.pridemagazineonline.com

raise children and retire. But just half said it was a good place to find a job or start a business.

A majority said it was a good place for arts, entertainment and sports. Charlotte has two professional sports teams, two minor league teams and several museums and entertainment venues.

Despite challenges, residents said their communities were actively working to make improvements. Most have neighborhood associations. Howie Acres, Oaklawn and Dalebrook participated in the National Night Out, the program that promotes police and community partnerships. Genesis Park got a grant to capture the neighborhood’s history in a painting on a wall. Bridlewood and Hidden Valley erected signs and toppers for signs to designate their neighborhoods. Historic Camp Green celebrated its history as a World War I camp for soldiers a century ago. Reid Park is part of the West Boulevard Corridor that has developed a strategic plan and in 2015 created a co-op to bring grocery stores and other markets to the area. McCrorey Heights is the site of the home where Black activist Reginald Hawkins once lived, a home that was shot into and firebombed during the height of the civil rights movement. It was designated a historic landmark this year. An annual festival is also held to encourage Black homeownership in the area. Howie Acres has a library and is working on its first grant and signage. Enderly Park successfully put in place a locked barrier to stop cut-through traffic in the community. The Prosperity Church community held a candidates’ forum. In 2018, Druid Hills was named one of the “six most patriotic neighborhoods in America” by Nextdoor, the world’s largest social network for neighborhoods. Their effort got a helping hand from their next-door neighbors, Westerly Hills, through a neighbor-to-neighbor collaboration.

Yet the views of these residents illustrate that many in Charlotte are unable to share in its prosperity. The issues of housing, healthcare, education, racial tensions and crime they highlight are challenges for Charlotte’s leaders and residents of the entire region.

These residents offer helpful advice and strategies to tackle them. P

Scholarships Help Nursing Assistants

Move Ahead in Their Careers

A

s she faced her final semester of nursing school last fall, Brittany Lawrence worried she might not be able to finish.

For two years, she’d been working three 12-hour shifts a week as a certified nursing assistant at Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center. CNAs are involved in the daily care of patients, such as taking vital signs, feeding, bathing, documenting health issues and much more.

At the same time, she was attending classes on two other days at Central Piedmont Community College. She was preparing to make the big career jump to registered nurse (RN), and the finish line was in sight.

By all accounts, the fourth and final semester would be more taxing than earlier ones. Lawrence doubted she could handle the classes and clinical work while working fulltime. But if she cut back to part-time, she’d have difficulty paying her bills and might lose her health insurance.

“I can’t live without insurance,” said Lawrence, 28.

Then she learned about a scholarship that seemed designed just for her. She applied, and then held her breath.

One day on her unit, a happy commotion broke out: “They brought a cake and announced it,” Lawrence said. “I cried. I always cry,” she said with a smile.

The award allowed her to work only one day a week but get paid as if she was working three.

The program is sponsored by Novant Health and Atrium Health, as part of ONE Charlotte Health Alliance. Its goal is to provide economic advancement for certified nursing assistants who want to become registered nurses.

The two systems created the program as an upward mobility initiative for employees, particularly those living in neighborhoods identified as priorities by the Charlotte Opportunity Task Force. Charlotte ranks last out of the top 50 American cities studied for social mobility.

The program addresses

two obstacles to advancement frequently cited by CNAs – money for school and work flexibility. Lawrence was one of the first five scholarship recipients from Novant Health.

Atrium Health also named five winners in the inaugural year. This year, Novant Health awarded the scholarship to 20 team members.

Scholarships can cover up to two years of full tuition and fees for nursing school. One scholarship typically amounts to $16,000 per year, but Lawrence needed only one semester.

The program also provided a laptop computer, and she kept her health benefits.

“Nursing school is a ton of work, extremely taxing, and this program offers an extra layer of support,” Lawrence said. “It’s a sweet deal.”

‘I love her resiliency’

As part of the program, Lawrence was paired with a mentor, Katrina King, vice president of nursing and chief nursing officer at Novant Health Huntersville Medical Center.

“She’s been a nurse for a long time,” Lawrence said. “What has rubbed off on me is just her positivity.”

King says the same about Lawrence:.

“I love her resiliency. Her dedication is admirable.”

Novant Health also plans to grow the program over time, King said.

Watching nurses as a child

Lawrence began to think about a nursing career because of personal experience with the medical system. When she was young, her mother was diagnosed with lupus, which led to chronic kidney disease.

“I was in and out of

hospitals (with her) for almost my entire life,” Lawrence said. “You see the doctor, but it’s for like five to 10 minutes ... In my experience, it was always the nurses who were the most hands-on and spent the most time with the patients. That really stuck out to me.”

Lawrence had graduated from West Mecklenburg High School in 2008 and was attending Davidson College.

A philosophy major, Lawrence was doing well until the fall of her senior year, when she began missing classes. She was eventually diagnosed with a chronic illness and had to leave school just one semester short of graduation.

As she navigated the medical system, Lawrence noticed that some nurses are better than others at helping patients.

Once Lawrence’s health became stable, she enrolled in CPCC’s two-year associate degree nursing program. She first had to obtain CNA certification.

She worked as a CNA at Presbyterian Medical Center for a few months before starting at CPCC in 2017. Lawrence graduated in December 2018, passed her National Council Licensure Examination earlier this year and is now a full-time nurse in the Huntersville Medical Center ER. She continues to call on her personal experience as a guide for taking care of others.

“It’s easier to care for a patient when you’ve kind of been in their shoes as a patient,” Lawrence said. “I model myself after nurses who take the time to treat the whole patient.” P Content sponsored by Novant Health.

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

25

Rapid recovery means getting back to being grandpa faster If you have joint pain, feel better faster with Novant Health. Our team of physicians has expertise in all facets of orthopedic care, so no matter your need, we can care for you. And with robotic-assisted surgery and same-day discharge, we can get you back to what you love.

Find the care that gets you back to the things you love at NovantHealth.org/rapidrecovery

Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Institute

Anytime.

Anywhere.

Even right now.

Pain doesn’t keep office hours, and neither do we. That’s why Novant Health offers video visits and same-day appointments.* In fact, you can book an appointment online 24/7,* even with a specialist. *May not be available with all providers or at all locations.

ONLINE SCHEDULING | SAME-DAY APPOINTMENTS | VIDEO VISITS Visit NovantHealth.org/Anytime

Working to Care for the Whole Person

Novant Health’s community benefit as a non-profit includes hundreds of programs that address the most pressing health needs of the communities we serve, particularly among groups who may not have had access to healthcare.

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Pride Magazine | www.pridemagazineonline.com

Novant Health has increased access to health care by providing 8,168 free screenings for community members in 2018 with Novant Health team members volunteering 5,827 hours.

A

t Novant Health, we know that health starts in our families, our schools and workplaces, in our playgrounds, in the air we breathe and the water we drink. Regardless of the care we provide in our clinics, we recognize there will always be outside factors that influence a person’s health.

These factors are often referred to as social determinants of health.

The American Academy of Family Physicians describes social determinants of health as the conditions under which we’re born, grow, live, work and age.

The more we learn about social determinants of health, the more we realize how influential they can be to a person’s well being.

One Public Health Report study from 2014 found that clinical care accounts for only 10 percent of a person’s well-being.

The other factors include a person’s genes (10 percent), physical environment (10 percent) and health behaviors (30 percent), with the largest influence coming from social and economic factors (40 percent).

This shows that a patient’s health is complex and can include nonclinical factors that influence which services they need and how often they use them, as well as the additional assistance available to them.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, social determinants of health are made up of six factors: socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, social

support networks and access to health care.

We recognize that we cannot begin to move the needle on health outcomes without addressing these root causes that influence health. So we’re taking steps to address all of these factors.

Within Novant Health, we’ve created the Novant Health Upward Mobility RN Scholarship, which supports team members who aspire to be registered nurses and are experiencing financial hardship. Through the program, Novant Health team members received up to two years of tuition and fees for an accredited nursing program leading to licensure as a registered nurse; flexibility of working a reduced schedule, without a pay cut and benefits to increase available time to meet academic requirements; and access to mentors and career coaching.

Formerly the CNA-to-RN Scholarship Program in Charlotte, the initiative has been expanded to include team members who are not CNAs and support team members who aspire to be registered nurses and are experiencing financial hardship. In 2019, Novant Health awarded this scholarship to 20 team members.

This year, Novant Health began piloting an online platform that screens patients for social determinants of health, and provides referrals for those who are identified as needing access to reduced cost programs.

The platform empowers individuals and those helping them to go online and search any ZIP code for community resources.

It includes details about eligibility, how to best connect with each provider or learn more about the resources in the community.

As part of the ONE Charlotte Health Alliance and in partnership with Loaves and Fishes, Novant Health established a food pharmacy at the Movement Family Wellness Center powered by Novant Health. This resource is available for patients affected by food insecurity and increases access to healthy foods and health education services.

At Novant Health, we are committed to developing innovative programs and providing quality care for all patients that help them get better and stay healthy. P Content sponsored by Novant Health.

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

29

Can Planner Alysia Osborne Into Uptown?

Soul

By Tonya Jameson

C

harlotte Center City Partners (CCCP) is known for planning growth in Charlotte’s city inner ring, and over the last decade, the organization has expanded its footprint to surrounding areas such as South End. In 2015, the group lured Alysia Osborne away from the city’s planning department to help the CCCP plan development in the historic west end.

It was a new opportunity for Osborne, who spent the early part of her career in Charlotte as a city planner, and for a community that has undergone rapid growth in recent years. Osborne understood that policies impact people, and she wanted to make sure that those policies helped, not harmed, people’s lives.

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Inject

“She had to go through this experience to get to where her gift will serve her and serve all of us best. It’s all about relationships and trust. She met new stakeholders, who were very engaged and very invested.”

J’Tanya Adams, program director of Historic West End Partners

On the west side, harm looked like displaced residents and forgotten history.

It was boarded-up small businesses and an underutilized intersection (Beatties Ford Road, West Trade Street, Rozzelles Ferry Road and West 5th Street) that could serve as a gathering place for the community.

Osborne worked with the community to address some of these issues, but her time focusing on the west side ended last fall.

Osborne, 42, has a new opportunity to make an even larger impact on the city as the vice president of planning and development for CCCP. Her mission this time is to plan how the center city will grow over the next 20 years.

In a way, Osborne’s work on the west side prepared her for her latest challenge.

For years, Osborne spent most of her more time planning growth and development with other planners at the city. The west side corridor required a different approach.

The community members there demanded a say in how their neighborhoods grew, and how they would be branded. The neighborhood leaders didn’t want to see the character and the culture of historic west end erased for shiny new things.

Osborne listened to the priorities of the people there, and learned the importance of preserving the history and the culture.

Osborne worked with community leaders to determine how to make sure that the opportunities and investments happening in the corridor could be shared with new, current and longtime residents. She learned the importance of informing residents that change was coming and what type of change they could expect. Transparency

was critical, she said, and so was letting go of assumptions about what’s best.

It’s not that people don’t know how to do things, Osborne said. They need resources so that they can do the work that they want to do in their neighborhoods.

“You don’t have to do it all. You have to tap into the talent that’s in the neighborhood,” she said. “It’s about empowerment.”

Osborne worked with the community to combine about a dozen different documents about the vision for the area to create one tactical plan. She also helped create branding and marketing, and a small business development toolbox series for the corridor.

J’Tanya Adams, program director of Historic West End Partners, watched Osborne grow in the role and looks forward to seeing how she uses the experience to impact her current work planning the center city’s future.

“She had to go through this experience to get to where her gift will serve her and serve all of us best,” Adams said. “It’s all about relationships and trust. She met new stakeholders, who were very engaged and very invested.”

Working with engaged and vocal stakeholders will serve Osborne well as she works on the Center City 2040 plan. She employed a similar strategy of listening to stakeholders, being transparent and empowering the leaders. She’s planning for a larger geographic area and a wider range of stakeholders, since CCCP is responsible for the city’s core and the neighborhoods within about three miles of it.

“It’s different, but I still like it,” she said.

“I’ve never done a downtown plan before.

It’s the base of my skill set and the work I’ve been doing for almost 20 years.”

Osborne and her team work closely with the city’s planning department, which is currently working on the city’s 2040 plan.

The key is to make sure both organizations are on the same page with the message and the blueprint for how the area grows over time.

Osborne joined CCCP from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Department, where she worked for eight years as a planning coordinator. Before that, she was transportation planner for the city’s department of transportation. She’s a Mississippi native, who came here 15 years ago after serving as a planner for the city of Jackson, Miss.

Adams said Osborne loves planning.

“She lights up,” she said.

Osborne’s love of planning started when she was a pre-law and political science undergrad at Tugaloo College in Mississippi.

At a job fair, she met representatives from Jackson State University’s Urban and Regional Planning program. They talked with her about the intersection of policy, law and community, and Osborne was hooked.

Let’s hope that Osborne’s passion for community building, combined with her appreciation for the west side’s emphasis on culture, history and character, will help her and her team create a 2040 plan that injects a little soul among the shiny new things popping up in the center city. P November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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Cork & Crate Isn't Your Average Wine Shop

By Kayla Becoats

W

hen you walk into the wine shop Cork & Crate, it’s hard not to feel as though you’ve stumbled across a gem in Plaza Midwood. The charismatic owners, Chris and Kendra Walker have mastered the art of curating both a highly-rated wine selection and an intimate atmosphere for their guests. What began as an escape from their mundane routine of a shared workplace for the couple has now become a premier wine shop in Charlotte. As Kendra recalls, “The way we would not talk about work at home would be to talk about wines, going to different wine tastings, wine shops and vineyards, so we grew a passion for wine by it being our little outlet as a couple.” After a trip to Atlanta, the pair fell in love with a quaint wine shop there and then decided to make opening their own wine shop in Charlotte official.

“The way we would not talk about work at home would be to talk about wines, going to different wine tastings, wine shops and vineyards, so we grew a passion for wine by it being our little outlet as a couple.”

—Kendra Walker

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Now, nearly two years later, in a city with nearly 50 breweries and counting, Cork & Crate has remained at the forefront of the wine scene. The Walkers’ secret? Streamlining the wine selection process for their clients.

“When you buy a bottle of wine at the grocery store, it is almost a crapshoot. You don't know what is in it; usually there is no one there to help, so you are looking at the label and price and try to go 50/50,” says Chris. At Cork & Crate, a problem as simple as not knowing what type

of wine to buy to suit your palate is eliminated, because, he says, “you are speaking to someone who knows what's in every one of the bottles.”

The same consideration they put into the way they enjoy wine has molded their successful business model. Not only have the two personally test-tasted more than 1,500 wines to ensure they know the bottles on their shelves; they have also found an innovative way to include their clientele in the wine selection process.

Wine Tasting Friday, also known as WTF!, is undoubtedly Cork & Crate’s most popular event. With a price tag ranging from $10-$30 per bottle, it’s so popular that it is not uncommon for reservations to fill up as soon as links to attend the tastings reach email inboxes and social media feeds.

In the comfort of a private room, around a communal table with a group of strangers, guests are guided by

Chris through a selection of four to five different wines that align with either a certain theme or varietal. The intimate, dimly lit room allows guests to unwind and engage with each other in ways they might not have otherwise.

“That table has heard some stories and had some times,” says Kendra.

In fact, that is the point. Chris and Kendra aim to form meaningful relationships with their guests for the sake of finding new ways to serve them better.

“Most of our wines that you see are put on the wine tasting list, and the ones that are highly rated and the customers seem to love, we definitely keep on the shelves,” she continues.

Cork & Crate’s attention to its patrons’ desire to relax and mingle is only a part of what makes the Walkers good at serving their clientele. In addition to delectable

wines, Cork & Crate offers guests a variety of food options, courtesy of its food truck, on Friday and Saturday evenings. Customers may choose from pizza, charcuterie, and, twice a month, a lobster dinner.

This incorporation of food allows patrons to make themselves at home, an experience you cannot get everywhere.

Cork & Crate is more than just your average wine shop. It’s a place for people who want to purchase wine to go, or purchase wine to drink in the comfort of an intimate oasis. So, whether you find yourself there at a tasting, private event or a random Saturday night, one thing is certain:, Iit’s a place to connect with friends and strangers alike over a high-quality wine.

Cork and Crate, 2413 Central Avenue (704) 900-5245

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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The Stats on Black Charlotte

What You Need to Know!

By Angela Lindsay

C

harlotte is currently the “Blackest” it has ever been—from the wave of Black leaders at the helm of key organizations, to the city’s economic growth, due in part to the number of African Americans moving here. In fact, in 2018, Charlotte was ranked in sixth place on Forbes’ list of cities where African Americans are doing the best economically. But that’s not the whole picture. There is still a lot of work to be done. Take a peek at the snapshot of how African Americans are really faring in the Queen City, and how their influence is shaping the daily fabric of the community.

The Namesake: Queen Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

The Numbers

35.03%

(American Community Survey, 2019)

A recent Forbes report ranked Charlotte No. 6 in the country for African American prosperity, based on median household income, homeownership rate, population growth and the percentage of people who are self-employed

64%

6.7%

African Americans make up 35.03% of the population in Charlotte

The African American population in Charlotte has ballooned by 64% since 2000 (NPR.com)

100 years

According to USA Today, the “Great Migration” is seeing a reversal after nearly 100 years.

African Americans, particularly retirees and young professionals, are moving back down South to places such as North Carolina, due to the “economic pull, plus those traditions and that cultural tie”

1768

The Queen City was named after Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III. When the town was chartered in 1768, King George and Queen Charlotte ruled the English colonies.

In order to stay in the king's good graces, the locals named their new township Charlotte Town, in honor of the queen. They also named the county after her German homeland, Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

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No. 6

African American migrants to places such as North Carolina tend to arrive with higher education and a broader network of connections (NPR.com)

$42,100

Median income for Black households in Charlotte is $42,100 (Forbes)

Upwardly mobile African Americans are benefiting from a job market that for the past two years has been the best ever. Unemployment for African Americans is at 6.7%, and last year it was even lower, marking the lowest rate since the U.S. government began tracking that measure in the 1970s (NPR.com)

According to 2016 U.S. Census data, the poverty rate by race is as follows: Native Americans (27.6%), Blacks (26.2%), Hispanics (23.4%), Whites (12.4%) Asians (12.3%)

1 quarter

A quarter of Charlotte children are poor—5% of white kids, 36% of Blacks, 39% of Hispanics (nccp.org)

23.8%

23.8% of African Americans in Charlotte are on food stamps (statisticalatlas.com)

70%

70% of Black households here make less than $60,000 a year (The Charlotte Observer)

41.6%

Black homeownership rate in Charlotte: 41.6% (Bloomberg.com)

37.4%

The most common racial or ethnic group living below the poverty line in Charlotte is Black, at 37.4% or 56,366 people (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017)

2x as likely

Black households in North Carolina are twice as likely as white households to have incomes below the poverty line (CrisisAssistance.org)

Education

2x

The unemployment rate for people of color in Charlotte is twice that for white residents (CrisisAssistance.org)

9.9%

Charlotte’s African American female unemployment rate is 9.9% (www.statiticalatlas.com)

11.2%

Charlotte’s African American male unemployment rate is 11.2% (www.statisticalaltas.com)

71,190

10

A growing Black community makes up 34% of the city’s population, which is close to half white, but African Americans hold a disproportionately small amount of Charlotte’s wealth, and have long complained of aggressive policing in their neighborhoods, which dot the west side and poorer east side

28.1%

(Los Angeles Times)

27% of African American third graders in CMS read at or above proficiency level

71,190 African American children under the age of 18 are living in Charlotte (diversitydatakids.org)

Johnson C. Smith University, one of the now 10 Historically Black College/Universities is in Charlotte

28.1% of African American women in Charlotte hold a bachelor’s degree or higher (www.statisticalatlas.com)

27% 84%

District-wide in 2018, CMS had an 84% graduation rate for African Americans (The Charlotte Observer)

10,311

In CMS last year (2018), there were 10,311 Black males suspended in the district, compared to 1,203 white males. Last year, about 4,700 Black females were suspended, compared to 357 white females (wsotv.com)

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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1 out of 2

1 out of 2 schools in CMS is segregated by race

above grade level. Proficiency drops to 59% at the balanced campuses, and to just under 29% at the ones with the highest concentration of Black students

(forcharlotte.org)

(FFTC.org)

23.9%

Businesses

23.9% of African American men in Charlotte hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. (www.statistialaltlas.com)

66% of African American firms are highly concentrated in three industrial sectors: Administrative and Support and Waste Management (26.4%); Professional, Scientific and Technical Services (20.4%); and Construction (19.2%) (CharlotteChamber.com)

$60,000

39%

(The Charlotte Observer)

According to a 2017 disparity study commissioned by the city of Charlotte, examining data to assess whether minority‐owned businesses in Charlotte earn as much as businesses owned by their white counterparts, revenue for Black-owned businesses on average totaled $60,000 annually compared to $487,000 for their white counterparts

90%

Did You Know?

African Americans are the largest group in CMS, accounting for 39% of students (The Charlotte Observer)

58,000

CMS has almost 58,000 African American students

8-feet tall

Walter G. Byers School, a small pre-K-8 neighborhood school just north of uptown Charlotte, has the highest concentration of Black students at 90% (The Charlotte Observer)

3 Quarters

11 CMS schools are at least three-quarters Black (The Charlotte Observer)

84.4%

West Charlotte High School is 84.4% African American (SchoolDigger.com)

73.1%

Black women represent the fastest-growing business segment in the nation. ~Derek Dingle, chief content officer

13,873

In Mecklenburg County, there are 13,873 African American-owned firms (CharlotteChamber.com)

3x less likely

Access to bank financing for African Americans is a real challenge. In fact, African American firms are three times less likely than white start-ups to get approved for loans. ~ Derek Dingle, chief content officer of

(N.C. Department of Public Instruction)

Black Enterprise magazine (WFAE.org)

$55 million

5.2

36%

Large gaps continue to exist among students of various races in reading and math. While 79% of white students in grades three through eight were proficient in math, only 36% of African Americans were proficient (WFAE.org)

29%

In CMS schools with the greatest percentage of white students, 82% of third graders read at or Pride Magazine | www.pridemagazineonline.com

The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monument, a 8-feet tall bronze statue at Marshall Park, was sculpted by Dr. Selma Burke, whose portrait of President Franklin D. Roosevelt inspired the profile found on the obverse of the dime

of Black Enterprise magazine (WFAE.org)

In 2018, West Charlotte High School’s four year graduation rate was73.1%; and the five year graduation rate was 89.7%

West Charlotte’s graduation rate rose from 51% before Project LIFT, a $55 million philanthropic investment, began to 88% in 2017 (Charlotte Observer)

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66%

The average size of African American employer firms is 5.2 employees (CharlotteChamber.com)

Grammy-award winning singer, songwriter and producer Anthony Hamilton, is a Charlotte native

1944

The Excelsior Club, a longtime center of Black social and political activity, was started in 1944 by Jimmie McKee in a seven-room house on Beatties Ford Road (Cmstory.org).

For many years, it was considered the leading private Black social club in the Southeast, and musicians and entertainers such as Nat “King” Cole, Louis Armstrong, James Brown and Sam Cooke played there. It was also the home base for several local civic groups and community organizations (clture.org)

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SPONSORED CONTENT

Uninterrupted Success

The Main Thing

V

Photo by @CapturedbyKevin

alarie R. Brooks is on a mission. A mission of uninterrupted success.

Life has thrown many hard knocks her way, (too many to count) and she refuses to let them interrupt her success. She knows that success is not final, and that failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.

In fact, Valarie, best known for her success in the real estate industry, now coaches others to be successful and speaks on a national platform, while continuing to build her empire with constant focus on philanthropic endeavors. Valarie is “uninterrupted success”.

With almost 25 years in the real estate industry, Valarie continues to have a passion for real estate and rank in the top 5% of Realtors. Valarie and her partner, Nykole Wyatt, recently expanded their office suite to encompass a multi-purpose training, coaching and conference center for her agents. She wants others to be successful, so much so that Valarie is also offering the workspace and conference center to other small businesses for their use with seminars, conference space, workspace and other events, all complete with free WiFi. Valarie knows how difficult it can be when you are starting out, so she took that into account when it came to this expansion.

Valarie continues to build her empire by growing her real estate team. She has

1000 sq ft of multipurpose space

partnered with an innovative venture to provide her real estate team with the best compensation plans, marketing, training and support! She believes in generational wealth and wants to enable her agents to create their own generational wealth by being the best in the industry. Valarie says, “if my agents have the tools, knowledge and expertise to provide the best for our clients, then our clients will continue to thrive in their respective lives. My clients know me for being the hardest working woman in real estate and I want my growing team to

be known as the hardest working team in real estate. I truly believe ‘your best move’ is with my company when it comes to your real estate goals and endeavors.”

Valarie also serves in her philanthropic endeavors by giving her time, talents and treasures to many different nonprofit organizations. In fact, part of the sponsorship money given to the company’s team events goes to a nonprofit organization that is helping our communities.

“When we serve our communities, we enrich the lives of others,” states Valarie.

“Our lives, our communities, our health, our wealth and our legacies start with us.

Counting my blessings improves my life day by day. I am grateful for my family and friends for their unconditional support. I am grateful for my team, who are also leaders in the industry, and highly contribute to our company’s success. My gratitude creates my vision for continued success in being a proven leader in the real estate, coaching and speaking industry.

In the words of Steven Covey, ‘the main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing.’ My main thing is Real Estate; it’s simply in my DNA. Hard work is not foreign to me. I absolutely love it and I will continue to work hard for my clients, agents, family and community!”

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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How One Woman is Fighting to Close the Racial Gap in Health Care Yvonne Dixon, a leader in diversity and inclusion at Novant Health, is fighting to close the disparities in health care by identifying gaps and working on solutions.

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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“I learned a lesson on how to look for beauty in someone that’s not skin deep, but rather in the heart and in the stories of their life.”

—Yvonne Dixon

Y

vonne Dixon still vividly recalls the heartbreak and hard work of her family’s struggle to care for her great-grandmother in Salisbury in the 1970s.

Caring for a person with dementia is often too much for families to handle on their own. But her parents had limited means, and there were no other options available.

“Even watching and observing how much it took to care for the sick and elderly built toxic stress in me as a child,” said Dixon, 60. Today, Dixon is a leader in Diversity & Inclusion at Novant Health, and her memories of those times inform her work to deliver the best care possible to communities.

Dixon’s story is a profound part of the African American experience. In the United States, discrimination and poverty often have meant that Black families had to handle their own problems, with no support from government or other institutions that were available to whites.

Dr. Rita Hargrave, a clinical instructor in the department of psychiatry at University of California, Davis, points out that African American families assumed such caregiver roles due to a historic lack of access Black families have to quality care and financial and public support. All of the above can make caregiving, especially for patients with dementia, a “great emotional burden,” she said.

'I Learned A Lesson'

She wound up working in a long-term care facility, and found herself loving the time she spent with patients from different backgrounds. “I learned a lesson on how to look for beauty in someone that’s not skin deep, but rather in the heart and in the stories of their life,” Dixon said.

Dixon went on to get her nursing degree, and became a nurse in WinstonSalem. There’s one shift that still stands out today. A supervisor stopped her from seeing a patient, because the patient didn’t want a Black person treating him.

“That patient in room 703 was the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan,” Dixon said. The supervisor found a white nurse.

Taking Care of Everybody

It was a defining moment in Dixon’s life, and one that opened her young

eyes to the challenge of providing health care in a complex world.

Eventually, she would come to the conclusion that “equal” and “equity” can mean very different things when it comes to making sure patients get the care they deserve.

The obligation for Novant Health, Dixon said, is to make sure “our most vulnerable community members have access to benefit from our care.”

Moreover, she added, “What we have to say to our patients is that whatever cultural beliefs or background you have, we’re going to acknowledge it and respect it.”

Asking Lots of Questions

Today, Dixon is the director of health equity at Novant Health, where she works to identify gaps in health care by understanding which rural, low-income and racial and ethnic minorities need access and how Novant Health can help close those gaps.

One example: Dixon worked on a project to reduce readmissions among African American patients.

In 2018, Novant Health was the first health care system to receive the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Health Equity Award for closing the gap in readmission rates by 50 percent among Black patients with pneumonia.

“You only find out what’s missing by asking questions,” Dixon said. We’re working to find better ways for our providers to listen to you and make you view your health as something that you want to have a conversation with us about.” P Content sponsored by Novant Health.

“You only find out what’s missing by asking questions. We’re working to find better ways for our providers to listen to you and make you view your health as something that you want to have a conversation with us about.”

—Yvonne Dixon 40

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Pushing Black Homeownership

One Question at a Time A

By Tonya Jameson

t a recent Tuesday Morning Breakfast, a weekly community meeting, Winston Robinson stood up during the Q&A and asked the question. It’s the question he often asks: Do you have a specific agenda for Black people to create a more equitable Charlotte?

Robinson, 38, is known for some variation of this question, with an emphasis on Black homeownership. To Robinson, owning a home is the key to lifting poor Black people out of poverty. He and his wife own homes in the communities of McCrorey Heights in west Charlotte and Lockwood near Camp North End. In recent years, Robinson has made a name for himself as an advocate of homeownership for Black people. In September, he held the third “A Vibe Called Fresh,” a housing fair that educates Black people about homeownership. It was held in Camp North End and was expected to draw at least 600 people.

Robinson’s path to becoming an advocate started in 2016, after he and his wife bought his grandmother’s house in Lockwood. His wife encouraged him to get involved in the neighborhood association. Around the same time, he read the book “The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein, and the Atlantic Weekly article, “The Case for Reparations,”

by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

“I was so angry,” he said.

The two publications detailed how local and federal government policies, such as redlining, were designed to disenfranchise Black people, and how that has affected generations of Black people. Robinson grew up on West Boulevard and was bused to Myers Park High School. West Boulevard was the dividing line, he said. That’s where Blackness began. Robinson said so many young Blacks graduate from college with hopes of buying their first houses, but they don’t start their homeownership journey with savings provided their parents, as is often the case with whites. They have to

Winston Robinson standing on Patton Avenue in McCrorey Heights.

work harder just to get the down payment, because racist policies prevented their parents from owning homes or owning homes in neighborhoods in which the value of the homes would appreciate and build equity. Few Blacks have generational wealth to give their children a head start.

“I saw how essential housing was to achieve the American Dream,” he said.

The awakening inspired Robinson to help other Black people achieve homeownership, and it also pushed him to press elected officials to do more to help Black people get and keep homes.

Robinson often speaks out about the gentrification on the west side. Community advocates have been impressed with his determination.

“The young man is very knowledgeable and caring,” said Carlenia Ivory, a Tuesday Morning Breakfast regular. “I think he’s passionate. He’s asking the right questions when it comes to homeownership and gentrification.”

Ivory sees Robinson at the Tuesday Morning Breakfast, where he often tag teams with his father, artist Tommy Robinson, who is also a regular questioner at the forum. The two usually sit on the left side of the room, a couple of seats apart. They listen intently to every speaker,

listening for any morsel of commitment to helping Black people.

In addition to listening and questioning, Robinson is empowering people. In its third year, “A Vibe Called Fresh” grew from an event that educated attendees about the historical significance of the west side, to an event that can help more Black people own homes in west side communities. At this year’s event, Habitat for Humanity, city council member LaWana Mayfield and a real estate broker were among the speakers.

Local musicians and artists also participated in the event.

“It’s something that’s long overdue,” Mayfield said of Robinson’s efforts. “He saw something he didn’t like, and as opposed to standing on the side and complaining about it: he chose to create a space where he can educate the community and talk about the real issues on the ground.”

Since Robinson began his efforts, 30 people have told him via social media that he inspired and empowered them to purchase their first home, including a vendor at “A Vibe Called Fresh,” he said.

“It’s pretty dope. That will literally change the direction of their lives,” he said.

“This is essential for the existence for Black people in America. If you own the land, you dictate your influence.” P November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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New career.

New location.

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Lobby features include digital boards, comfortable seating with charging stations, a student refreshment area and study enclaves.

Classrooms are bright and state-of-the-art.

Photo by snapWerx LLC

Canopy Real Estate Institute is the new name for Mingle School of Real Estate.

Today we’re more than a school, we’re a real estate institute providing all the coverage you need for your career development and professional growth.

Real estate pre-licensing classes are affordable and taught by award-winning instructors. Start your career at 1120 Pearl Park Way. Everything you need to succeed is under our canopy.

Early-bird discount ($40 off) Day, weekend and evening classes offered

Register today! mingleschool.com is now canopyreinstitute.com

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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Photo by Julia Fay

Ariene Bethea

Quintel Gwinn

Ebony Staten

Eye On Style:

Sisters Step Into the Design Space

by Angela Lindsay

When it comes to selecting pieces for Ariene Bethea to showcase in her boutique vintage furniture shop, it has to “stop me in my tracks” and be something she’d want for her own home. The self-proclaimed “chief huntress” is the owner of Dressing Rooms Interiors Studio, which offers an artistic collection of designer and designer-inspired vintage home decor and furnishings, in fresh color combinations and graphic patterns mixed with ethnic pieces (African, Asian, Indian, Italian and Moroccan) for what she calls a “soulful feel.”

“I've always been interested in design, but originally it was fashion design. My mom loved decorating, and I grew up in a home infused with art, objects and an appreciation for different cultures that has greatly influenced my design style,” she says.

Bethea began her entrepreneurial journey by selling small objects, lighting and decor online with Etsy. She also did local pop-up shops through Vintage Charlotte, before starting her own furniture pop-ups with partner Elle & Bae, and then being approached by national sites such as One Kings Lane, Hunters Alley and Chairish to sell furniture

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and lighting. In 2014, she opened a booth at Slate Interiors, and later opened her first brickand-mortar store in Optimist Park in 2015.

The Washington, D.C. native, who also does interior design consultations, felt Charlotte would be the perfect city for her business, because of the number of high profile interior designers here and its proximity to High Point Furniture Market. However, she contends her concept is uniquely different.

“Besides being Black-owned, the beautiful thing about selling vintage furniture is that there isn't much competition, because we don't have the same items,” she says. “Vintage pieces are one of a kind so the chances another shop will have the exact same piece in the same color and/or finish is slim to none.

My pieces are one of a kind, in excellent vintage condition; some I've had upholstered in modern and playful fabrics, painted in bold colors or refinished. Many are in their original condition. I also bring in new pieces weekly, keeping my inventory fresh and rotated.”

Her style advice for the average person looking to design a space: Don't worry about trends. Buy what you love, and it will always work.

Photos courtesy of Ariene Bethea

The Hunter: Ariene Bethea

The Technician: Quintel Gwinn organizations that are tied to my industry, (I learned) that there are not a lot of people that look like me, and in speaking with my peers or people that would be potential clients, (I learned) that they don’t really know a lot of Black designers. So, they would be very surprised to learn about my background and what I do. So, I said, I think I want to branch out and create a firm where I could offer these services to my people . . .”

Gwinn acknowledges that her industry still struggles with diversity of both race and gender, and that in a city such as Charlotte, with its constant development, very few firms behind those projects are African American. That is why she is compiling research to inform people that while there is major work changing the city’s environment, particularly in minority neighborhoods,

African Americans do not have seats at those tables.

What also sets Gwinn apart from the competition is her technical background from working in commercial architecture.

That experience affords her the ability to be much more savvy than most in a completely unique way: “At the heart of it, I’m really a space planner. I understand systems within a building. I also understand the larger context that I can operate in (in) my industry, and the impact it can have beyond just designing a home, which comes when you design something like a library or an exhibit or a school. You have to think about design in a totally different way, or on a larger scale, and then your client is the world or the city.”

Fashion-forward design infused with modern interiors is my jam.”

Her design process often begins simply, with considering the client’s favorite colors.

She will also shop the client’s home for unique pieces to build the space around.

Then, she and her team put their spin on it to make the space “en vogue.”

“With a combination of high fashion, style, and design, we uniquely curate spaces designed just for you,” she says. “The most exciting part about my job is the big reveal.

When clients walk into their newly designed space for the first time, the reaction is priceless and sometimes a tear jerker.”

In an effort to pay it forward, Staten founded a nonprofit organization called The Vogue Room Foundation, in which she provides minority, first-generation college students with a successful transition into university living, by offering

a “#DormRoomDeckOut” makeover to deserving students. She started the foundation last year after scrolling through her Instagram account and reading a post

by Michelle Obama, about how she was a first-generation college student (which Staten is also), and it really resonated with her. A week after reading that post, she started her foundation. The first recipient attended her alma mater, NCCU. This year, she selected two recipients: one at UNC Chapel Hill and the other at N.C. A&T University.

Staten acknowledges that there are many “dope” and “talented” Black female designers in the field of interior design; unfortunately, she says, they are underrepresented in major design and furniture publications.

“Which is why I am super excited to be featured in Pride Magazine,” she says. P

Photos courtesy of Quintel Gwinn

For Columbus, Ga. native Quintel Gwinn, the difference is in the technical details. The 15-year design industry veteran received her master’s degree in interior architecture from Queens University of Charlotte and is principle designer of her five-year old interior design firm, Quin Gwinn Studio. Her business is roughly 60 percent residential work, such as homes and private spaces; 30 percent commercial, such as a dentist’s office, hair salon, boutique or and other small business; and 10 percent community work, for entities such as neighborhood associations. She employs an all African American female staff, and 90 percent of her clientele is African American, as well, which she says has a lot to do with why she started her company in the first place.

“Getting (to Charlotte) and joining the

When 33-year-old Charlotte native Ebony Staten first discovered her love of interior design, it was when she moved off N.C. Central University’s campus into her first apartment. As she and her roommate decorated and styled the place, her love for furniture, art and decor accessories came to the forefront. While she was working a full-time virtual information technology job, decorating quickly became her outlet. Now, as founder/owner of The Vogue Room, an interior design boutique providing highfashion living, her mission is to help clients bring their personal style home.

“My style is synonymous to high-fashion design,” she says. “Bold, modern, glamorous, slightly edgy, yet ahead of the trend. I love over-exaggerated, heavy, rich and luxe patterns and textures, paired with feminine curves; metallic finishes and saturated colors like my lipstick and nail polish.

Photos courtesy of Ebony Staten

The Influencer: Ebony Staten

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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SPONSORED CONTENT

A Journey Worth Taking…

Celebrating 10 Years of Success

By Emma Farmer, Owner, Cybertary Charlotte

M

y journey started in Eastern, North Carolina from very humble beginnings. I was the second oldest of nine children, and the oldest girl. We always had food, shelter, and a few articles of clothing, but luxuries, we did not have! My father worked on a tobacco farm and my mother worked along with him.

While my parents were away, it was my job to help raise my brothers and sisters. Nothing in my life indicated my dreams would be possible, but I set my goals at a very young age.

I dreamed of going to college, teaching school, owning a Mercedes-Benz and someday being a business owner. When my Mom passed at the early age of 47, I became the mother figure to my eight siblings and my dreams seemed farther away than ever. Though I’ve seen many hard times and have been through some ups and downs, the hard work paid off. I have accomplished my childhood goals and many more that I never dreamed of.

In 2008, while working as VP of Operations and Sales for a local hospitality franchise company, I found myself in a position that I was very uncomfortable with. We were in a recession, and while I was still employed, I was having to make decisions that negatively affected the livelihood of others. I knew there had to be a better way. Based on previous conversations with my youngest daughter Aisha, I knew that she was tired of corporate America as well.

We had worked together several times in the past and she always said that I was “stern but fair, and above all, honest”.

Aisha suggested that I start my own business and stated, “you have the skills and you work harder than anyone I know.” After thinking it over, I asked her to be my business partner, and a little over a year later our journey began.

In August 2009, Aisha and I stepped out on faith, retired ourselves from corporate America, and started what is now a very successful virtual assistant business – Cybertary Charlotte. We became Cybertary’s first franchise developers in North Carolina and the first Mother-Daughter team for the brand west of the Mississippi. Our 10-year journey has been challenging, interesting, fruitful and triumphal.

We have surrounded ourselves with a group of highly skilled administrative professionals who work to meet the changing demands of entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, small and medium sized businesses. Our Cybertary team consists of stay-at-home moms, home-schooling moms, semi-retired individuals, and retired veterans. We seamlessly collaborate

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to meet the demands of our clients. The team provides reliable support tailored to increase productivity and decrease non-revenue producing tasks. Cybertary clients save time and money without the burdens of payroll and overhead. We have had the pleasure of providing services for over 250 clients in our 10 years in business.

During these past 10 years, I’ve created my own path, and this has allowed me to be available for my church, family, friends and community which has been invaluable.

When it comes to my day to day business, I don’t build in order to have clients, I have clients in order to build.

Visit our website to learn more about how Cybertary can support you and your business: https://charlotte.cybertary.com/services.html 9716-B Rea Road, Suite 180, Charlotte, NC 28277 Ph: (704) 256-4717 • Fx: (704) 749-2680 Charlotte@Cybertary.com • Cybertary.com/Charlotte

Pride’s 2019

Gift Guide

For the Art-Lover Give the gift that keeps on giving entertainment and fun, with a flex pass to shows by Brand New Sheriff Productions, a Black-owned theater company. Playwright Rory D. Sheriff, who has been producing plays locally for the past six years, founded the company. Don’t miss the upcoming season, with shows such as “Be A Lion,” a sassy remix of “The Wizard of Oz.” Flex passes start at $63 and allows the ticketholder to see multiple shows. Brandnewsheriff.com

Light Up Your Life

Shop Locally!

Created as a tribute to commemorate her late mother, Jameka Whitten made Lavondé’s Light, handmade soy blend candles as a way to share her mother’s joy with others. These eco-friendly, plant-based candles are scented with pure essential oils. There are more than five scents to choose from. Try the “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” an unique blend of lavender, chamomile, cedarwood, eucalyptus and orange. 10 ounces, $20. lavondeslight.com

by Lashawnda Becoats

It’s that time of the year again to celebrate the holidays. Here’s our guide to help you shop locally with unique gift ideas.

Just Right for Little Ones Written by local author Derrick Barnes, this New York Times bestseller tells the empowering story of a confident kid who begins the school year with lots of enthusiasm. He’s “The King of Kindergarten” and his adventures chronicle his day of achievements. This picture book is sure to make any kid smile. $9.99, wherever book are sold.

Pamper Him Show the man in your life some love with a facial, hair cut, or beard grooming service from Crown Chakra Barbering Co., a holistic barbering experience in uptown Charlotte. Treat him to a rejuvenating scalp massage with essential oils or an Aromatherapy Steam Facial and let him relax and feel refreshed. Gift certificates are available. 650 E. Stonewall Street, (inside Salon Lofts). Costs vary. crownchakrabarbering.com

Spice Up Your Life Inspired by her love of cooking, Vida Forward created Vida’s Spices as a way to make it easier to whip up delicious, flavorful meals. Her custom blends come in three varieties: Earthly Blend, inspired by American and Italian flavors; Sassy Lady, a zesty mix of Latin flavors; and Mama Africa, inspired by West Africa.

Use them on everything from fish to tacos. $9.99 each. gooddaywithvida.com

For the Holiday Party No time to bake for the holidays?

No problem. Order a dozen or two of Uncle D’s Southern Donuts, Bundt cake style doughnuts made with love by husband-and-wife team Demaurio and Vivian Page. Inspired

by Demario’s grandmother Sarah, who was known for making pound cakes, these sweet treats come in seven flavors with specialty orders available upon request. $21 for one dozen. Uncledsdonuts.com November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

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Johnson C. Smith University, home of the Golden Bulls, is an independent new urban historically Black university located in the rapidly growing Historic West End, where we have been an agent of change for over 150 years.

We offer 23 degree-seeking programs, including our Master of Social Work program that prepares graduates who engage in advanced culturally competent practice with individuals and families, small groups, organizations and communities.

JCSU caters to more than 1,500 students who come from a variety of ethnic, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds.

We immerse our students in an environment that allows them to grow and develop a sense of social responsibility.

To learn more, visit www.jcsu.edu.

The Shaping of Higher Education

By Ryan Kouame

A

century ago, the higher education system in the United States was not what it is today. The improvement of education and growth of universities have given us countless disciplines, professional schools and graduate programs that did not exist then.

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The best answer for the importance of a college education comes from you and your needs, as an individual looking to pursue a career.

American institutions were small compared to current standards, not much larger than the liberal arts colleges that we see today. Most professional schools, such as those in law and medicine facilities, were independent entities unattached to large universities. Public universities also were often no larger than private universities, research was not a central part of faculty’s daily activities and in many of the sciences,—German universities reigned supreme.

Unlike in many other countries, the most unique characteristic of higher education in the United States is its decentralized structure. There is no national system of higher education, as our colleges and universities are locally governed or organized within individual state systems. Although these small differences are what make each campus unique, there are several factors that become common to most. They include the application of science to each industry and an increased awareness of the social problems brought about by a growing industrial and technological society.

of high social status. The ratio of college students to the general population in 1810 was one to 1,500, and many students frequently left college after their first or second year with no dropout stigma.

Why Did Colleges Start?

Why Is a College Education Important?

Colleges in the United States began to be established for two main reasons.

First, most were founded by religious denominations. Colonial colleges were founded and attended by wealthy Puritans, focusing on the general education and moral character of students.

Second, colleges became the pride of the communities, stimulated by the American Revolution and the pursuit of progress.

The goal of establishing these colleges were to produce Christian males only who would inherit family businesses, remain within the Puritan faith and be responsible leaders in the new world.

Primary and secondary school systems were not yet established, so college students were sometimes boys as young as 14. The loss of an ablebodied man from the family farm or business was a risk taken only by those

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Where Was the First College?

In the early days, almost anybody could "found" a college, because college charters were easy to obtain, whether or not those doing so had the resources. This caused many new institutions to fail financially.

Colonial America produced nine colleges that still operate to this day, including Harvard University (1636), the College of William & Mary (1693), Yale University (1701), Princeton University (1746), Columbia University (1754), Brown University (1764), Dartmouth College (1769), Rutgers University (1766) and the University of Pennsylvania (1740).

These universities were funded by the English colonies and usually catered to a specific religious denominations, such as the Congregational or Presbyterian (Puritan) churches.

People who argue that college is not worth it contend that the debt from college loans is too high and delays graduates from saving for retirement, buying a house or getting married.

They say many successful people never graduated from college, and that

many jobs, especially trade jobs, do not require college degrees.

People who argue that college is worth it contend that college graduates have higher employment rates, bigger salaries and more work benefits than high school graduates. They say college graduates also have better interpersonal skills, live longer, have healthier children and have proven their ability to achieve a major milestone.

The best answer for the importance of a college education comes from you and your needs, as an individual looking to pursue a career. In America today, it’s often assumed that most young adults will attend college after graduating from high school. It’s just what you’re supposed to do, and often even discussing anything to the contrary is met with backlash. With the rising $1.5 trillion of total student debt, or 20.4 million college students pursuing their dreams and aspirations, it’s understandable why the debate for both continues.

Choosing the Right College

Prospective college students in the United States today are faced with an overwhelming number of options when looking for the right institutions to further their education. Anticipating that fresh start and making the first step can be exhilarating, while at the same time, it can be exhausting.

For many students, this decision begins with the location and the types of programs being offered at a specific institution. A major deciding factor for many parents is whether the school is public or private, which often determines how the institution is set up and how much it may cost to attend. On top of costs, more things that students have to consider is whether they want to attend a two-year or four-year school, small liberal arts college or large research university, residential or commuter college, religiousbased or secular institution and everything in between. P

Prospective college students in the United States today are faced with an overwhelming number of options when looking for the right institutions to further their education.

Eddie Bell: Renaissance Man

By Hope Yancey

E

Ask Bell if anyone ever tells him he resembles the late Ed Bradley, a “60 Minutes” correspondent, and he smiles with recognition. People have stopped him on the street, he says.

Bell, 80, has been a higher education professional and advocate for students of color. He’s been a photographer capturing a wide-ranging array of subjects, including corporate executives, weddings and landscapes, as owner of Eddie’s Photo World.

And he’s an accomplished poet. He and his wife, Mina, moved to Charlotte in 2013.

Bell believes advocacy for African American and Latino students has been among his most important achievements. A significant portion of his career was working at the State University of New York at New Paltz, where he was instrumental in a project for the recruitment, retention and support of African American and Puerto Rican students who didn’t have traditional college preparation, he says. Later programs built on this early project’s success.

Tomas Morales, president of California State University, San Bernardino, has known Bell since 1971. Bell was an “extraordinary mentor to me,” Morales says in a phone interview. The two first met through SUNY New Paltz.

When Bell visited California to serve as poet-in-residence at CSU San Bernardino several years ago, he interacted closely with faculty and students, Morales says.

With ties to Illinois and New York, Bell spent many formative years in Queens, in a neighborhood populated with African American athletes and musicians. As a youth, he delivered newspapers to Roy Campanella, a catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team. He shoveled snow for entertainer Lena Horne.

Bell hails from a talented family. His maternal grandmother, Juanita Carpenter Robinson, was a poet and helped raise him.

He attributes his embrace of poetry to her.

“I got it honest,” he says with a laugh.

His grandmother’s poems addressed diverse topics, including nature,

Photos by Hope Yancey

ddie Bell greets me at the door of his townhome wearing a Nelson Mandela T-shirt, a souvenir from travel in South Africa.

Above: Eddie Bell, an accomplished poet, photographer and retired higher education professional, poses at his writing desk in his south Charlotte home.

Right: Eddie Bell holds a copy of his new book, “Recrudescence: Poems in the Key of Black.” The title refers to his reconnection with poetry after stopping for a time.

gardening and friendship between races. She also wrote about opera singer Marian Anderson.

Bell’s birth mother, Elise Genevieve Robinson Bell, died of a heart attack at age 35. Bell was only two years old. His latest book, “Recrudescence: Poems in the Key of Black,” pays tribute to her. It was published in March 2019.

“I communicate my inner feelings and my emotions, and everything, through my writing and my poetry,” Bell says.

Bell’s father, Carl Bell, was a veteran of two world wars. Bell inherited his organizational skill and work ethic.

Carl remarried, and Bell gained a stepmother, Anna Lee Clay Bell. He thought of her as a “second mother,” he says.

Testifying to his affection for his birth mother and stepmother, Bell’s arm bears a tattoo of three interlocking hearts. The middle heart symbolizes him. Hearts on either side represent both mothers.

The words “Mama Dear” appear, as well. After his father’s death, he discovered

letters his birth mother wrote to his father. In one, she mentioned this was how a young Bell referred to her when he was a toddler. In a section of “Recrudescence,” he intersperses excerpts from her letters with his own writings.

For all the paths in his career, Bell cites creativity as the common denominator.

“They call me a Renaissance man,” he says.

During Bill Clinton’s presidency, Bell wrote the White House about a lack of artwork there representative of African Americans, and sent his poem, “Side Streets.”

His outreach resulted in the White House purchasing a painting by artist Henry Ossawa Tanner, and an invitation for Bell to meet the Clintons. Tanner’s painting was the first by an African American to be in the White House’s permanent art collection. A photograph of Bell’s meeting with the Clintons hangs in Bell’s home. P Visit www.eddiebell.com to learn more.

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

51

Taking On

TOKYO Destination: Tokyo, Japan

By Lashawnda Becoats

E

ver since I was a kid, I wanted to visit Japan—land of the fictional characters Hello Kitty and the monster Godzilla. Back then, I knew very little about the culture, I just dreamed of going because it seemed like a cool place, so when my mother suggested we take a family vacation to Tokyo, I was very excited. Our seven days of adventure wasn’t nearly enough time to explore everything, but we got it in, logging an average of 18,000 steps per day. Here’s a snapshot of some of what we did.

Who Went

Me, my mother, son, brother and a family friend.

Where We Stayed

We rented an apartment in the Sumida area, which was within walking distance of shopping, restaurants, the Metro station, Tokyo Skytree (the world’s tallest tower) and the Sumida Aquarium.

2 3

What To See

Everything you can. Tokyo is a fascinating city, rich and yet complex, filled with history, art, fashion, food and culture, so whatever is on your itinerary, you can’t go wrong.

The Vibe

1

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Many areas of Tokyo remind me of New York City.

We dubbed the Shibuya district “Time Squares,” because of its bright neon lights and the famous “scramble crossing,” an intersection with hundreds of people crossing the street at the same time. The hustle and bustle of this popular tourist area has lots of shopping, with familiar chain stores such as H&M, Zara and Forever 21. Shinjuku is another busy and noisy district we explored that’s known for mall shopping, small bars and eateries and nightlife.

4

Favorite Area

We loved the quieter district of Ginza, where we found luxury shopping, the famous Kabukiza Theater and quaint eateries. We loved exploring Tsukiji Fish Market, the largest in the world. Think Anthony Bourdain-style exotic seafood, the freshest sushi, sashimi and ramen noodles in the world. I ate sea urchin for the first time, as well as the largest raw oysters I’ve ever seen. It’s a must visit while in Tokyo.

No-No in Tokyo

Leaving trash. This is the cleanest city I’ve ever visited, and with good reason. You won’t find trash on the ground or trash cans around the city. In fact, signs say “Take your trash with you.” We were even surprised to see the designated smoking glass areas outside for people who smoke cigarettes.

Pleasant Surprise

A social media suggestion yielded a gem we didn’t expect to find – a restaurant serving Southern food in Tokyo. Soul Food House, located in the Azabu-juban district, was created by owners David and LaTonya Whitaker, who hail from Atlanta.

The transplants opened the restaurant in 2015, because they missed traditional soul food. We chomped on beef ribs, chicken and waffles, green beans, sweet potato soufflé, macaroni and cheese and berry cobbler, and yes, it was delicious. They even had old school Kool-Aid on the menu.

LOL! The comfort food and hospitality at this spot took me back to my roots and reminded me of being at my Grandma’s house.

Temples Galore

Japan has more than 77,000 temples.

We were able to see four of the popular ones in Tokyo. My favorite was Sensoji Temple, one of Tokyo’s oldest temples, located in the Asakusa

5

district. We loved the street outside of the temple, lined with hundreds of shops, selling everything from souvenir trinkets to freshly-made rice crackers and juices. It’s easy to spend hours at this gem.

6

Eat Fruit

My family and I love fresh fruit, so we were pleasantly surprised to see stands everywhere that sell a variety of freshlycut fruit, such as grapes, strawberries and cantaloupe, in plastic cups. Be sure to eat lots of watermelon while you’re in town.

The Japanese take growing watermelon very seriously (in fact, a specialty watermelon can cost $100), but hands down, it’s the best seeded watermelon I’ve ever had.

7

Best People-Watching My brother, son and I love fashion and high-end, hard-to-find sneakers. We trekked to the Harajuku district and wandered through the intricate alleyways lined with world famous boutiques and kitschy stores featuring the best in urban wear and Japanese fashion. Grab a bubble tea and enjoy the sights, sounds and the people walking the streets wearing the latest street style.

Don’t Miss

There are basement-level food markets (beneath department stores) all around Tokyo. We checked out the Tokyo Food Show in Shibuya station for lunch. We found freshly-made pastries and desserts, sakes and wine, soups, seafood and salads.

We are a variety of things that made our mouths water.

Don Quijote is a massive discount store (seven levels) worth visiting for fun.

Here you’ll find clothes, cosmetics, food, household items, medicine, souvenirs, electronics, shoes and more. Think all of our major box chain stores rolled into one.

We loved it. P

8 1 Tokyo Skytree.

2 Shinjuku at night.

3 Fresh seafood at Tsukiji Fish Market.

4 David and LaTonya Whitaker owners of Soul Food House.

5 Fancy watermelons!

6 There are lots of kitschy items inside Don Quijote.

7 Outside smoking area.

8 Sensoji Temple.

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

53

Going from renter to happy homeowner in 2020?

Here are 3 steps to help get your finances in shape to buy a home

By Kathy Cummings, SVP; Bank of America Homeownership Solutions and Strategic Relationships

W

hether you’re dreaming of a yard for your dog, adding your personal touch to a space, or you simply want to go home at the end of the day to a place you can call your own, homeownership is clearly a goal for many people. Owning a home just makes people happier, enabling them to create valuable memories, improve their overall sense of well-being, and it gives them the power to build their personal wealth over time.

In fact, 93% of Americans are happier after buying a home, and 83% wouldn't go back to renting, according to the Bank of America 2019 Fall Homebuyer Insights Report (https://info. bankofamerica.com/homebuyersreport).

We don’t have to tell you all the benefits of owning a home. You probably already see it in your community and hear it often from friends and family who are homeowners.

3

Owning a home changes you for the better Most homeowners agree that buying a home is the best decision they have ever made, contributing to shifts in the way they spend their time and strengthened relationships with family and loved ones.

Has becoming a homeowner made you a better person?

79% Yes

No

21%

76% of homeowners pursued new hobbies after buying a home, including:

47% Landscaping/ gardening

45%

33%

Cooking/ baking/grilling

Interior design/ remodeling

67% of current homeowners say their relationships with family and loved ones have changed since purchasing a home. Among those who feel this way, homeownership has:

47% Given families a sense of pride

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49% Allowed homeowners to entertain more

24% Enabled homeowners to bring the entire family under one roof

Pride Magazine | www.pridemagazineonline.com

Perhaps their sentiments mirror more than two-thirds of homeowners we surveyed who say their relationships with family and loved ones have changed since purchasing a home.

Homeownership offers mental, emotional and financial stability. Our report found that more people (58%) are buying homes for emotional reasons (i.e. making memories) than financial investment (42%). Yet, when compared to prospective homebuyers, current homeowners have higher levels of satisfaction with many aspects of life, including their financial well-being (77% of current homeowners vs 42% of prospective buyers).

Think about a time when you were inspired to try something new. It turns out homeowners have that feeling often. Our report found that more than three-quarters (76%) pursued new hobbies after buying a home, including: landscaping/gardening (47%), cooking/baking/grilling (45%), interior design/remodeling (33%).

If you think homeownership seems like a distant dream, think again. Instead of asking, “Will I ever become a homeowner?” ask yourself, “What steps can I take to get there?”

Here are three impactful steps you can take now to prepare to buy a home.

1. Get your reading material ready! Just by reading this, you’ve already taken the first step on your way to becoming an informed prospective home buyer. You’ve got your vision of future homeownership.

Now, read up on how to make it happen.

The better informed you are about the process and getting your finances ready, the more confident you’ll be moving forward. Bettermoneyhabits.com (Homeownership area) breaks down what is probably the most important purchase of your life.

2. Know your numbers. One of the best steps you can take before even looking at homes is to get a rough estimate of what you can afford. By providing some basic financial information, your lender can give you an estimate of how much home you’ll be able to afford. And you can plan your finances and home search accordingly. How much can you

4

Compared to prospective homebuyers, current homeowners have higher levels of satisfaction with many aspects of life, including: Prospective Homebuyers

Current Homeowners

Where they currently live

How happy they are

84% 70%

66%

The quality of their social life

82% 63%

Their life overall

Their financial well-being

78% 58%

How much time they spend pursuing their hobbies

84%

77% 42%

88% 70%

borrow to purchase a home? Find out through the Bank of America Digital Mortgage Experience®.

3. Look into grants that can help with your down payment and closing costs.

Did you know you could receive thousands of dollars toward your down payment, and even your closing costs, that you don’t have to repay? Bank of America offers: • Up to 3% of the purchase price of a primary residence (maximum $10,000) to be used for a down payment. Available in North Carolina counties: Cabarrus, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan and Union and South Carolina counties: Chester, Lancaster and York.

• Up to $7,500 for closing costs through its America’s Home Grant® program. Available in the counties above plus many more.

There are no boundaries to what you can achieve as a homeowner. However, a home is a major purchase you don’t need to approach alone. Consult a lending specialist before you’re ready to buy to get an assessment of your current financial picture. This will help get you on the right track and determine if you’re ready to buy today or need more time to prepare. If you’re ready to make the move, learn more about our Community Homeownership Commitment by visiting bankofamerica.com/homeowner for more information on grants and next steps. P

SCENEANDSEEN

Lucky Spot Barber Shop Grand Opening at Walmart Wilkinson Boulevard Photos by Raphael Basisa for Flawless Capture Photography

November-December 2019 | Pride Magazine

55

EVENTS CALENDAR

Mark Your Calendar Compiled by Shawn D. Allison, II

November 1 – 3

SHAE Movement African Arts, Yaye Fall, Inc. and Kuumba invite you for a weekend of rhythm at the third Annual Nanioubolo African Dance and Drum Conference. This amazing gathering will include master drum and dance teachers, who will break down choreography and basic understanding of African dances. Shaemovement.org

November 7

Verse & Vino is a Charlotte literary tradition. This evening of food, wine and conversation with five New York Times best-selling authors celebrates the joy of reading, writing and libraries, and brings together a community of readers in support of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation. Tickets begin at $125. 704-416-0602 Dapper Street Productions sets the season off with a rousing tribute, as the lovely Nicci Canada pays vocal homage to Dinah Washington. This homage to one of jazz’s most legendary voices and pianists will feature a colorful medley of Washington’s classic statements. Free.

6 p.m. Mallard Creek Rec Center. 2530 Johnston Oehler Rd.

November 8

Crown Town gets a taste of Hitsville, USA, with a special concert entitled Charlotte DOES Motown. The sixth concert series of local and regional musicians will take on the incredible catalog of

56

Motown Records. Tickets start at $15. 8 p.m. Heist Brewery. 1030 Woodward Ave. Eventbrite.com

November 23

Jazz N Soul Music invites you out for a special evening of live music with the legendary contemporary jazz ensemble Pieces of a Dream. This illustrious group has graced stages and ears for decades and as a special treat, R&B/soul staple Rhonda Thomas will add extra delight with rich vocals over lush instrumentation.

Blumenthalarts.org

hip hop culture and a dope display of digital scenery, bringing the famed story to life and in living color. $20.

Blumenthalarts.org

December 5 - 14

Brand New Sheriff Productions finds a new meaning of courage in the critically acclaimed and original production of “Be a Lion.” After leaving Oz, Lion embarks on a new journey to become king of the jungle, but he encounters challenging tests to earn more than courage—he sets out to acquire the respect of all. $25.

Brandnewsheriff.com

most in-demand sessions, The Jazz Room: Holiday Edition. Come witness one of the most swingin’ holiday season celebrations in town, as notable local musicians celebrate the music of legendary composer Vince Guaraldi and his famed “A Charlie Brown Christmas” score. Tickets start at $25.

Carolinatix.org

December 6

November 28

Everyone head uptown and feast upon the magic of the Novant Health Thanksgiving Day Parade. Before you enjoy the big meal with your family, come experience this fun parade, filled with dozens of floats, marching bands, performance troupes and much more. Free. 9 a.m. Tryon St.

December, 1

A holiday mash-up for the whole family, “The Hip Hop Nutcracker” reimagines Tchaikovsky’s classic score, through the five elements of

Pride Magazine | www.pridemagazineonline.com

Soul music takes center stage in a special evening, as Jazz Around Town proudly presents Kim & Kayla Waters LIVE. This husband-and-wife instrumental duo is ready to give your ears some crisp flavor, as they marry harmony and rhythm in this unforgettable night of classic and contemporary jazz. Tickets start at $47.75.

Carolinatix.org.

December 7

It’s time for the 2019 Queen City Christmas Expo.

Bring the entire family out for an afternoon of games, gifts, vendors, live performances, food and fellowship. Free. 12 noon.

Carole A. Hoefener Center.

615 E. 6th St.

December 13

JazzArts Charlotte invites you out for one of their

December 15

Get ready for a yuletide jam unlike any other at Bueller’s Christmas Boogie 2019.

Yours truly will be setting the mood with a variety of soul, jazz, funk, R&B and holiday classics from my own personal vinyl collection.

Free. 5 p.m. Tip Top Daily Market. 2902 The Plaza.

December 20 – 21

On Q Productions is set to make your holiday season a lot more funky, as it presents their muchraved about Christmas jam, A Soulful Noel.

Enjoy this festive concert featuring a fusion of poetry, dance and live music. $20. The McGlohon Theater. 345 N. College St. youarenowonq.com

Your One Stop Gift Shop Where else could you find family PJs, toys & gifts for everyone else on your list?

S H O P G I F T S F O R E V E R YO N E AT B E L K .C O M / G I F TG U I D E

Remarkable Remarkable care for care for

ALL ALL

(that includes you!)

(that includes you!)

NACD’sNo. No.11Nonprofi Nonprofitt Diversity NACD’s Diversity Innovatorin inAmerica America Innovator At Novant Health, we understand that every person is different, with unique life

At Novant Health,challenges we understand thatThat’s everywhy person is worked different, with unique life experiences, and needs. we’ve hard to build a team that reflects the diversity the world around andworked a healthcare delivers experiences, challenges and of needs.

That’s why us, we’ve hard system to buildthat a team personalized care far beyond our clinic wallsus, to those need it most. that refl ects the diversity of the world around and awho healthcare system that delivers personalized care far beyond our clinic walls to those who need it most.™ We are proud to earn National Association of Corporate Directors NXT Recognition as the No.to 1 nonprofi t diversity innovatorof in Corporate America. Our advancement diversity We are proud earn National Association Directors NXT ™of Recognition and inclusion has always been key to providing care when and where you want it.

as the No. 1 nonprofit diversity innovator in America. Our advancement of diversity and inclusion has always been key to providing care when and where you want it.

Discover the Novant Health difference: Care personalized for you.

Discover the Novantjust Health difference: NovantHealth.org Care personalized just for you.

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