April 28, 2022

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Inside:

Volume 48, Number 34

W I N S TO N - S A L E M , N . C .

THURSDAY, April 28, 2022

Candidates for board of commissioners talk priorities

BY TEVIN STINSON THE CHRONICLE

At-large seats and seats in District A on the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners are up for grabs this year, and last week some of the candidates came together to discuss their platforms, while taking questions from voters during an open forum. The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners’ major responsibilities include adopting the annual county budget, setting the county property tax rate, establishing county policies and acting on zoning and other land use matters. The seven-member board also appoints members of numerous citizen boards, committees and commissions. Board members serve four-year staggered terms. Six of the commissioners are elected from two multimember districts and one is elected at large. Four commissioners are elected from District B and two from District A. The candidates running for seats in District A who attended the forum - incumbent Tonya McDaniel, Phil Carter, Shai Woodbury, and incumbent Fleming El Amin (who had a proxy in attendance to represent him) - were

asked what would be their number one priority over the next four years if elected or re-elected. McDaniel (D), who was elected in 2018, said she wants to see improvements made to the county’s facilities on Highland Avenue. The county’s Social Security, Health, and Human Resources departments are all located on Highland Avenue in Winston-Salem. She said the facilities on Highland Avenue should provide wrap-around services that benefit the entire community. “One of my priorities is to build back better Forsyth County,” McDaniel continued. “And what does that look like? … Highland Avenue. I want to see that look like a campus, I want to see that location be wrap-around services that transform this comPhoto by Tevin Stinson munity.” Carter (D), who is More than three dozen people attended last week’s candidates forum held at the Central Library. known throughout the community for his work age, with profit that you is the first Black woman to education, we don’t have that we pay our educators with Housing Justice Now can see in your communi- serve as chair of the board, a strong county to live in. what they are worth.” and other grassroots orga- ties. You can see it in your said her main focus will There is a reason why eduThe proxy who stood nizations, said his main schools, you can see it in be education and improv- cation is the number one in for Commissioner Elpriority will be ensuring your health care. I want ing teacher pay. Currently line item for the county,” Amin (D) said his focus that the budget works for the budget to work for you Winston-Salem/Forsyth Woodbury added. “We will be decreasing the all citizens. “My number and not just for those who County Schools ranks 8th need to make sure we are death rate among local one priority is ensuring are not everyday people,” in the state for teacher pay paying our educators … youth. He said the rise in that the budget gives you, Carter said. and last among the larger my number one priority violent crime is taking the taxpayers, utility. will be to safeguard this Shai Woodbury (D), districts in the state. “That it provides you who currently serves on “If we do not have a county from the education See Candidates on A2 with benefits, with us- the local school board and very strong public school standpoint and make sure

It’s back! Hope du Jour invites the community to ‘feel good eating’ on May 3 THE CHRONICLE

Hope du Jour has been a much anticipated community event for over 30 years. On the first Tuesday in May, many people perused the long list of participating restaurants and, along with family, friends and coworkers, they planned their dining

Submitted photo

A group from Grace Presbyterian Church gathers at Cin Cin Burger Bar to dine out for Hope du Jour in 2017. destinations like a general mapping out a battle plan. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or in-between coffee breaks or an afternoon wine-down, choices were

made based on a restaurant’s participation. Diners felt good eating out, knowing a portion of that restaurant’s sales would be donated to Crisis Con-

trol Ministry (CCM) to help our neighbors with their emergency financial needs. And then the pandemic hit.

“2020 forced everything to change,” said Ryan Moody, CCM’s special events and marketing manager. “We wanted to keep Hope du Jour going, but the restaurant community had been so impacted that we decided to move it to September.” Like many of us in mid-2020, he had high hopes that things would improve by the fall. But things were no better for restaurants in September. CCM has always valued the strong partnerships they have with local restaurants and their support of Hope du Jour over the years has been invaluable. In fact, several restaurants had participated from the very beginning, over 25 years. But now they needed help. So, Crisis Control Ministry turned the event

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upside down and promoted the Hope du Jour restaurants, but did not ask any restaurant for a donation. Instead, they urged the community to dine in or take out to support the restaurants that were continuing to struggle. 2021 came around and the pandemic continued to impact the local restaurants. Crisis Control again saw the need to support the restaurant community as a way to thank them for their years of continued support. So in 2021, Hope du Jour changed to Hope for the Hungry for the entire month of June. The community was encouraged to dine in or take out at a local restaurant and again, no donations were requestSee Hope on A3 6 89076 32439 7

BY JUDIE HOLCOMB-PACK


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