Recall back to October 2020, a kitchen fire in Craven Terrace left a New Bern family of four temporarily homeless for almost two weeks. Craven Terrace management arranged a temporary but smaller apartment for the single mother and her three special needs daughters. As they entered the fresh apartment, this is what met them: Here is video they took upon entering the apartment for the first time: For the next two months, Dinah Foskey complained all the way up the chain about conditions, with little result. Then, just as she was scheduled to return to her original apartment, she was given an eviction notice instead.Read More →

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In: Aldermen, Board of Aldermen, Civil Rights, Community issues, Housing, New Bern, New Bern Housing Authority
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A new traveling exhibit has been created about sites important to, and personal memories about, American travel during the “Jim Crow” era of legal segregation. The Negro Motorist Green Book (Wikipedia article here), published between 1936 and 1966, was both a guide and a tool of resistance designed to confront the realities of racial discrimination in the United States and beyond. The book listed over 300 North Carolina businesses—from restaurants and hotels, to tourist homes, nightclubs and beauty salons—in the three decades that was published. The exhibit highlights a complex statewide network of business owners and Green Book sites that allowed African American communities toRead More →

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Tried By Fire, Inc., a local nonprofit committed to assisting women newly released from prison who need a safe home while they transition back into the community, has undertaken a fundraiser to support the renovation of My Sister’s House. Launched on Feb. 1, 2021, an appeal is being made for One Thousand One Hundreds in financial donations to raise $100,000 by April 30, the last day of National Reentry Week. “Our campaign for One Thousand One Hundreds is an appeal to the community to support this ambitious project to rehab an 80 year old house in the Duffyfield neighborhood of New Bern,” said the volunteerRead More →

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United Way of Coastal Carolina joins United Way Worldwide and United Way of North Carolina to recognize National 2-1-1 Day on Thursday, February 11. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, people in need can dial, text or message 2-1-1 to access free and crisis and emergency counseling, disaster assistance, food, health care and insurance assistance, stable housing and utilities payment assistance, employment services, veteran services and childcare and family services through this United Way initiative. The trained specialists at 2-1-1 call centers listen, identify underlying problems, and connect people in need with resources and services in their communities. In 2020, 2-1-1 in theRead More →

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Help end local hunger and support the arts by participating in Empty Bowls. This year Empty Bowls looks a bit different due to COVID-19. Each $30 ticket to Empty Bowls provides a $5 coupon to participating restaurants and the opportunity to select and take home a hand-crafted piece of pottery while contributing to two great causes, the Craven Arts Council and Religious Community Services. Tickets can be purchased at the Bank of the Arts, Temple Baptist Church, Fuller’s Music, Mitchell Hardware, and Realo Drugs at Carolina Colours. You can also buy tickets online at embowlsnewbern.org. Participating restaurants include The Chelsea, Friday’s 1890 Seafood & Barbecue,Read More →

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By TAYLOR SISK This is part two of a two-part series exploring racism as a public health crisis in Appalachia and its compounding due to COVID-19. Read part one here. As COVID-19 bore down on his community, Thomas Beavers recognized that primary among his responsibilities was dispelling the rumors.  Beavers is pastor of New Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church in Birmingham’s East Lake community. He ministers to some 3,800 members. Early in the coronavirus pandemic, rumors circulated within African American communities across the country that Black people were immune to the virus. Or that infection was actually occurring during the testing process. But in consultationsRead More →

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By TAYLOR SISK This is part one of a two-part series exploring racism as a public health crisis in Appalachia and its compounding due to COVID-19. Read part two here. Shortly after midnight on Sept. 29, Felisha Walter assumed an identity very much at odds with the fullness of her life: statistic.  Walter was a devoted mother, a chef and caterer; gracious, giving and forgiving; spiritual and kind. And when she passed away, just after her 62nd birthday, at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, she was one more African American life lost to COVID-19 – a virus that has brought suffering and death to a disproportionateRead More →

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To the Editor: Stanley White Center should be rebuilt at its present location on Chapman Street, not at the proposed new location off Neuse Boulevard.  Far from being only ball fields and basketball courts, the Center is much more — a meeting place for nearby residents, an after-school place for kids to go, a counseling center for adults to learn parenting skills and get help with completing job applications. More than a place to exercise, it’s a safe place for children and their parents.  The city has purchased property in and around Gaston Boulevard and across from the main fire station, which is being considered for the re-location of Read More →

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In: Civil Rights, Commentary, Community, Community issues, FEMA, History, Opinion, Politics, Stanley White
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While some local counts may be cancelled due to regional COVID-19 rules, many community scientists across the hemisphere will carry on one of the longest-running wildlife censuses in a socially distanced fashion. For the 121st year, the National Audubon Society is organizing the annual Audubon CBC. Between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5, bird-loving volunteers will participate in counts across North Carolina and across the Western Hemisphere all while abiding by Audubon’s COVID-19 guidelines.  The 12 decades’ worth of data collected by participants continue to contribute to one of only two large existing pools of information notifying ornithologists and conservation biologists about what conservation action is required to protectRead More →

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BY LISA RICE & NIKITRA BAILEY The African principle of Sankofa teaches that to have a strong future, we must bring forth knowledge gained from our past. The United States is at an inflection point on race — including on the fundamental question of housing policy. In the United States, we continue to uphold exclusionary housing practices, rooted in our segregationist past, that hold back whole communities and stifle economic growth. We should instead choose inclusive and equitable solutions that support all people, particularly children strengthen our communities and grow the economy. Fully enforcing the Fair Housing Act, including its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing mandate, offers the opportunityRead More →

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