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Volume 43, Number 22
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.
THURSDAY, February 2, 2017
Family homelessness now target
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE__
In 2014, the United Way of Forsyth
County joined forces with the city and the
county to form the Commission on Ending
Homelessness by amending the 10-year
plan adopted in 2006 to end all homeless
ness in the area.
Just one year later, Mayor Allen Joines
announced that with the help of the com
mission, the city had met its challenge of
ending veteran homelessness in the area.
As he stood inside the city chamber
after making the announcement in the fall
of 2015, Joines thanked the work of the
commission, the United Way and other
organizations for their hard work and ded
ication.
“When enough spider webs come
together, you can tie down a lion. We had
a lot of spider webs here to tie this lion,”
said Joines. “Having these partnerships
have really been a game-changer.”
With veteran homelessness “tied
down” for the moment, the commission,
which consist of 16 voting commissioners
appointed by City Council and the County
Commissioners, is in the process of devel
oping a new strategic plan that will focus
on ending family homelessness, which has
been growing per the latest point-in-time
tally.
According to a point-in-time count of
the homeless in 2016 of the 544 people
who were considered homeless 144 indi
viduals were part of a family, compared to
121 in 2015. During an interview with The
Chronicle earlier this week, chief staff per
son for the commission, Andrea Kurtz,
said although she is proud of the work the
commission has done so far, now is the
time to take the next step.
“We have met our goals, so now we
are looking to ensure families have the
help they need,” said Kurtz. “We are not
done. This is only the beginning.”
One way they are looking to help fam
ilies in need is by investing in housing
development.
See Family on A2
Chronicle file photo
In October 2015, Mayor Allen Joines announced that the city had met its chal
lenge of ending veteran homelessness in the area.
♦ Photo by Tevin Stinson
Members of the first graduation class of McDonald’s English Under the Archways course celebrate dur
ing a ceremony held last week to honor the class of 2017.
McDonald’s celebrates
first class of non-English
speaking employees
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Seventeen local McDonald’s employees took a break
to celebrate last week as they became the first graduating
class of English Under the Arches, an English course
designed specifically to help employees advance in their
careers and life.
For seven weeks, both managers and crew members
i
from restaurants across Forsyth County took English
classes during paid work hours to improve their English
skills and for some, take the first step toward a high school
diploma and even a college degree. The course, which was
taught through a combination of online and classroom
instruction session, falls under the larger Archways to
Opportunity program that gives McDonald’s employees
See Employees on A2
BLACK PRESS EXCLUSIVE
N.C. author:
Emmett Till
story ‘brutal’
BY CASH MICHAELS
FOR THE CHRONICLE
Given all of the major media headlines since its
planned release, it’s easy for the public to think the new
book, “The Blood of Emmett Till (Simon and Schuster,
released Jan. 31)” is mainly about the confession by
Carolyn Bryant.
She is the Mississippi white woman whose lie in 1955
Emmett Till
AP
Photo by Susan Evans
Prof. Timothy B. Tyson
caused the brutal lynching and murder of 14-year-old
Emmett Till.
But in an exclusive interview with the Black Press this
week, the author, Professor Timothy B. Tyson, a Duke
University senior research scholar and historian, says
Bryant’s 2007 revelation to him that the black teen never
said or did anything “sexually flirtatious” to her to warrant
being kidnapped by her husband and his half-brother, then
beaten, shot in themead, and thrown in the Tallahatchie
River wrapped in barbed wire and weighted down by a 75
pound cotton gin fan, is just where the controversial book
begins.
The rest of the 304-page volume not only meticulously
documents what led up to the despicable murder of the
innocent child, but more importantly Tyson says, the rea
sons why white supremacists have historically resorted to
violence to deny African-Americans their civil rights.
Tyson said after taping the Bryant interview in 2007,
See Till on A2
SHARE asks
city to support
cooperative
grocery store
BY TODD LUCK
THE CHRONICLE
SHARE Cooperative of Winston
Salem is asking the city to fund a feasibil
ity study on opening a co-op grocery store
on Peters Creek Parkway.
SHARE (Supplying Honest and
Respectful Engagement), which is an ini
tiative of Freedom Tree at IDR (Institute
for Dismantling Racism), is hoping to
open a co-op grocery store in a food desert,
which is an area where fresh, healthy food
isn’t available.
SHARE Project Manager Gary
Williams told the city finance committee
last month that the store will serve “fresh,
nourishing foods at a reasonable price.”
People will be able to buy memberships
that will give them a vote in how the store
is run and profits will be reinvested in the
community. The group is currently negoti
ating for a vacant space at West Salem
Shopping Center, which has previously
See SHARE on A2
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