Habitat breaks ground on new
development in Northeast Winston
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Last week Habitat
for Humanity of Forsyth
County broke ground in
the Stone Terrace neigh
borhood, where they plan
to build more than 70
homes over the next few
years.
Located near the Og
burn Station community,
Stone Terrace was started
in 2006 by a private de
veloper who was unable
to keep building during the
housing crisis. Habitat was
able to acquire the prop
erty last year and has plans
to build 75 homes over the
next five to seven years.
During the groundbreak
ing ceremony on Friday,
March 5, Executive Direc
tor Mike Campbell said he
was proud to be a part of
a team that’s dedicated to
bringing affordable hous
ing to Forsyth County.
“Habitat for Humanity
Forsyth is committed to
making an impact in this
city in affordable housing
and its economic mobility
and creating safe commu
nities,” Campbell said.
Habitat serves fami
lies earning between 35%
- 80% of the area me
dian income. Families ac
cepted into the program
attend a series of classes
on home ownership and
financial literacy. Fami
lies are also required to
spend time working on
other homes and help
build their own homes.
Participants then purchase
the home through a low-
interest mortgage from
Habitat. Monthly costs
for the mortgage payment
and utilities average only
$400-$500 a month.
According to a city
housing assessment, Win
ston-Salem will need an
additional 14,000 housing
units by 2027. In addition
to Stone Terrace, Habitat
plans to continue building
and repairing homes in the
Bowen Park, Dreamland,
and Boston-Thurmond
communities to help the
city reach that goal.
Mayor Allen Joines ap
plauded Habitat for their
continued efforts to bring
affordable housing to the
area.
“The City of Winston-
Salem and Habitat has had
an extraordinary partner
ship for decades.
“I understand that here
in Winston-Salem, Habitat
has built over 500 homes.
✓ Photo by Tevin Stinson
Last week representatives of Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County, the City of Winston-Salem and future
home owners broke ground on a new development in Northeast Winston.
That’s 500 homes, right
... but think about how it
has impacted and changed
the lives of 500 families,”
Joines said. “We’ve found
as we’ve come in and
worked in neighborhoods,
we turned neighborhoods
around, we turned fami
lies around, we’ve seen
the kids do much better in
school, there’s less crime
in those neighborhoods as
you introduce homeowners
into those neighborhoods.
So Habitat does more than
provide homes, they’re re
ally making a huge social
impact on our city.”
City Councilwoman
Barbara Burke, who rep
resents the Northeast Ward
where Stone Terrace is
located, thanked Habitat
as well. She said, “Today
we are grateful to Habitat
for helping to increase the
housing supply in order to
close the current gap.
“This is a great invest
ment in our community,
so today we celebrate, es
pecially in the Northeast
Ward.”
Jeanette Brown, who
will be one of the first
homeowners in Stone Ter
race, said she’s completed
all the hours needed to
complete the program and
she’s excited to be a home-
owner.
“It feels good to have
something of my own and
not have to rent. I have
something now I can leave
my kids and my grand
kids.”
Black Empowerment Network to focus on promoting economic
mobility in minority communities
BY TEVIN STINSON
THE CHRONICLE
Winston-Salem na
tive Algenon Cash has
launched a new initiative
geared toward educating
Black communities and
families on public policies
that promote economic
mobility.
Cash, who is an invest
ment banker with Wharton
Gladden, said he started
the Black Empowerment
Network (BEN) after hav
ing a conversation with
former U.S. Congressman
Mark Walker, follow
ing the murder of George
Floyd. Cash said Walker
reached out and asked if
there were any policies he
would recommend to ad-
Photo by Tevin Stinson
Algenon Cash speaks during the Black Empowerment
Network’s launch event held last month at J&S Caf
eteria
dress some of the dispari
ties in the Black commu
nity.
“To be honest, I wasn’t
sure what to suggest or
recommend to him,” Cash
continued. “I tend to be
more of a centrist in terms
of how I think about poli
cymaking and there’s not
a lot of centrist research
policy groups that are out
here. So we just kept talk
ing over the summer and
eventually we came up
with the idea for the Black
Empowerment Network.”
According to Cash,
BEN has already identified
several areas that are most
impacting to the Black and
other minority communi
ties, including police re
www.wschronicle.com
form, home ownership, en
trepreneurship, and health
care, just to name a few.
He said although BEN will
be doing some research,
the network will be more
about action.
“We want to research
those areas, but we also
don’t want to get too
bogged down with just re
searching it because I feel
like we’ve done a lot, that
we know what the issues
are, we know what the
ideas are, we just need to
put some of the solutions
into action and actually
do something about it. We
want to build a network
where we can act on these
issues,” Cash said.
Although Cash is a Re
publican, BEN will be a
bi-partisan effort. The ini
tiative has already gained
support from former Win
ston-Salem City Council
man and State Representa
tive Derwin Montgomery,
a well-known Democrat,
and Rev. Odell Cleveland,
who will both serve on the
BEN Leadership Commit
tee.
“Quite frankly, I don’t
think the" Republicans
or the Democrats have a
monopoly on good ideas,
so we believe we need to
be diverse on how we ap
proach these things, so I
wanted to build a diverse
leadership committee,”
said Cash while discussing
'Dortt^^
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BEN leadership.
“I wanted it to be di
verse across the state, so
hopefully by bringing us
together, the best ideas will
bubble to the top.”
During the launch
event for the Black Em
powerment Network held
last month at J&S Caf
eteria in High Point, the
keynote address was deliv
ered by Clarence Hender
son. Henderson, who also
serves on the BEN Lead
ership Committee, partici
pated in the Greensboro
sit-in movement that led
to the integration of lunch
counters across the South
in 1960. He said in any
situation, you have to have
a strategy, and moving for
ward, the Black commu
nity has to find a strategy
for economic mobility.
“The next civil rights
movement is economic
empowerment for the
Black community and you
have to understand how
that works,” Henderson
continued. “It’s under
standing the free mar
ket and capitalist system
which doesn’t care who
owns it.”
For more information,
visit the Black Empower
ment Network Facebook
page or contact Algenon
Cash at acash@whar-
tongladden.com.