Enlarge Asia McLean shares her thoughts about negative music.

Posted: January 20th, 2012 Tonya Jameson

The scenario is all too familiar for some. A good friend, or maybe a family member, is a victim of domestic violence. Her husband or boyfriend is physically or mentally – often both – abusive, but the victim keeps going back or never leaves.

On Saturday, about a half dozen people discussed this and other scenarios that challenge our inner peace during an A.C.T (Achieving Community Today)-sponsored discussion called “Beautiful from the Inside Out.” The talk targeted people who were victims of or who’ve been affected by domestic violence. It was the first part of a two-part Love Project created by Amy Stewart. The second part of the project involves documenting stories by people affected by domestic violence.

Stewart said she hopes the project will teach people to find the similarities with each other.

On Saturday, participants spent the first half of the five-hour workshop discussing a range of situations that challenge our inner peace. Dave Nichols talked about how the Lakewood Community became more united once neighbors talked more to each other and began to look out for each other. Thirteen-year-old Asia McLean told the group that she and her younger brother stopped listening to the radio because the music is too negative. She said she feels happier.

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Posted: January 17th, 2012 Tonya Jameson

Artist Edwin Gil is at it again – uniting cultures through art. This time he using the tradition of quilting along with social media and good ol’ fashioned paint to create “Quilting Differences.”

The A.C.T. (Achieving Community Today)-funded project features 18 people, nine from the U.S. and nine from abroad. The participants’ childhood stories and favorite colors will create a multimedia quilt. On Saturday, local participants stopped by Gil Gallery to record their stories and paint their swatches.

Gil said he was particularly excited about using social media as a part of this project because it will help show people the range of uses for social media. For example, he’s using Skype to create works for “Quilting Differences.” In this project, people from throughout the world share stories from their past.

Marina Berdan participated in Saturday’s workshop because she wanted to share a story from her childhood in Russia. Berdan embodies the project’s soul. She is a Russian native who grew up in Charlotte and is marrying a Colombian-native who lives here as well.

“It brings the whole world together,” Berdan said. “The project, it pretty much shows that no matter where you’re from, no matter what you do you’re the same. “

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Posted: January 13th, 2012 Tonya Jameson

Their mothers gave to the church, but they also helped raise money to help a struggling family. They came from small towns where giving wasn’t called philanthropy, it was called helping out.

They are attorneys, bankers and college students. They are also philanthropists. They joined Valaida Fullwood to discuss her book “Giving Back: A Tribute to Generations of African American Philanthropists” at the YWCA on Wednesday, Jan. 11. Fullwood’s book features nearly 400 pages of profiles and photos of Charlotte-area African Americans. Local photographer Charles Thomas contributed the black & white photos to the project.

YWCA Central Carolinas CEO Kirsten Sikkelee said she was excited to host the event as part of the organization’s ongoing mission to combat racism and to highlight an aspect of African American culture that isn’t always spotlighted. “This is a conversation that the community hasn’t had,” Sikkelee said. 

Along with discussing Fullwood's book, the workshop featured a multi-generational panel discussion about inclusive philanthropy. It was there that this new generation of philanthropists talked about how they never called what their families did inclusive philanthropy.

Panelists discussed what philanthropy looked like to them. It was helping a family pay rent or maybe helping them do their taxes. It was accepting a dozen eggs for payment.

“This whole culture and system of philanthropy developed outside of what we know as organized philanthropy,” Fullwood said.

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Posted: December 5th, 2011 Tonya Jameson

In a small building tucked off Sharon Amity Road, dozens of refugees from Bhutan and elsewhere crammed into a small room inside the Neighborhood Good Samaritan Center.

Some wore flip-flops although it was cold enough to see your breath outside. Others were hungry after a long day of classes and little to eat. Yet, it wasn't the lack of warm shoes or even the hunger that bothers them – it was the lack of help. They were refugees fleeing countries such as Somalia, Vietnam and Bhurma. They wanted help, not hand-outs.

It was a refrain participants of Crossroads Charlotte's In Our Own Backyard: A Community Tour Through a World of Cultures bus tour heard often Thursday night. The tour exposed participants to organizations and agencies that help Charlotte’s Immigrant, Refugee, Asylee and International (IRAI) communities. The tour was part of the monthlong Many Cultures, One Community initiative.

Some of the tour participants worked with the IRAI communities’ service providers such as the Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary-Care Research and International House. Others simply heard about it and wanted to learn more about the IRAI communities.

Along with a stop at the Neighborhood Good Samaritan Center, the tour visited the Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency on Monroe Road and ended at the Hindu Center off of Independence Boulevard.

One UNC Charlotte intern from Japan said the tour exposed her to diversity and the challenges people face. She said she doesn’t see a lot of diversity in Japan.

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