Enlarge Willie Ratchford sums up points at the community conversation on jobs.

Posted: March 5th, 2010 Andria Krewson

We don’t give up.

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx used those four words to sum up a Charlotte meeting about jobs at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church on Beatties Ford Road on March 4.

With Charlotte’s unemployment rate higher than the national rate, civic groups convened a community conversation to talk about jobs.

Key speakers were Foxx and Jennifer Roberts, chair of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners. Panelists were Jay Bryson, global economist for Wells Fargo; Natalie English, senior vice president of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, and Patrick Graham, president and CEO of the Urban League of Central Carolinas.

Foxx said he has attended three town hall meetings and has spoken to more than 500 people about jobs. At one of those meetings, a 64-year-old woman who spoke up about her struggle for work connected with an employer, Foxx said.

And that’s his goal: “To connect people to the things that they need,” he said.“A job means dignity, it means a meal, a roof, clothes. It means the basic things we need to survive,” he said.

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Posted: February 5th, 2010 Greg Lacour

The Echo Foundation, a humanitarian and educational organization in Charlotte, exists because of Elie Wiesel.

It was founded on Wiesel’s suggestion after the internationally renowned professor, activist and Holocaust survivor visited Charlotte in 1997. Since then, The Echo Foundation has hosted prominent humanitarians and developed educational programs for students.

This year, the foundation is preparing for the release of perhaps its most ambitious project: “In the Footsteps of Elie Wiesel,” a 56-minute documentary that follows a group of 12 Charlotte high school students who traveled to Europe during the summer of 2007 to learn about Wiesel’s life. Over 12 days, they traced Wiesel's journey from his birthplace in Romania to the concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland to Versailles, where he was given refuge after World War II, to Berlin, where new generations of Germans are trying to atone for the sins of their forebears.

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Posted: September 29th, 2009 James Willamor

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“Look at ourselves and think about whom we want to be,” said artist Rose Hawley. She encouraged those who passed her table in the Emerging Artists tent at Festival in the Park to participate in her mosaic.

Hawley pointed the half-dozen onlookers to a table covered in small glass cubes of various colors. “Choose a piece that represents you now or in the future and place it in the glass bowl.”

Children and adults alike joined in until a bowl of vivid colors began to take shape. "Think about how your piece fits into the bowl. Do you want your green piece to form a community with similar green pieces, or do you want it to be with a red piece so they both stand out?"

The artists who participated in this Crossroads Charlotte event each worked on a piece that represented one of six driving forces that will shape our community: civic engagement and leadership, growth and development, allocation of community resources, demographics, the economy, and education.

Paint, mosaic, clay, and cloth were used to convey these ideas non-verbally; conversations were an important part of the Emerging Artists tent.

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Posted: September 27th, 2009 Ayofemi Kirby

The Crossroads Correspondents will be previewing restaurants for the Oct. 8 Taste of the World. For more info and to make a reservation, click here

Ben Thanh 4900 Central Ave.

Phung Nguyen and Mai Duong, husband and wife family-owned restaurant

The dining area and stainless-steel kitchen of the Ben Than Vietnamese restaurant is brought to life by a variety of fruit and vegetables almost as colorful as the lighthearted chatter heard as they prepare the food they serve to customers.

Like a paint-by-numbers, Ben Thanh offers an assortment of meals customizable to omnivores and vegetarians alike.

“Anything we eat, or our family eats, we can put on our menu,” said Phung Nguyen, co-owner of Ben Than, the restaurant he manages with his family.

Menu items such as Sautéed Spinach, Ginger Stir Fry, or a guest favorite - Pineapple with Pecans (see video), can be prepared with chicken, shrimp, beef or flavored tofu and include a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables and spices. All meals are served with white rice - a staple in most Vietnamese meals.

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