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Posted: January 30th, 2013 Brant Aycock

Three local organizations have come together to work on a project that will increase access to care and services for those that are underserved, including Internationals here in Charlotte.   Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee, Community Building Initiative, and Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary Care Research (MAPPR) are answering the call put out by these communities by collaborating to create an online database of resources and service providers available to help these vulnerable populations.

“We have been working with these communities for a while now,” says Annetta Foard of Community Building Initiative.  “What we were hearing was that there was a need for a centralized place where people could go to find the information they were looking for.  Initially we were compiling social service information and working independently from MAPPR, but when we got word that they were working on a database focused on health care  - it made sense to partner with them and try to do something comprehensive.”

The new website will allow users to input search criteria specific to their needs, and match them to organizations providing these services.  Additionally, there are social networking features allowing users and organization administrators to communicate directly with each other on the website.

As word is getting out, enthusiasm is building.  Thus far more than 60 organizations have registered to be included on The MAP. During this initial phase of development, only government agencies and not-for-profit organizations are populating the database.  The MAP will initially be tested by these service providers, but the goal is for the portal to be available to the general public.  Participation is free of charge for both the service providers and for the users seeking services.

Organizations are still being recruited to join the website!  If you or your organization would like to learn more about The MAP, please contact Brant Aycock at Brant.Aycock@carolinashealthcare.org.

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Posted: March 24th, 2012 Carla Hough

On March 15, a group gathered at Christ Lutheran Church to participate in "Class Matters," the first workshop of a program entitled Bridges Out of Poverty.

Sponsored by Charlotte Mecklenburg Community Foundation and the recipient of a Front Porch Grant by Crossroads Charlotte, the program is made available to teachers and those who volunteer with outreach programs that assist the impoverished.
 
The main objective of the workshop is to help these teachers and volunteers form more effective relationships by understanding more about poverty, as one of the key teachings of the course is that "no significant learning occurs without a significant relationship."

The class is taught by Amy Daniels, Director of Outreach at Christ Lutheran Church and president of McClintock Partners In Education (McPIE), a collaboration between Christ Lutheran and McClintock Middle School, a school with a 78% rate of poverty among its students. "You don't have to go to a third world country to see poverty," she says.

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Posted: March 14th, 2012 Lee Howard

• Mayor Anthony Foxx and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Coalition for Housing hosted an Interfaith Summit on affordable housing and homelessness. The event drew more than 300 people Friday to the Park Expo and Conference Center. Those gathered represented almost 100 area churches. The featured speaker was The Rev. Floyd Flake, a former New York congressman and the pastor of Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral of New York who spearheaded a renewal of the Jamaica neighborhood in Queens. According to The Charlotte Observer, the Rev. Flake cautioned the hundreds of elected officials, agency executives and spiritual representatives that they had to put differences aside, act fast and produce clear results. "Nobody wants to climb on a train that's stopped in the middle of the tracks," he said. Click here for Observer photos from the event.

• Affordable Housing and Homlessness were the topic on WFAE's Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins on Tuesday. Among those interviewed about the state of the homeless and efforts to help: Mike Rizer - Chairman, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Coalition for Housing; Dr. Maria Hanlin - Executive Director, Mecklenburg Ministries; Kelly Lynn - Director of Development at Charlotte Family Housing; and David Levine - Director of Media, Serve Charlotte's Homeless. Click here to listen to the program.

• Sibusiso Monguni led the combined choirs of Mallard Creek High School and his Hlanganani! 2012 Unity Tour Honors Chorus of South Africa for an impromptu performance of a traditional African song and dance at Mallard Creek High Friday. Friendship Missionary Baptist Church is hosting the African students for a month-long visit. The choir performed for the public at Missionary Baptist Church on Beatties Ford Road Monday. 

• Most North Carolinians oppose a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, new poll results show. The amendment will be on the May 8 ballot. The survey found 54% of N.C. residents opposed the constitutional amendment and 38% supported it. 

• CLT Blog is hosting "282," a weekly TV news show about hot topics in Charlotte and beyond. Recently, the show featured discussions on the importance of minority voter turnout for the 2012 election with Rod Garvin, who is on the leadership team for the Hip Hop Caucus in Charlotte, and social entrepreneurship with Charles Thomas of Queen City Forward, a nonprofit that helps social entrepreneurs use business strategies to solve social problems.

Posted: February 27th, 2012 Brant Aycock

An idea that was first conceived in 2009 is finally becoming a reality!  When Crossroads Charlotte began conversations with local immigrants, refugees, asylees and internationals (IRAIs) here in Charlotte - one of the most consistent needs that came up was for a directory of resources for this growing community.  Three years later that need is finally being met with The Mecklenburg Access Portal (or The MAP, for short). 

In partnership with Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary Care Research (MAPPR), Community Building Initiative, and the Community Relations Committee, Crossroads Charlotte has developed an online resource directory.  This exciting tool will help members of the IRAI community as well as others easily find resources and services available to them in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

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