Enlarge

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.

Keep Reading

Posted: March 28th, 2012 Lee Howard

• About 30 members of the 145th Airlift Wing, North Carolina Air National Guard, returned home March 23 after serving in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Over 100 members of the 145th Airlift Wing were activated in early November to provide support for the ongoing war on terrorism in the Middle East.
• A midday rally against President Obama’s health-care requirements drew hundreds to the federal courthouse uptown last Friday. Speakers urged the audience to rise up against what they described as a threat to religious freedom. Critics took aim at a new rule that requires employers to offer free birth control to employees.
• Extra police will remain at several Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools this week. Tweets and Facebook posts about gang violence led to beefed-up security at Vance, West Meck, West Charlotte, Myers Park and Harding high schools last week after a 17-year-old Vance student was shot to death.
• Conservative blogger Tara Servatius found a picture online depicting President Obama dressed in drag with a bucket of chicken between his knees. She thought it would be a good illustration for her “Meck Deck” blog discussing the president’s decision to speak out against N.C.’s proposal to ban same-sex marriage. The former WBT talk show host resigned last week in the wake of the ensuing outrage.
• On March 31, 100 Black Men of Greater Charlotte will partner with Community Blood Center of the Carolinas to co-host an inaugural “Sickle Cell Awareness Community Blood Drive.” The event is part of a new CBCC program aimed at increasing the number of African American donors to support area patients with sickle cell disease. The event will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the CBCC Charlotte Center, 4447 South Blvd.

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: March 7th, 2012 Lee Howard

The CIAA swarmed into Charlotte last week with a kickoff luncheon at the Charlotte Chamber on Wednesday. The CIAA is a basketball tourney for traditionally African-American colleges. It marked its 100^th anniversary last week. As many as 200,000 are believed to have attended. Last year’s economic impact was more than $44 million.

Temple Beth El’s Rabbi Judy Schindler has been a fixture on the Charlotte scene for years, working on causes from eliminating homelessness to championing the right of same-sex couples to marry. Because of her “tireless and often courageous work” in the glare of conflict, Schindler has been named Charlotte's 2011 Woman of the Year by a committee of past winners of the 56-year-old award.

A state constitutional amendments panel met last week to "prepare an official explanation of the proposed Marriage Amendment” to the N.C. Constitution that will be put before voters in the May 8 election.

Some of Charlotte’s largest community and family foundations are about to provide nine public schools in West Charlotte with $55 million extra dollars. Project L.I.F.T. is intended to help some of the city’s most troubled schools.

First Lady Michelle Obama was in town last week as part of the CIAA tournament festivities to promote her “Let’s Move!” Initiative. It’s a health and fitness program she’s spearheading to help stem the tide of childhood obesity.

The lounge in Myers Hall at Johnson C. Smith University, along with the stairwells to each of the dormitory’s four floors, have been transformed into an artistic showcase for African-American women with powerful messages. Courtesy of a $1,000 grant from Duke Energy, local artist Lena Hopkins-Jackson created a mural she calls “Tapestry” for the women’s dorm.