The Triad event was a great community forum that captured the essence of the work we are doing in the communities. We had close to 50 people from the community as well as organizations consisting of Fight for 15, Democracy North Carolina, NC WARN, Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods, Active and Healthy Brotherhood, and Piedmont Regional Council.
The atmosphere was very upbeat and attendees were very engaged and active with the information and findings shared to them. Here in the Triad the top issue of concern was about jobs followed by food and housing tied for second. I think our findings really resonated with the group because they felt strongly and in line with the results.
The event consisted of PowerPoint presentation to share out our research findings, conversations about how to begin to build relationships for capacity for this work as well as time for other organizations to talk about what they are working on in the Triad area, and breakout groups to discuss the top issue areas. We also had great entertainment by Jazz musician Sir Charles who helped to keep the event upbeat.
One of the moments that moved me the most was in the housing breakout group. Community members talked passionately about the homeless situation and the lack of help that homeless families are given when trying to find housing in Winston-Salem. Everyone at the event had great opinions and thoughts on how to start to solve the problems facing the Triad.
The process for me was a great experience. Working with volunteers to build outreach around the event as well as talking directly to organizations and members of the community was amazing. Overall, I feel great about the momentum that we were able to create and look forward to building out the campaign and working with a lot of folks who attended this event in the future.
Rashad Gibson is the Regional Field Director for the Triad region (Winston Salem, Greensboro). If you would like to get more involved in local campaigns around clean energy jobs and other critical issues, please contact Rashad at 828-302-2784 or at rashad@nclcv.org.
