‘An ambitious vision’: Renaissance West Community Initiative celebrates 10-year anniversary
In the last decade, the RWCI has fought for affordable housing in the community while combating food insecurity and educational gaps for all children.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Ten years ago, a group of community leaders in the Renaissance West area of Charlotte decided to come together and work towards a comprehensive, holistic approach to fighting poverty in the area.
That led to the Renaissance West Community Initiative.
“We had an opportunity 10 years ago to realize an ambitious vision for children and families,” Founding CEO Laura Yates Clark said. “One where we could imagine a community where all children, all families had the opportunity to succeed.”
In the last decade, the RWCI has fought for affordable housing in the community while combating food insecurity and educational gaps for all children.
The Initiative has created a STEAM academy, created employment opportunities, and provided numerous other services to help fight poverty in the Renaissance West community.
“When we’re trying to help our own family members, we don’t do one issue at a time,” Chief Executive Officer Mack McDonald said. “We do the whole person.”
Even though the initiative just turned 10 years old, the work in this community goes back even further to 1993.
That’s when two police officers, John Burnette and Andy Nobles, were killed in the line of duty while patrolling the Boulevard Homes housing project. That tragedy is what sparked the initial outcry for change in this community.
“So it’s almost like the spirits of those police officers are kind of watching over our community,” McDonald said. “We’re able to take that spirit and help the folks that are there now.”
The impact left behind by Burnett and Nobles is still felt 30 years later.
“He would be really glad, he would be honored,” Burnette’s mother Trisha Norkett said.
Thursday night, the group held its annual Renaissance Mentors event. The fundraising effort brought together community leaders and members to help raise money for this initiative to continue impacting the people in this community who need it.
“So we want to bring resources into what people might call a challenged community,” McDonald said. “But set it up so the folks in that community can have the same opportunities that other folks can have around the city.”
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