Crossnore receives $5M pledge for expansion campaign

Crossnore Communities for Children has received a $5 million gift, the largest in the organization’s 110-year history. 

The anonymous gift will go toward Crossnore’s $41 million campaign to expand services provided by the statewide foster care organization.

It will require at least $3 million in matching funds for a charter school in Winston-Salem. The campaign will also boost support for Crossnore campuses in Avery County and Hendersonville, as well as for planned services in the Charlotte region.

Crossnore Chief Executive Officer Brett Loftis says North Carolina is experiencing a foster care crisis, with children at times being forced to sleep in offices while awaiting placement.

"So this is about making more access for them, both safe places to live, and trauma-informed places to learn," says Loftis. "So part of this will also be the opening of a new charter school there in Winston Salem, that would be a fully trauma-informed public school."

Loftis says the school for kindergarten through fourth-grade students will be in a renovated building with an opening target date of August 2025.