New Report Takes Aim At Poverty In Winston-Salem, Highlights Recommendations

Members of the Winston-Salem Poverty Thought Force issued the 60 page report. The initiatives were collected with input from across the community, including ideas like more mentoring programs in public schools and designating a “poverty czar” who would coordinate current programs and help implement new ones.

Winston-Salem Council Member Derwin Montgomery says the findings will be introduced at city council committee meetings this week.

“They will be presented not just for information, but they're being presented so that council will adopt these recommendations and that it will inform our policy-making moving forward,” says Montgomery. “We will look at how we divvy out the small dollars that we have for community agencies, [and ask] 'are these agencies helping us reach these goals?' It's not a report with just recommendations, but these are action items.”

In October of 2015, a group of academic and civic leaders organized a series of community meetings on topics like housing, hunger and food insecurity. They used a method known as “World Café,” where participants engage in a series of small-table discussions and change tables after each round of discussions. Each round is guided by specific prompts. Afterwards, participants share their observations and insights with the larger group, guided by a moderator.

That information, along with online feedback from residents, was used to create the recommendations.

Several of the items are already taking shape, but Rogan Kersh, provost at Wake forest University and chairman of the Thought Force says some of them, like improving transportation and healthcare, will need more funding sources.

“It's a real blend of projects, initiatives or possibilities that will take years and can't just be done by our city and county even. Some of them require federal or state action or both,” says Kersh. “But some could be done tomorrow."

For example, he points to a recommendation where local churches, organizations, and universities would adopt a school in a low-income neighborhood and provide tutoring and other support. 

Members of the Thought Force say the information will also be presented to the Forsyth County Board Commissioners.

"This is a really exciting time for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County. It's a collaborative effort that will require a lot more work as we move forward," says Cindy Smith Gordineer, president and CEO at the United Way of Forsyth County. "We are also empowering residents to address poverty issues in their own communities with various programs."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, while there has been some slight improvement in the latest numbers, still nearly a quarter of Winston-Salem residents live in poverty.

*Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news