New Winston-Salem Nonprofit Aims To Reduce Poverty

Two years after a Winston-Salem task force issued its final report on poverty, a new nonprofit is launching to look at ways to address the problem, starting with a listening tour with people struggling to get ahead.  

Poverty has declined here over the last four years. It's now at about 21 percent citywide. But Mayor Allen Joines says more work needs to be done.

He and state Rep. Derwin Montgomery have formed the Partnership for Prosperity to develop a plan to make a difference. The new organization will host a series of talks across the city to hear from people who are living in poverty.

There are two staff members. The executive director is John Railey, the former editor of the Winston-Salem Journal's editorial page and author of “Rage to Redemption in the Sterilization Age.”

“This poverty fight must be raised from the ground up,” Railey says.

Chanel Nestor is the community engagement associate. Nestor is an adjunct instructor of Sociology at North Carolina A&T University and grew up in Winston-Salem's Happy Hill neighborhood, one of the city's oldest black neighborhoods.

Railey says lack of access to health care is a concern among those living in poverty. The group will push for Medicaid expansion.

He also says access to employment and education can be boosted by improving the city's public transportation system.

The nonprofit is the result of ideas developed under the city's Poverty Thought Force, which Mayor Joines and then councilmember Montgomery launched in 2015.

During its time, forums were held across the city to get ideas on how to fight local poverty, gathering more than 350 suggestions.

Organizers collaborated with the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce and United Way of Forsyth County to work on those ideas. Financial backing came from several local organizations including BB&T Bank, the Kate B. Reynolds Foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, Wake Forest University and Goodwill Industries.