Our community partners are the true boots on the ground—the thought leaders, the activists, the changemakers. It’s through their insights and experience that we uncover opportunities that provide a path to begin breaking down systemic inequities. Below, find content authored by featured community leaders and other news highlights from the Collective team, and listen to featured guests on episodes of Collective Voice, our podcast, to dive more deeply into these issues that affect your Cape Fear Community and beyond.
Voice
Collective Voice
A series of podcasts focusing on a single issue that highlights how most problems facing the region are interconnected, requiring a solution using a comprehensive, systems-based approach.
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A New Town Square
As our community moves towards a collective impact model to address social progress across the Cape Fear region, it is critical that we establish a common language and build awareness around the deep disparities that exist within our population.
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Food Deserts
More than 16,000 residents of Wilmington live in food deserts. And the impact is not just unappetizing meals. Food insecurity leads to a host of health issues ranging from diabetes to gout. In New Hanover County, 6.8 percent or 13,220 adults over 20 years old suffer from diabetes. Those are just the diagnosed cases. Actual numbers are likely higher.
Read MoreMaddie Speaks
Meet Maddie, an African-American woman living with her family in New Hanover County. On paper, she is part of the American middle-class. She works in healthcare and her husband is a public servant. But with each episode, you’ll hear the reality of her every day from just making rent to overcoming systemic racism. And then the pandemic hits. This is a rare, unvarnished glimpse at one life.
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Maddie Speaks “the Beautiful Fight”
Maddie – an African-American woman living with her family in New Hanover County – is part of the American middle-class. But, as we talk, you’ll hear the reality of her every day from just making rent to overcoming systemic racism. The hope is these conversations will entertain and inform and give you another perspective to consider when you look at our community.
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Maddie Speaks “zero Out”
This episode is mostly about “getting by.” We talk about why Maddie decided to move her family from Wilmington to the county, affordable housing and how she stretches a buck.
Read MoreThe Lived Experience
A collection of podcasts featuring conversations with the thought leaders, the activists, the changemakers, and leaders in our community.
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Terri Everett
In this episode, I’m talking to Terri Everett, a Wilmington resident and write-in candidate for the 7th Congressional District. Before retiring to the Cape Fear, she worked in the intelligence community.
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Audrey Hart
On this episode, we’re talking to Audrey Hart, director of the New Hanover Disaster Coalition, a collaborative group of faith communities, non-profit organizations, businesses and governmental agencies working toward long term hurricane recovery and disaster preparedness.
Read MoreRacial Equity
In order to change an inequitable system, we must build a new one. That starts with a clear understanding of the problem. Systemic racism is complex and multi-dimensional. No single narrative or data point can fully capture the pervasive and damaging nature of this crisis, but we have to start somewhere. This is a collection of podcasts and articles focused on race, with those who are working on the frontlines of the issue.
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Closing The Opportunity Gap
When New Hanover County Schools went on lockdown in March, Amanda Kausak, an instructional/impact coach at Snipes Academy of Arts and Design, and her fellow…
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Freedom Schools
This is the story of the first time the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School program was held in Wilmington. Rooted in the Mississippi Freedom Summer project of 1964, the six-week cultural and literacy program stokes the scholars’ passion for reading and builds up their self-worth and sense of community.
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