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The W.E.B. DuBois Community Development
Corporation dedicated its new office
complex in the former Lyon’s grocery
store-seminary housing office on North
White Street Friday, and director Bettie
Murchison offered a vision for the
future which includes everything from
re-establishing the food and clothing
pantries to trips to Kenya this summer.
During the past year since
she and her staff left the DuBois Center
on North Franklin Street, Murchison said
the nonprofit agency “finished the year
with over $2.5 million dollars in
revenues that was pumped back into the
local economy. We now have over 120
employees, three satellite offices and
invitations to expand into other
counties.”
Most of the employees are
counselors, case managers and other
staff with the mental health counseling
program the CDC runs under contract from
Wake County.
There is the Therapeutic
Arts Program where young people use
dance, drama, music, art and mime to
find ways to express themselves
appropriately, and the program has just
added a poet in residence.
“The theme we chose for the
arts program this year is Harlem
Renaissance,” Murchison said, which will
add another dimension to the town’s
Renaissance Plan for the center of town.
The CDC, in collaboration
with Churchnet, a coalition of churches
and outreach agencies, holds money
management classes on Thursday nights
using a curriculum developed by the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC).
There are anger management
classes for youth and adults and a
program to help people with alcohol and
drug problems.
Working with Wake Technical
Institute, the CDC will offer Career
Start, a new program to help people who
have been out of the job market for a
while.
But Murchison said the
current array is just a start. The
future programs include:
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A micro-enterprise center, a
business incubator to help people
grow their businesses.
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An Olympic Development League, a
program to help young people train
in different sports so that they can
reach the Olympics. Murchison said
there will soon be track and field
clinics at Ravenscroft School –
“We’re sending our kids to the best”
– with future sessions for swimming,
lacrosse, soccer and martial arts.
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A health and wellness that will
offer nutrition classes, screenings,
blood pressure checks and a fitness
program for seniors and the CDC
staff members during the day and
children in the afternoon to help
check childhood obesity.
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An international cultural exchange
for students who can visit their
counterparts in Kenya, the Congo,
St. Croix or other nations. Sponsors
are needed for this.
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A leadership development institute
to pull in up to 200 people for
weekend conferences and workshops.
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Outreach services including the food
pantry, clothes closet, computer
repair and distribution.
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Youth services which include a
summer camp and after-school
tutorials.
Murchison thanked the
200-plus people for their prayers,
notes, flowers and other expressions of
support.
Then she invited them in to
tour the offices and eat a lunch
provided by her husband, James. |
