How can Charlotte aid those most in need?

By Mark Price
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Posted: Sunday, Jun. 28, 2009

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“Can We Talk About Meeting Basic Human Needs in Difficult Times” will be 7 p.m. Tuesday at Little Rock AME Zion Church, 401 N. McDowell St. To RSVP: e-mail rthompson@ ci.charlotte.nc.us or call 704-336-2424.

It's no coincidence that a community meeting about the recession's effect on charities is set for Tuesday, hours before the fiscal year ends.

That night, just after midnight, the budgets of about 100 nonprofits will be cut by tens of thousands of dollars, because of drops in donations, grants, United Way allocations and government money.

“Charlotte doesn't often see the people served by these organizations, but the invisible are about to become visible,” said Willie Ratchford, whose Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Committee is a co-sponsor of the meeting. “Services will be cut and there will be more people in need than ever before. And I think this will be seen as a threat to the well being of the community.”

How Charlotte should react will be the core question at Tuesday's meeting, which is aptly titled: “Can We Talk About Meeting Basic Human Needs in Difficult Economic Times.”

Organizers, including Mecklenburg Ministries and the Community Building Initiative, expect a couple of hundred people. On the other side of the podium will be panelists such as former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt, Mecklenburg County General Manager John McGillicuddy, Crisis Assistance Ministry Director Carol Hardison, Latin American Coalition Advocacy Coordinator Ruben Campillo and Charlotte Observer Editor Rick Thames.

The meeting could produce a few concrete solutions, said Dianne English executive director of Community Building Initiative.

“If you spray enough ideas around, there will be people in the crowd who might say: ‘That makes sense to me. It's what I've been waiting for,'” English said. “There are people waiting to act and it's a matter of connecting with them. Another possibility is that we'll actually have people who are in need, and they'll leave the meeting knowing somebody was willing to listen to them.”

At the least, she said, the meeting will get people talking about the problems facing charities that meet basic human needs. Programs serving at-risk children and low-income seniors will be hardest hit by cuts made this month by United Way. However, the community's critical needs charities also took a hit, promising longer lines for help in coming months.

“Charlotte residents will likely be taken off guard by the results,” said Maria Hanlin executive director of Mecklenburg Ministries.

“This community conversation is about getting leaders together for a much deeper dialog about the whole city, and the common good,” she said. “Do we want to be proactive? Or do we simply want to wait until after the nonprofits have gone under and then react?”