Asheville may never have won an official designation as “city where you’re most likely to encounter someone wearing hiking boots in a bar.” Residents and tourists alike, however, know that this is a place where yoga pants, muddy Tevas and a reusable water bottle are practically the local uniform. One demographic that’s embracing this health- […]
Anton Sluder never thought he’d be excited about his future. “Who was going to help someone like me?” he says. With a felony record and a history of substance use, he had little hope. But when Sluder left prison in September 2021, he was assigned a peer support specialist through Investments Supporting Partnerships in Recovery […]
Dan Lewis, an accomplished local musician, recently put down his guitar in order to pen his memoir, Growing Up In Asheville, North Carolina: How Music and Art Spurred a Renaissance In a Sleepy Southern Town.
As inflation and supply chain issues continue to increase everyday costs, more locals, regardless of their employment status, are seeking ways to lower their food costs. For organizations and nonprofits offering free and healthy meals, part of the mission is to make all feel welcome.
Xpress recently spoke with Katie Wilson, founder and executive director of Grow Abroad — a summer program that brings international students to Asheville to live and volunteer within the community.
According to Harvard Health Publishing, neurodiversity describes the many ways individuals experience and interact with the world. Furthermore, the concept emphasizes the notion that there is no one way of thinking, learning and behaving.
To bring old buildings up to modern-day standards involves architectural assessments, electrical upgrades, plumbing revamps and structural repairs — challenges that many preservationists are now facing, and seeking to fund, as Asheville’s turn-of-the-century landmarks continue into their second hundred years.
Delaney Burke, who directs youth operations for the YMCA in Western North Carolina, says she notices that adolescent volunteers get as much out of their service as do the younger kids with whom they work. “They take leadership roles,” she says. “And when they see themselves as leaders, they become more confident.”
“If leaders lead with love, then gender is not important,” says the Rev. Milly Morrow of Grace Episcopal Church. “Gender is a social construct, and binary is an illusion created by the patriarchy. And if we are going to follow Jesus, we must work to deconstruct empires, whether in Rome, Egypt or America.”
Just Economics of Western North Carolina updated its hourly living wage for all Buncombe County employees to $17.70 in January, a 40-cent increase over the 2021 living wage for employees without employer-provided health insurance — and a $1.90 hourly raise for those with insurance.
While the overall number of emergency department visits was lower in 2020 than in 2019, potentially due to people avoiding hospitals out of COVID-19 concerns, the proportion of visits by teens with thoughts of suicide increased. Among North Carolina kids age 10 to 14, suicidal ideation visits accounted for 3.5% of all ED visits in 2020, up from 2.4% in 2019.
Katie Ford, a family therapist, says it’s too early to tell if the societal shifts spurred by COVID-19 will have long-term effects on children born into this world. But she stresses that it’s more important than ever to validate kids’ feelings and let them know they’re not alone.
After more than a year of lockdowns and hesitant restarts, the Madison County college town of Mars Hill is feeling the effects of shifting trends. “People have decided they want to have a less congested life but still have access to restaurants and shopping,” notes real estate agent Angela Morgan.
Countless existing structures of every shape and size remain vacant throughout the city, many in decrepit condition after years with no occupants. According to the National Association of Realtors’ Q3 2021 Commercial Real Estate Metro Market Report, 26% of Asheville’s currently available commercial space is vacant, including industrial, multifamily, retail and office properties.
More than 100 potential investors packed into Hi-Wire Brewing’s event space Nov. 10 to hear pitches from Western North Carolina small-business owners looking to raise capital for their enterprises at a gathering hosted by nonprofit Mountain BizWorks.
