The impacts of COVID-19 on demand, supply and distribution for local hunger relief organizations were immediate and profound, thrusting MANNA FoodBank and its smaller partner agencies into a triage response.
From CPP: Asheville homeless sheltered in civic center, move to motel
Homeward Bound and city of Asheville coordinate to place homeless residents during pandemic at motel, as innovative stopgap at civic center winds down.
Asheville changes course on hotels for homeless
According to a staff report available before City Council’s meeting of Tuesday, May 12, 60 hotel rooms at the Red Roof Inn in West Asheville would replace the city’s emergency group shelter at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Asheville, which has a capacity of 50 and currently houses 32.
Cooper signs COVID-19 relief bills
The two bills signed into law by Gov. Roy Cooper on May 4, both unanimously passed by the General Assembly, together designate nearly $1.6 billion for the state’s COVID-19 response and grant flexibility in many areas of regulation.
New initiative connects local farmers with residents facing food insecurity
The We Give a Share Program helps both small farms and local families struggling to put food on the table.
Uprooted: Urban renewal in Asheville
As in hundreds of other cities throughout the country, urban renewal dramatically changed Asheville’s neighborhoods and streetscapes. Established by the Housing Act of 1949 to clear blighted neighborhoods, the federal initiative displaced millions of predominantly African American individuals and families between the 1950s and 1980s.
Movies & Meaning Festival returns to the Wortham Center
The weekend-long gathering focuses on seven films’ potential for social change.
From CPP: US Attorney: ‘Sanctuary’ policies endanger Mecklenburg and Buncombe
U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray’s statement against two N.C. sheriffs, including Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller comes as the U.S. Department of Justice sues jurisdictions in other states over related policies.
Candidates for Asheville City Council — Nonpartisan
Candidates for Asheville City Council share their responses to the Mountain Xpress voter questionnaire in advance of the March 3 primary.
Racial equity and NC’s budding hemp industry
Not everyone is reaping the benefits of the booming industrial hemp sector. Although hard numbers are in short supply, a 2017 survey by the Marijuana Business Daily, a Colorado-based website, found that 81% of cannabis-related business owners nationwide were white. A Thursday, Jan. 9, panel will explore the lack of representation of people of color in the growing industry and some possible solutions.
In photos: Asheville Climate Strike turns out hundreds for Green New Deal
As world leaders met in Spain for a United Nations conference on climate change, Western North Carolina residents converged on Pack Square for their own environmental action on the morning of Dec. 6. Organized by Sunrise Movement Asheville in conjunction with six other area nonprofits, the Asheville Climate Strike for a Green New Deal called for government leaders “to take bold action and treat this like the climate emergency that it is.”
Sunrise Movement occupies City Hall over climate emergency
After months of haranguing City Council over the wording of a climate emergency resolution, over 40 protesters with Sunrise Movement Asheville occupied the government building on Dec. 6 to demand that Mayor Esther Manheimer and her colleagues pass the document as written by the climate justice group.
Local nonprofits adjust to tax code changes
Roughly 22 million fewer people claimed a tax benefit from their charitable giving in 2018 than in 2017, thanks primarily to the higher standard deduction threshold established under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. According to a study by Giving USA, inflation-adjusted individual charitable contributions decreased by 3.4% from 2017 to 2018.
Buncombe quiet, Henderson contested in 2019 elections
Xpress reached out to candidates across the two counties to understand their motivations for participating in the municipal elections. Many of the topics the hopeful elected officials raised — diversity, transportation planning and preservation of small-town character — may give WNC politicos a sneak peak at what will be important to area voters in 2020.
From CPP: Where is Mission Health’s independent monitor?
Nine months after the merger took effect, the public still has no idea whether a monitor has been chosen, what the firm’s name is, when it will start work and – importantly – who’s been minding the store to keep HCA and Mission Health accountable in the interim.
Dogwood Health Trust CEO Chiang makes Buncombe debut
Antony Chiang, the new leader of the $1.5 billion foundation resulting from the sale of Mission Health to HCA Healthcare, shared details on the nonprofit’s plans to support partner organizations with grant writing and engaged an audience of roughly 290 people at the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center around its strategic priorities.
New playground to be named after slain 12-year-old Derrick Lee Jr.
Asheville City Council member Vijay Kapoor announced the naming of the playground, which will be built as a part of the Asheville Housing Authority’s renovation of Lee Walker Heights. Lee was shot and killed at Lee Walker Heights on July 1, 2018, and his murder remains unsolved.
Buncombe sheriff launches listening sessions in Black Mountain
At the Black Mountain Public Library on July 23, Sheriff Quentin Miller spoke to roughly 35 people in the first of five planned listening sessions meant to build relationships with community members around public safety. Topics included compliance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers, school resource officers and transparency in the Sheriff’s Office.
Buncombe board debates ICE detainer bill
Republican members of the board argued that their Democratic colleagues were out of place in issuing official letters against pending state HB 370, which would require Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller and other sheriffs throughout North Carolina to comply with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer requests on penalty of removal from office.
ICE detainer mandate on docket for July 16 Commission meeting
The four Democratic board members — Chair Brownie Newman, Vice Chair Jasmine Beach-Ferrara and Commissioners Amanda Edwards and Al Whitesides — have all signed letters asking state officials to withhold their support from the proposal. In February, Democratic Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller announced that his office would no longer honor ICE detainers.
News briefs: Thomas Wolfe Auditorium survey, WNC nonprofits receive $900K in awards
The questionnaire will advise the city on which updates and renovations of the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium best serve community needs. Once the survey is completed, Earl Swensson Associates Architects will draft programming and conceptual designs for the building.