For communities of color in Charlotte — like the neighborhoods along Beatties Ford Road — gentrification and displacement are looming threats. One Charlotte nonprofit is trying new ways to combat their effects. Alex Slitz alslitz@charlotteobserver.com

Backed by Black homeowners, this nonprofit run by Charlotte attorney fights gentrification

October 15, 2022

by Hannah Lang, The Charlotte Observer

From a young age, Alesha Brown felt called to fight for social justice.

“It’s always been a part of me,” said Brown, who now runs her own law firm, the Justice in Action Law Center, in Charlotte. “I don’t know where it came from, but it always felt like it was my responsibility.”

It started with organizing voter registration drives as a teenager, and eventually led to a career as a civil rights attorney in New York City, where she worked with city government and nonprofits. In those meetings with local leaders, she’d often notice something missing.

“I found that oftentimes these nonprofits would get a lot of money to solve Black issues or to address Black issues,” Brown said. “But they’d miss the mark, because there weren’t Black folks at the table.”

When she moved to Charlotte, she built her own organization, aiming to fight social and racial injustice in the city she knew would be home as soon as she arrived.

It focuses on a grassroots approach that Brown eventually wants to take across the state and even the country.

KNOCKING ON DOORS

For The Struggle started its work in Charlotte along the Beatties Ford Road corridor, a historically Black community north of uptown and anchored by Johnson C. Smith University. The corridor is where the group continues to pour most of its resources.

The first step, Brown said, was canvassing: volunteers went door-to-door, chatting with residents about the challenges the neighborhood faced.

From those conversations, she said, For The Struggle learned that many residents of the neighborhood were elderly, several lived on a fixed income and most were worried about displacement as growth and development continued across Charlotte.

Brown’s goal was to develop programs that responded to the specific needs that volunteers heard from residents directly.

“Trust is very critical in communities that have been historically overlooked and under-served,” she said.

The nonprofit is embedded in the community, Brown said, literally: For the Struggle operates out of her home in the University Park neighborhood. “We know the community, and they know us,” she said. “And we’re here — we’re physically here.”

WRAP-AROUND SERVICES

Much of For the Struggle’s work along Beatties Ford Road centers on three goals: combating displacement, improving economic mobility through generational wealth and preserving the history and culture of Black neighborhoods.

Its most well-known program, the Elder Response Initiative, provides services like home repairs, legal assistance and grocery delivery at no cost to residents.

“Seniors built these neighborhoods. They are the history,” Brown said. “How do we preserve the history if we don’t make sure that they are here (and can) stay in place to tell us about it?”

For the Struggle also helps residents apply for property tax relief, assists with will planning and organizes community events.

“We offer the services that have been offered in the past,” she said of the nonprofit’s programs. “But no one’s going to take advantage of those services if they don’t trust you.”

BUILDING AND GROWING

For The Struggle now operates in five Charlotte neighborhoods, Brown said, and seniors throughout Mecklenburg County are eligible for its services.

And while Beatties Ford Road remains its anchor, Brown wants to build ties in other historically Black communities across the city.

The nonprofit has partnered with a number of corporations to continue its work in Charlotte. Over the summer, For The Struggle received a $50,000 grant from U.S. Bank to make energy-saving, environmentally friendly home upgrades to senior’s homes. In 2022, it’s secured more than $300,000 in private and philanthropic funding.

The nonprofit also got approved to operate in South Carolina this fall — and Brown doesn’t want to stop there.

“My hope is that in 15 to 20 years this is a national organization,” she said. “One that provides services based on needs identified by people in the community.”

Read more at The Charlotte Observer

The Charlotte Journalism Collaborative is supported by the Local Media Project, an initiative launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with support from the Knight Foundation to strengthen and reinvigorate local media ecosystems.

About The Project

Solutions Journalism Network launched the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative in 2019, a partnership of six major media companies and other local institutions focusing on issues of major importance to the Charlotte region. The collaborative is supported by $150,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as part of its $300 million commitment to rebuild the future of local journalism, essential to a functioning democracy.

The Charlotte Journalism Collaborative (CJC) is modeled on the Solutions Journalism Network method of investigating and reporting news with a primary focus on solutions to community problems. “At a time when local journalism jobs are disappearing and trust in media has hit an all-time low, the Solutions Journalism Network has taken on the challenge by organizing collaborative journalism reporting projects that promote excellent reporting and civic dialogue. the model has the potential to be part of a new wave of great local reporting, which is vital to building strong communities,” said Karen Rundlet, Knight Foundation director for journalism.

Backed by Black homeowners, this nonprofit run by Charlotte attorney fights gentrification

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