Jimmy Carter’s dream will soon become reality in this Charlotte neighborhood

July 7, 2023

by Sarah French, WCNC-Charlotte

The Carter Work Project’s 39-home community in west Charlotte is seeking solutions for the city’s housing crisis.

A new Habitat for Humanity project in west Charlotte is seeking solutions to Charlotte’s housing crisis by bringing affordable homes to a part of the Queen City where they’re needed most.

The Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project to benefit Habitat for Humanity is returning to Charlotte with WCNC Charlotte as a proud partner.

Volunteers will come together to build 39 new homes at an affordable housing development near the airport in west Charlotte. Preparations will culminate with construction taking place the first week of October.

“This is something that has been envisioned for years,” Laura Belcher, Habitat for Humanity of Charlotte’s CEO, told WCNC’s Sarah French.

The Carter Work Project actually started almost 40 years ago. In September of 1984, former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter led a group of Habitat for Humanity volunteers to build safe, affordable housing in New York.

“I never dreamed at that point that it might become an annual affair that has enriched our lives in many ways,” Carter said in a Habitat interview.

The Carter Work Project grew into a weeklong event, taking place in different locations all over the world every year.

And in 1987, it came to Charlotte to build 14 affordable homes in the Optimist Park area.

“President Carter has worked with Habitat for the past 37 years to draw attention to the needs of affordable housing, both nationally and globally,” Belcher said. “And so in his honor, legacy, that effort continues.”

Belcher says the Carters set an example for everyone with their volunteer efforts.

“It’s really a way to put someone’s passions and beliefs into action, right?” Belcher said. “More than words, it’s coming out and physically building and that’s really what the Carters did. It’s really an example of servant leadership.”

“Many times at the end of the week when the house is finished and we get to deliver a Bible and keys to their new house, I think that’s the times in my life when I have wept more than any other for excitement and gratification I was privileged along with my wife to participate in such a great project,” Carter said.

Throughout his life, Jimmy Carter saw firsthand how hard it is to make ends meet due to a lack of affordable housing.

Families need a safe place to call home. And even after a bad fall in 2019, at the age of 95 with 14 stitches and a black eye, the former president was volunteering with Habitat.

“Habitat is inspirational,” Carter said. “Just the motivation to come to Habitat as I’ve said many times, we get a lot more out of it than we put into it.”

He committed his life to helping others. A life of service and an example not just through words, but actions.

“We come here from a lot of different backgrounds, experiences and hopes and dreams and frustrations and disappointments and when we get on a Habitat project everybody just kinda melds in to be the same,” Carter said.

A legacy that will continue to help other families for years to come.

“Habitat makes people equal and in doing so elevates everybody,” the former president said.

In 2019, the Carters transitioned their ambassadorship to Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, so they will be in Charlotte volunteering come October.

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.

Jimmy Carter’s dream will soon become reality in this Charlotte neighborhood

The Carter Work Project’s 39-home community in west Charlotte is seeking solutions for the city’s housing crisis.

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