Greensboro’s Next Big Thing
Published: Greensboro News & Record, March 21, 2011,

Figure skating championships and ACC basketball. A Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering. The Elon University School of Law. The International Civil Rights Center & Museum. Center City Park. HondaJet and the FedEx air-cargo hub.

All big things for Greensboro. All reasons for pride and celebration — along with many other accomplishments, events and projects. So, what’s Greensboro’s Next Big Thing? That’s the question we put to some of the city’s most creative thinkers. We asked them, in just a few words, to tell us what they see just over the horizon. It could be an idea, a trend, a hope or a dream. Our objective was to capture glimpses of tomorrow’s promise. What they said:

Greensboro’s Stone Soup
I believe the city will have “community open heart surgery.” The external stressful conditions responsible for this surgery are tough economic conditions, combined with an emotional political environment.

When there’s a healthy community heart, everything flows together as a single unit. Even though I am not a social cardiologist, I suspect, upon entering our city’s heart, we’d discover some blockages to and from certain critical parts of our community. The key to successful treatment is the recognition that too many of us struggle to make a living wage — and the willingness to give the working poor a hand up, not a handout.
My vision of Greensboro’s recovery reminds me of “The Story of Stone Soup.” As we pull the city’s “new heart” out of its velvet bag, there will be enough for all, and everyone will know that our heart is not for sale!

Rev. Odell Cleveland
President & CEO Welfare Reform Liaison Project, Inc., O.I.C. – C.A.A.

Guilford County Community Faith Summit
Sponsored by Welfare Reform Liaison Project, Inc., O.I.C. – C.A.A.
Hosted by Mt. Zion Baptist Church
1301 Alamance Church Rd., Greensboro, N.C.

Working Together In Tough Times

“The Community Recipe For Stone Soup”

 
Reverend Odell Cleveland
President & CEO, Welfare Reform Liaison Project, Inc., O.I.C. – C.A.A.

Kathy Elliott
WRLP Board Chair
VP Entrepreneurism & Small Business Development, Greensboro Chamber of Commerce

Invocation
Rabbi Fred Guttman
Temple Emmanuel

Shofar Award
Bishop George W. Brooks
Senior Pastor, Mt Zion Baptist Church, Co-Founder, WRLP

 
Bernita Sims
Welfare Reform Liaison Project, Inc., O.I.C.-C.A.A., Board Member
High Point City Council, Ward One

First Ingredient: There Is A Time For Everything Under The Sun

Facilitator: Karen Martinez, Guilford Child Development, WRLP Board Member
Reading at grade level by third grade is critical for students’ success in school and can determine a person’s success in LIFE. This workshop will tell you why reading by third grade is crucial. We’ll explore what we as a community can do to help make reading at grade level a reality for all the students in Guilford County. Please join us for this interactive session. We ALL need to focus on our children. “There is a time for every purpose under Heaven” and the time to make sure our children can read is NOW.
Presenters: Margaret B. Arbuckle, Executive Director, Guilford Education Alliance
Cathy Levinson, Project Manager, Excelling in Public Education

Second Ingredient: Greensboro’s Promise: Sustainable Community Engagement through Faith, Trust, Talent and Time

Facilitator: Dan Miller, PhD, North Carolina A & T State University
Greensboro’s Promise is a call for large-scale comprehensive community development that is based on aligning multiple stakeholders to aggressively enhance education, economic opportunity, and health outcomes.
This interactive session uses Greensboro’s Promise as a model to demonstrate and discuss the process of effective and sustainable community engagement.
Presenter: Skip Crowe, Greensboro Housing Coalition, Purpose Built Communities

Third Ingredient: Building Job Networks in Faith Communities

Facilitators: David A. Moff, The HR Group Inc.
Gene Brown, Housing Greensboro, WRLP Board Member
In this interactive session, you will hear from members of Faith Communities how they have reached out to their unemployed members to provide the emotional, spiritual and practical support needed to help them move through a job loss and get back on the road to employment. Those who have lost their jobs during these difficult economic times need special support from those around them and especially their faith community. You will have the opportunity to partner with THE NEXT STEP to start a support group in your own faith community. Come learn more about your Next Step.
Presenters: Mark Sills, Executive Director, FaithAction International House
Tonya Riney, Co-Author of The Next Step, The HR Group Inc.
Kathleen Natalie, Co-Author of The Next Step, The HR Group Inc.
Betsy Gamburg, Director, Jewish Family Services
Earl Haskins, The Next Step Coordinator, First Presbyterian Church – High Point
Deb Aboudara, The Next Step Coordinator, Home Moravian Church
Sarah Glover, The Next Step Coordinator, Congregational United Church of Christ

Fourth Ingredient: Effective Strategies for Sustainability – Moving Beyond the Grant

Facilitator: Reverend Odell Cleveland, WRLP
This session will focus on strategies for funding community serving efforts with revenues other than government or foundation grants. Successful examples of non-grant revenue development by some of the country’s most innovative non-profits will be highlighted.
Presenters: Donna Newton, Executive Director, Guilford Nonprofit Consortium
Pamela Palmer, M.S., Assistant Professor Of Human Relations, High Point University
Robert Wineburg, PhD., Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor in the Department of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Fifth Ingredient: Voices. Choices. A Conversation about Access to Comprehensive Health Care Services

Facilitator: Pridell (Dell) McCormick, Macedonia Family Resource Center, WRLP Board Member
The United Way of Greater Greensboro and Cone Health Foundation have sponsored a collaborative planning process involving about 20 different agencies to explore how to increase access to health care services. This was one of four areas of community concern identified by the Voices. Choices. Community Assessment conducted in 2009-10 by the United Way. Join us to hear ideas, and share yours, on how strategies such as Health Literacy, Patient Navigators, Cultural Competency and Public Awareness can help individuals get appropriate health care.
Presenters: Antonia M. Reeves, VP Senior Program Officer, Cone Health Foundation
Jean B. Pudlo, JB Pudlo Consulting,
Representatives from the United Way of Greater Greensboro’s Strategy Committees on Health Literacy, Patient Navigators, Public Awareness and Cultural Competency

Sixth Ingredient: How to Survive the Economy: Facing a Bad Economy with Good Faith

Facilitator: Rabbi Fred Guttman, Temple Emmanuel
A forum to explore ways in which we can work together and build alliances that will allow us to more effectively deal with community problems as we go forward as a Faith Community. The focus will be on programs and solutions that address the needs of the “least of these.”
Presenters: Bishop Tonyia Rawls, Unity Fellowship Church (Charlotte, NC)
Donna Fryer, President/CEO, Developing Champions, Inc.
Pastor Julius Koonce, Owner-PC Plus System Solutions

Seventh Ingredient: Green Jobs: Workforce Reentry in the New Economy

Facilitator: Bernita Sims, High Point City Council, WRLP Board Member
Where are green jobs being created? This session will look at job creation across the county and as a function of entrepreneurship. Three experts will explore why it is critically important that all communities be a part of the emerging green economy and what this total inclusion means. Hear from entrepreneurial, advocates, and municipalities who add to this engaging discussion.
Presenters: Andrew C. Brod, PhD, VP Business Development, Mattress-Go-Round
Vergie Brinson, MS.ED, Electronic Records Coordinator, Welfare Reform Liaison Project, Inc., O.I.C. – C.A.A.
Myra Thompson, Financial Director, Guilford County Department of Social Services

Eighth Ingredient: The Plight of the Chronically, Mentally Ill and its Complicated Solutions

Facilitators: Arch Embler, Guilford County Sherriff’s Department, WRLP Board Member
Dr. Gerald Plovsky M.D.
This session will examine the crisis developing around the displacement of mentally ill patients into overcrowded prisons, homelessness and overflowing emergency rooms and offer a practical solution. Our solution will involve enhancing specialized existing nursing homes and assisted-living settings to be the center for care and housing. We will share the obstructions, both politically and legally, and will discuss ideas to overcome them. There is significant morbidity and mortality from our present inadequate system and that it is exorbitantly expensive. There is a better way to care for the chronically severely mentally ill patients and we believe we can develop a win-win solution for our communities and for the chronically severely mentally ill population.
Presenters: Byron Williams, Executive Director, Reaching Your Goals, Inc.
Jehan Benton-Clark, Executive Director, Partners Ending Homelessness
Jack Glenn, Guilford County National Alliance on Mental Illness

First Ingredient: There Is A Time For Everything Under The Sun

Facilitator: Karen Martinez, Guilford Child Development, WRLP Board Member
Reading at grade level by third grade is critical for students’ success in school and can determine a person’s success in LIFE. This workshop will tell you why reading by third grade is crucial. We’ll explore what we as a community can do to help make reading at grade level a reality for all the students in Guilford County. Please join us for this interactive session. We ALL need to focus on our children. “There is a time for every purpose under Heaven” and the time to make sure our children can read is NOW.
Presenters: Margaret B. Arbuckle, PhD, Guilford Education Alliance
Cathy Levinson, Project Manager, Excelling in Public Education

Second Ingredient: Community Empowerment Network (CEN, NC): A Capacity Building Model for Civic/Community Engagement

Facilitator: Forrest D. Toms, PhD, North Carolina A & T State University
CEN, NC is a collaboration of more than forty-five faith-based organizations located in fourteen counties in eastern North Carolina. Collectively, these leaders have organized community forums, advocated for education, economic equity and addressed health disparities. The group collaborations have resulted in multiple partnerships with universities, state and national agencies to secure grants and other support for communities. This interactive session will use CEN as a model to discuss how critical faith-based leaders and institutions are to capacity building and civic/community engagement.
Presenters: Calvin Ellison, PhD, ND, CNC, Executive Director, Success Dynamics CDC
Cheryl Lloyd, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department. Of Family & Youth Development, North Carolina State University
Sylvia Burgess, PhD, Director of Client Services, Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro Campus

Third Ingredient: Building Job Networks in Faith Communities

Facilitators: David A. Moff, The HR Group and Gene Brown, Housing Greensboro, WRLP Board Member
In this interactive session, you will hear from members of Faith Communities how they have reached out to their unemployed members to provide the emotional, spiritual and practical support needed to help them move through a job loss and get back on the road to employment. Those who have lost their jobs during these difficult economic times need special support from those around them and especially their faith community. You will have the opportunity to partner with THE NEXT STEP to start a support group in your own faith community. Come learn more about your Next Step.
Presenters: Mark Sills, Executive Director, FaithAction International House
Tonya Riney, Co-Author of The Next Step, The HR Group Inc.
Kathleen Natalie, Co-Author of The Next Step, The HR Group Inc.
Betsy Gamburg, Director, Jewish Family Services
Earl Haskins, The Next Step Coordinator, First Presbyterian Church – High Point
Deb Aboudara, The Next Step Coordinator, Home Moravian Church
Sarah Glover, The Next Step Coordinator, Congregational United Church of Christ

Fourth Ingredient: Effective Strategies for Sustainability – Moving Beyond the Grant
Facilitator: Reverend Odell Cleveland, WRLP
This session will focus on strategies for funding community serving efforts with revenues other than government or foundation grants. Successful examples of non-grant revenue development by some of the country’s most innovative non-profits will be highlighted.
Presenters: Donna Newton, Executive Director, Guilford Nonprofit Consortium Pamela Palmer, M.S., Assistant Professor Of Human Relations, High Point University
Robert Wineburg, PhD, Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor, Department of Social Work, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Fifth Ingredient: African-American Male Initiative
Facilitator: Pridell (Dell) McCormick, Macedonia Family Resource Center, WRLP Board Member
The United Way of Greater Greensboro’s African American Leadership seeks to create an initiative that enables Black boys and youth to broaden their horizons, set short and long-term goals, empowers them with the tools to achieve their goals, and ultimately contribute greatly to their families, communities and our nation.
Presenter: Tamera T. Ziglar, Leadership Giving Manager, United Way of Greater Greensboro

Sixth Ingredient: Effective Congregational Leadership
Facilitator: Bishop George W. Brooks, Senior Pastor, Mt Zion Baptist Church, WRLP Board Member
All too often, clergy become involved in micro management of their congregation. As a result, they face burn out and depression. In addition, a micro manager is rarely able to provide the necessary elements of spiritual inspiration and leadership needed to take the congregation to the next level. Panelist will discuss the subject of effective congregational leadership.
Presenters: Reverend Sid Batts, First Presbyterian Church
Rabbi Fred Guttman, Temple Emmanuel
Reverend Ken Massey, First Baptist Church
Reverend David Melton, West Market Street Baptist Church
Reverend Dianne Givens Moffett, Saint James Presbyterian Church

Seventh Ingredient: Green Jobs: Workforce Reentry in the New Economy
Facilitator: Bernita Sims, High Point City Council, WRLP Board Member
Where are green jobs being created? This session will look at job creation across the county and as a function of entrepreneurship. Three experts will explore why it is critically important that all communities be a part of the emerging green economy and what this total inclusion means. Hear from entrepreneurial, advocates, and municipalities who add to this engaging discussion.
Presenters: Andrew C. Brod, PhD, VP Business Development, Mattress-Go-Round,
Vergie Brinson, MS.ED, Electronic Records Coordinator, Welfare Reform Liaison Project, Inc., O.I.C. – C.A.A.
Myra Thompson, Financial Director, Guilford County Department of Social Services

Eighth Ingredient: The Plight of the Chronically, Mentally Ill and its Complicated Solutions
Facilitators: Arch Embler, Guilford County Sherriff’s Department, WRLP Board Member and Dr. Gerald Plovsky M.D.
This session will examine the crisis developing around the displacement of mentally ill patients into overcrowded prisons, homelessness and overflowing emergency rooms and offer a practical solution. Our solution will involve enhancing specialized existing nursing homes and assisted-living settings to be the center for care and housing. We will share the obstructions, both politically and legally, and will discuss ideas to overcome them. There is significant morbidity and mortality from our present inadequate system and that it is exorbitantly expensive. There is a better way to care for chronically severely mentally ill patients and we believe we can develop a win-win solution for our communities and for the chronically severely mentally ill population.
Presenters: Byron Williams, Executive Director, Reaching Your Goals, Inc.
Jehan Benton- Clark, Executive Director, Partners Ending Homelessness
Jack Glenn, Guilford County National Alliance on Mental Illness

The Shofar Award

The Welfare Reform Liaison Project Inc., Shofar Award is presented to organizations and individuals who have provided support to WRLP over the course of many years and in many different ways. The Shofar is usually made from a ram’s horn. It was used by the ancient Hebrews in battle, during religious ceremonies, and as a call to assembly.

The Honorable Henry E. Frye
Chief Justice (Retired)
North Carolina Supreme Court

Justice Frye brings to the firm a wide variety of legal and professional experiences, including over 24 years in the private practice of law, fourteen years in the North Carolina General Assembly, ten years as President of a local bank, two years as an assistant U.S. attorney, two years as a law school professor, and more than seventeen years on the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He was a munitions officer with the United States Air Force in Japan and Korea, and later served as a Judge Advocate General Area Representative with the Air Force Reserve.

In 1968, he became the first African-American to be elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in the Twentieth Century. He served in the State House for 12 years and was then elected to a two-year term in the North Carolina Senate.

In 1983, Justice Frye became the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He was appointed by NC Governor Jim Hunt to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in September, 1999, another first.

He retired from the Court, effective January 1, 2001 and shortly thereafter became Of Counsel to Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP. Justice Frye is a Visiting Professor of Political Science and Justice at North Carolina A&T State University.

He is a recognized business leader and community advocate. He serves leadership roles in many non-profit, academic, professional and civic organizations, and is continually recognized for his dedication and contributions to state and local communities.

Honors & Awards

• North Caroliniana Society Award, The North Caroliniana Society, 2008
• Power of Justice Award, Business Leader Magazine and NC Bar, 2008
• Distinguished Service Award, Greensboro Bar Association, 2008
• John J. Parker Award, North Carolina Bar Association, 2007
• American Judicature Society Justice Award, 2006
• Citation for Distinguished Public Service, North Carolina Citizens for Business & Industry, 2006
• William H. Hastie Award for Excellence in Legal Scholarship, Judicial Counsel of the NBA, 2004
• Liberty Bell Award, NC Bar Association, 2004
• Laurel Wreath Award, Kappa Alpha Psi, 2003
• William Richardson Davie Award, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2002
• W. E. B. DuBois Award, Association of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2002
• Outstanding Alumnus Award, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1995
• Charles McIver Award, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1986
• R. R. Wright Award, National Bankers Association, 1983
• Carolina Peacemaker Award, 1983
• First NC A&T State University Alumni Excellence Award, 1971
• Honorary Doctorate Degrees: UNC-Greensboro, 2006; Florida Memorial College, 2004; UNC-Asheville, 2003; East Carolina University, 2001; Fayetteville State University, 2000; Livingstone College, 1999; NC A&T State University, 1983; Shaw University, 1971

Mrs. Shirley T. Frye

Shirley Taylor Frye, was born and raised in Fremont, NC, and graduated valedictorian of Friendship High School. She received her bachelor of science degree from North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&T) with high honors in education and English. She later received a master of science degree with honors in psychology and special education, from Syracuse University.

Mrs. Frye is the recipient of over 25 honors and awards, including the 1985 Governor’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award, 2003 WFMY-TV Community Champion Award, 2005 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Bennett College, 2006 American Judicature Society (AJS) National Justice Award, 2006 Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from UNC-Greensboro, and the 2008 Greensboro Partnership Distinguished Citizen Award.

Mrs. Frye started her professional career in Greensboro, NC, as a public school teacher. She taught second grade and exceptional children. She taught briefly at Bennett College and later returned to Bennett as a special assistant to the president and director of planned giving. She has worked at NCA&T in three different capacities including assistant vice chancellor for development and university relations and most recently, a special assignment as executive assistant to the chancellor. One of the most exciting and rewarding jobs to Mrs. Frye was vice president of community relations for the Greensboro CBS affiliate, WFMY-TV.

Mrs. Frye has been involved in over 100 former and present associations and affiliations. She has been a member of Providence Baptist Church for over 50 years. She has served on boards not only in the Greensboro area but state and national levels, as well. One cannot begin to list the prestigious boards and affiliations Mrs. Frye of which she has been a part. She is a member of, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., The Links, Inc., 100 Black Women, Women Administrators in Higher Education, and a life member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Shirley T. Frye is married to the former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Henry E. Frye, and they recently celebrated their 53rd anniversary. They have two sons, Judge Henry E. Frye Jr. (daughter-in-law Angela) and Harlan Frye; and three granddaughters, Whitney, Jordan and Endya Frye.