Orange County NC Website
20 <br /> In 2007, the socially cohesive and culturally rich Rogers-Eubanks community founded the Rogers Eubanks <br /> Neighborhood Association (RENA) to formalize a long-term ad hoc community alliance and movement. As <br /> a community organizing group, RENA needed a place to gather to provide a location for sharing of <br /> community resources and development programs. RENA organized social justice, service, and faith-based <br /> organizations in Orange County to form the Coalition to End Environmental Racism (CEER). This group <br /> works to create community-driven events, which bring residents of the impacted communities together <br /> for the education of the wider community (citizens and local government officials) about critical issues of <br /> environmental health and justice. RENA also seeks and strongly values partnerships with local universities, <br /> and has been engaged in four projects with partners at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the <br /> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). RENA has successfully organized the neighborhood in <br /> victories to close the landfill, secure a community center, provide services for all neighborhood children, <br /> and secure water and sewer for the Historic Rogers Road community, among many other successes and <br /> victories. <br /> Robert Campbell, David Caldwell, Larry Caldwell, Rose Caldwell, and Jasmine McClain are the lead RENA <br /> members on this planning effort. <br /> The Jackson Center is a public history and community development center located at the gateway to the <br /> historic Northside of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The mission of the Jackson Center is to honor, renew, <br /> and build community in the Northside and Pine Knolls neighborhoods of Chapel Hill/Carrboro. We want to <br /> make sure that the histories we hear, and the values and visions on which they are built, make a <br /> difference in communities now and for generations to come. Our work is rooted in oral history listening <br /> and realized along three primary lines of creative community development: organizing and advocacy for <br /> livable neighborhoods, youth and education, and celebration and connection. In 2011, the Jackson <br /> Center organized a coalition of dozens of organizations and hundreds of residents in an effort that led to <br /> the passage of a historic moratorium on development and community plan for Northside. This plan <br /> dramatically changed zoning and increased support for neighborhood efforts. Between 2012-2015, the <br /> Jackson Center played a critical role in planning efforts that led to UNC's $3 million land bank loan to Self <br /> Help Credit Union, which is helping to create dozens of affordable housing units and facilitating <br /> neighbors' control over land decisions. The Jackson Center has partnered with RENA, Orange County, <br /> Chapel Hill, and Carrboro on community engagement and planning efforts from 2014-2016. <br /> Hudson Vaughan and George Barrett are the lead Jackson Center staff on this project. Stephanie Barnes- <br /> Simms, a community planner and Executive Vice President of Self Help, serves as technical assistance to <br /> the Jackson Center on this project. <br /> 3 <br />