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Posted: December 8th, 2011 Lashawnda Becoats

Inside Northwest School of the Arts on Dec. 3, Anish Bhatt of Queen City Bhangra Academy played the drums as a welcome to the finale for Many Cultures One Community.

Many Cultures One Community was a 30-day series of community-wide events and workshops to build trust across ethnic, racial and cultural differences. The Dec. 3 event drew about 175 people from organizations such as Neighborhood Good Samaritan Center as well as local service providers and community members.

During the event Crossroads Charlotte and Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary-care Research (MAPPR) unveiled The Mecklenburg Access Portal (The MAP). The MAP is a web-based resource directory for healthcare and social service providers to access information and resources. The portal will link the IRAI (Immigrant, Refugee, Asylee and International) communities to much needed services and link service providers to underserved populations.

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Posted: December 7th, 2011 Lee Howard

With the holidays approaching, blood donations tend to tank. So Sunday, the American Red Cross and Presbyterian Hospital kicked off an effort to encourage more people to donate blood and platelets. The "12 Days of Giving" campaign runs through Dec. 15.

Almost 14,000 children in the greater Charlotte area being helped by the Salvation Army's Christmas Bureau. So far, 7,000 families have signed up to receive help from the volunteer-based program that provides gifts to low-income families.

The CMS school board wants to hear from the community about what people want in their next school superintendent. The district will hold six meetings this week at schools throughout Mecklenburg County to gather local opinion.

Panhandlers are proliferating Uptown and most of them are not homeless, Charlotte Center City Partners’ Michael Smith says. And local homeless services groups and shelters are on board with CCCP to help curb nuisance begging. Note cards with information about homeless resources will be distributed in Uptown restaurants and businesses. The campaign encourages people to hand a beggar one of those cards instead of cash.

Writer Ken Garfield explores why Levine Children's Hospital Chapel is a quiet place that offers comfort and hope. You can see the evidence in the messages left in a notebook to the tear-stained floor.

Posted: December 5th, 2011 Tonya Jameson

In a small building tucked off Sharon Amity Road, dozens of refugees from Bhutan and elsewhere crammed into a small room inside the Neighborhood Good Samaritan Center.

Some wore flip-flops although it was cold enough to see your breath outside. Others were hungry after a long day of classes and little to eat. Yet, it wasn't the lack of warm shoes or even the hunger that bothers them – it was the lack of help. They were refugees fleeing countries such as Somalia, Vietnam and Bhurma. They wanted help, not hand-outs.

It was a refrain participants of Crossroads Charlotte's In Our Own Backyard: A Community Tour Through a World of Cultures bus tour heard often Thursday night. The tour exposed participants to organizations and agencies that help Charlotte’s Immigrant, Refugee, Asylee and International (IRAI) communities. The tour was part of the monthlong Many Cultures, One Community initiative.

Some of the tour participants worked with the IRAI communities’ service providers such as the Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary-Care Research and International House. Others simply heard about it and wanted to learn more about the IRAI communities.

Along with a stop at the Neighborhood Good Samaritan Center, the tour visited the Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency on Monroe Road and ended at the Hindu Center off of Independence Boulevard.

One UNC Charlotte intern from Japan said the tour exposed her to diversity and the challenges people face. She said she doesn’t see a lot of diversity in Japan.

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Posted: December 3rd, 2011 Brant Aycock

What is New Courage?  That was the subject discussed on Wednesday night at the latest installment of The Cankerworm - Crossroads Charlotte's homage to the Moth, a NYC story-telling forum.  During the event - participants had five minutes to discuss the night's topic. 

New Courage was very much on the minds of everyone at UNC Charlotte that day, as the University had declared it to be "New Courage Day".  The day included panel discussions, dramatic performances, art exhibits, and musical performances designed to examine the significant concepts and ideas that would help bring New Courage to the community.  The New Courage Project was born out of the Levine Museum of the New South's award winning exhibits COURAGE: the Carolina Story that Changed America and Para Todos Los Ninos: For all the Children. Both UNC Charlotte and the Levine Museum are Crossroads Charlotte organizations.

Quentin "Q" Talley served as Master of Ceremonies, and 8 courageous speakers (Clockwise from top left:  Shardae, Blaq Baree, Todd VanDenburg, Melissa Harris, Amber Williams, Judith Funderburke, Hannah Hassan and Khalidah Akbar) took their turn on the stage at the UNCC Student Union to give their perspectives.

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