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COMMENTARY: No War on Poverty — The King Holiday and American Hypocrisy

NNPA NEWSWIRE — “The movement in the 1960s won a Civil Rights Act and a Voting Rights Act, but the Poor People’s Campaign was about building on that power to win economic justice. We won a Fair Housing Act and we got a War on Poverty, but America didn’t win that war,” said Reverend Dr. William Barber, II, leader of a multi-ethnic movement dedicated to Dr. King’s work and legacy.

Published

5 years ago

March 8, 2020

Oakland Post

SCLC is planning a new Poor People’s Campaign focused on empowerment, education and food for those in poverty. A campaign against poverty and opposition to war were Dr. King’s agenda items before his 1968 murder. (Photo: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Me-morial, Washington DC / 23econfoey / Wikimedia Commons)

By Charlene Muhammad
@sischarlene

Across the United States, celebrations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth with weeklong tributes, including awards ceremonies, banquets, prayer breakfasts, school pageants, parades, and special church services were planned with the official Dr. King federal holiday.

“The first thing you need to realize, Dr. King was assassinated. Killed, murdered by officials who claimed to be so patriotic within this system,” said Dr. Charles Steele, Jr., president and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which Dr. King helped found.

SCLC, a nonprofit, interfaith civil rights organization, was founded in January 1957 by, Rev. Joseph Lowery, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. King, Bayard Rustin and Rev. Ralph Abernathy in Atlanta.

Dr. Steele said the drum major for justice’s opposition to the Vietnam War, and Poor People’s Campaign led to his killing.

Dr. King was planning a mass march on Washington, D.C., as part of a campaign created in 1967 for freedom, independence, and self-determination, before he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 4, 1968.

Mr. Ray was said to have acted alone, but jurors in a December 1999 civil trial in Memphis, brought by the King family, ruled Dr. King died as a result of a high-level government conspiracy.

“We still are fighting this discrimination and the racism of this country, who is the richest in the world. America has always had wealth, but never cared anything about those who were less fortunate than those who had the wealth,” Dr. Steele said.

“The movement in the 1960s won a Civil Rights Act and a Voting Rights Act, but the Poor People’s Campaign was about building on that power to win economic justice. We won a Fair Housing Act and we got a War on Poverty, but America didn’t win that war,” said Reverend Dr. William Barber, II, leader of a multi-ethnic movement dedicated to Dr. King’s work and legacy.

As president of the Repairers of the Breach, he has relaunched a Poor People’s Campaign as a national call for moral revival.

“We gave up the field. And then reactionary forces attacked the movements and the moral narrative that had made it possible. Today, almost 55 years after the Voting Rights Act was passed, we have fewer voting rights protections than we did then,” he told The Final Call via email.

The forces attacking living wages attack health care, support more military spending but say there is no money to fight climate change, argues Repairers of the Breach. Rev. Barber believes people are hurt by the “interlocking injustices” of poverty, racism, ecological devastation, militarism and religious nationalism.

“If they are cynical enough to stand together, we must be smart enough to come together,” he said. Rev. Barber came to public attention through weekly Moral Monday gatherings that drew crowds to Raleigh, the capitol of North Carolina, calling for compassion and justice.

The current U.S. war footing and tensions with Iran only make matters worse, he and others said.

“We insist that militarism and the war economy are an intersecting injustice with poverty because in any war, the poor suffer first. Poor people in Iran will die if we attack, and poor people from America will be taken away from their families to suffer and die in battle. But poor people suffer twice, because the money our government could use to address needs for education, health care, housing, food security and climate justice will go to defense contractors who profit from war making,” said Rev. Barber.

But even as activists and organizers picked up the King mantle to serve the poor and march for justice, politicians in his birthplace of Atlanta, Ga., gave up over $5 million in federal funding for housing and other services that would have helped vulnerable seniors and low-income residents.

When Fulton County Commissioners voted 4-3 to relinquish status as an Entitlement Community, it meant loss of money for community development, revitalizing neighborhoods, economic development, and better facilities and services. It was a slap in the face to the very communities Dr. King fought and died for, said activists.

“You got a system that is at war with poor people. It is the rich against the poor. It’s nothing in the middle,” said Dr. Steele.

Persistent poverty ignored in the USA

According to PovertyUSA.org, nearly 12 million youngsters, or about 1 in every 6 children live in poverty.

“According to 2018 U.S. Census Data, the highest poverty rate by race is found among Native Americans (25.4 percent), with Blacks (20.8 percent) having the second highest poverty rate, and Hispanics (of any race) having the third highest poverty rate (17.6 percent). Whites had a poverty rate of 10.1 percent, while Asians had a poverty rate at 10.1 percent,” said PovertyUSA.org. The poverty rate for seniors, including higher costs for health care, is about 14.1 percent, said the organization.

“What’s worse, 5.3 percent of the population—or 17.3 million people—live in deep poverty, with incomes below 50 percent of their poverty thresholds. And 29.9 percent of the population—or 93.6 million—live close to poverty, with incomes less than two times that of their poverty thresholds.”

“In 2018, the median income for family households was $80,663, while the median income for nonfamily households was $38,122.

The USDA estimated that 11.1 percent of U.S. households were food insecure in 2018. This means that approximately 14.3 million households had difficulty providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. Rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average for households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line.”

In 2017, Professor Philip Alston, United Nations Special Rapporteur, or investigator, on extreme poverty and human rights completed an extensive two-week fact-finding mission to determine whether persistent extreme poverty in the U.S. undermines or infringes on the basic human rights of Americans. His tour stops included Montgomery, Ala., Charleston, W. Va., Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

“The United States is one of the world’s richest, most powerful and technologically innovative countries; but neither its wealth nor its power nor its technology is being harnessed to address the situation in which 40 million people continue to live in poverty,” he reported in a presentation to the UN’s Human Rights Council.

“Instead of realizing its founders’ admirable commitments, today’s United States has proved itself to be exceptional in far more problematic ways that are shockingly at odds with its immense wealth and its founding commitment to human rights. As a result, contrasts between private wealth and public squalor abound,” he said.

Work still undone

Dr. Steele is very frustrated looking at conditions in America and the belief by many Blacks that they have made it.

Black people have been set back 50 years by hypocritical actions, like the Supreme Court’s decision to gut the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Key provisions of the law protecting voting rights in states with histories of discrimination were eliminated, said the SCLC leader.

On Jan. 6, a coalition of faith, civic and community leaders led by the Concerned Black Clergy of Atlanta called on Fulton County officials to reverse their position during a press conference at Vicars Community Center in southwest Atlanta. On Jan. 8 senior citizens’ appeals during a council meeting for the same fell on deaf ears. Media reports said officials had trouble tracking how the funding was spent.

But Community Development Block Grants help pay for affordable housing, emergency grants, home investment partnership grants, neighborhood stabilization program funds, affordable housing for the most vulnerable communities, and create jobs through business expansion and retention. Emergency solutions grants pay for street outreach, emergency shelter, rapid rehousing and homelessness prevention. There was talk the county’s decision could be reconsidered Jan. 23.

“The city of Atlanta has failed Dr. King’s dream, but the people at the grassroots level have not given up and keep pressing the agenda of his Poor People’s campaign,” said Reginald Muhammad, a political scientist and professor at Clark Atlanta University.

“Much of Blacks’ political engagement is social symbolic. Many people are about to vote for Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden but those politicians know it’s about photo ops and pats on the backs, but Blacks won’t have any demands when it relates to public policy,” he said.

“We are in an immoral war, right now,” said Reverend Dr. Gerald Durley, pastor emeritus of Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta. “These were immoral decisions … those of us who have a social conscience must stand up as Dr. King said, we must combat this evilness, this inequality, this injustice, and come up with moral decisions for the least, the lost, the left behind,” he added.

“It’s atrocious,” said Abdul Sharrieff Muhammad, who heads the Nation of Islam’s Southern regional headquarters in Atlanta. He was describing housing conditions in Atlanta and throughout the South. “That’s still happening, right now, what Dr. King was fighting for, as we still struggle and try to gain some of that momentum back, and still struggle, and that’s why we must do for self, or suffer the consequences, and that’s what we are doing now, because we did not do for ourselves like we should have, and now we’re suffering the consequences,” said Min. Sharrieff Muhammad, also co-chair of the 10,000 Fearless Headquarters of the South.

The program grew out of the Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan’s call for Blacks to make their communities safe and decent places to live and demand justice through economic withdrawal, or selective buying.

During the run up to the 20th anniversary of the historic 1995 Million Man March, October 10, 2015, Minister Farrakhan called for Blacks to redistribute the pain through an economic boycott of Christmas in the fight for justice. His call wasn’t limited to any faith, or political ideology.

“Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on the night before he was assassinated, was talking so strong,” said Min. Farrakhan. “But after he was assassinated, they reduced him to a ‘dream.’ Every time they mention Dr. King’s name, he is ‘The Dreamer’—but they did not kill our brother because he dreamed.”

“… Dr. King knew death was on him, and he told the people at Mason Temple COGIC in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 3, 1968, in his speech ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop:’ ‘We have to redistribute the pain; when we’re in pain, we’ve got to make them feel pain,’ ” said Minister Farrakhan, echoing Dr. King’s words.

Over half a million people go homeless on a single night in the United States, according to the White House Council of Economic Advisors.

“Approximately 65 percent are found in homeless shelters, and the other 35 percent—just under 200,000—are found unsheltered on streets (in places not intended for human habitation, such as sidewalks, parks, cars, or abandoned buildings), according to “The State of Homelessness in America” in 2019.

The report found homelessness concentrated in major cities on the West Coast and the Northeast, with almost half (47 percent) of all unsheltered homeless people in California. That’s about four times as high as California’s share of the overall U.S. population, it added. Rates of sheltered homelessness were highest in Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C., with New York City alone containing over one-fifth of all sheltered homeless people in the United States.

Like national activists, organizers, and advocates for the poor, “State of Homelessness in America” blamed decades of misguided and faulty government policies.

Advocates also blamed the Trump administration, presidents before him, and some Black politicians they charged with selling out. In December, President Trump announced plans to drop nearly 700,000 Americans from the federal food stamp program. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, as the program is officially called, made work requirements more stringent for those seen as able-bodied adults without dependents. Some 55,000 people were likely to lose benefits in Cook County, Ill., alone. The final rule is effective in April.

That change came on the heels of a decision by the Trump administration, the U.S. Conference of Mayors warned “would escalate food insecurity and hunger for an estimated 3.1 million individuals—including children, seniors, and people with disabilities in our states, regions and cities nationwide. Furthermore, this proposal will put children’s health and development at risk by removing their access to healthy school meals; and harm our economy by reducing the amount of SNAP dollars available to spur regional and local economic activity.”

“USDA has estimated that during times of economic downturn, every additional $5 dollars in SNAP benefits generates up to $9 dollars of economic activity, and every $1 billion increase in SNAP benefits results in 8,900 full-time equivalent jobs,” added the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

(Final Call staff contributed to this report.)

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Congress Honors Shirley Chisholm with Congressional Gold Medal for Trailblazing Legacy

NNPA NEWSWIRE — In 1972, she made history as the first Black candidate and the first woman to seek the Democratic presidential nomination.

Published

3 days ago

December 5, 2024

Oakland Post

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

@StacyBrownMedia

U.S. Senator Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) and Representative Barbara Lee (D-Calif.-12) announced the passage of bipartisan legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the late Shirley Chisholm, a pioneer in American politics and the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968. The Shirley Chisholm Congressional Gold Medal Act will now head to President Joe Biden for his signature. The bill, introduced in the Senate by Senators Butler and Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and in the House by Rep. Lee, received widespread bipartisan support. The legislation recognizes Chisholm’s extraordinary contributions to American society, including her advocacy for racial and gender equity, low-income communities, and her historic 1972 presidential campaign.

“Shirley Chisholm’s courageous leadership opened doors for countless others and redefined what was possible in American politics,” said Butler. “This medal is a tribute to her unwavering dedication to justice and equality.” Lee, a protégé of Chisholm, spoke eloquently about the significance of the honor. “As the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first to run for president from a major party, Shirley Chisholm’s legacy is unparalleled. Her motto, ‘Unbought and Unbossed,’ continues to inspire leaders today,” Lee said. During her seven terms representing New York’s 12th Congressional District, Chisholm introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation and was a vocal advocate against the Vietnam War. In 1972, she made history as the first Black candidate and the first woman to seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Though her campaign faced significant barriers, including exclusion from televised debates, Chisholm’s run was a symbolic act to pave the way for future diverse candidates.

“I ran because someone had to do it first,” Chisholm wrote in her book, The Good Fight. “The door is not open yet, but it is ajar.” Chisholm’s legacy was recalled in New York, where officials recently commemorated her 100th birthday on November 30. Vice President Kamala Harris, whose historic 2024 presidential bid followed in Chisholm’s footsteps, routinely paid homage to Chisholm. “So many of us stand on her broad shoulders,” Harris said. “Let us continue to speak truth to power and fight for equality and justice for all.”

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest honor Congress bestows, and Chisholm’s recognition follows her posthumous receipt of the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2015. Senators and representatives across party lines lauded the legislation, with Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) calling Chisholm “an inspiration for millions” and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) highlighting her role as a “catalyst for progress.” Chisholm’s life began in Brooklyn, New York, where she was born Shirley Anita St. Hill on November 30, 1924. She graduated cum laude from Brooklyn College and earned a master’s degree from Columbia University while working as an early childhood educator. Her political career began in 1964 with her election to the New York State Legislature, followed by her historic win in Congress four years later.

“Shirley Chisholm was a fighter who shattered glass ceilings and inspired generations,” said Warnock. “Her life’s work reminds us of the power of representation and the need to continue her fight for equity.” Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., of which Chisholm was a member, expressed pride in her legacy. “Her unbought and unbossed spirit guides our work today,” said Elsie Cooke-Holmes, the sorority’s international president.

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OP-ED: The Future of American Education: A Call to Action

NNPA NEWSWIRE – Education is a non-negotiable priority. Parents and community leaders must work to safeguard the education system. The future of our children—and the fabric of our society—depends on advocating for policies that give every student the chance to succeed.

Published

5 days ago

December 3, 2024

Oakland Post

By Anthony Tilghman

Education is the cornerstone of success, and this fundamental right must be upheld without compromise.

President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the Department of Education, a bold and contentious move that has sparked nationwide debate. His decision addresses frustrations over perceived federal overreach and alleged “woke” indoctrination in schools. Against declining academic performance, Trump envisions a comprehensive restructuring to rectify mismanagement of taxpayer funds and undue influence on the nation’s youth.

During a September rally in Wisconsin, Trump reaffirmed his commitment, stating, “We will ultimately abolish the federal Department of Education.” His pledge resonates with voters eager for educational reform and accountability.

The department primarily focuses on funding programs such as Title I, which aids low-income districts, and special education initiatives rather than direct instructional oversight. Critics question its overall efficacy, proposing to reallocate responsibilities to other agencies. Suggestions include shifting the student loan program to the Treasury Department, delegating Title IX enforcement to the Justice Department, and converting Title I funding into state block grants with reduced federal oversight.

Trump’s initiative reflects a broader conservative critique of federal education policy, advocating for increased local autonomy and reduced federal intervention. As education reform discussions intensify, the consequences of eliminating the Department of Education will shape future policy debates and electoral outcomes.

The education system faces extraordinary disruptions exacerbated by the pandemic. Despite additional COVID funding, many students experienced alarming setbacks in core subjects, raising concerns about long-term implications.

Recent data highlights troubling trends among nine-year-olds:

A five-point decline in reading scores in 2022, the largest drop since 1990.
A seven-point decline in math scores, marking the first decrease in this age group for the subject.

These statistics underscore the pandemic’s impact on learning, emphasizing the urgent need for effective strategies to support student recovery and ensure success.

Immediate action must address both knowledge gaps and disparities worsened by the crisis. Educators and policymakers must focus on innovative solutions that ensure every student has the opportunity to thrive.

The Role of the Department of Education

The U.S. Department of Education primarily handles funding and policy enforcement, leaving curricular oversight to state and local governments. Key functions include:

Funding:
- Title I Grants: Allocates $18.4 billion annually to support low-income districts, enhancing educational equity.
- Special Education: Provides $15.5 billion yearly to assist schools in serving students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Civil Rights Enforcement:
- Ensures compliance with Title IX and other civil rights laws, protecting students from discrimination based on sex, race, disability, or other factors.
Higher Education Oversight:
- Establishes regulations for institutions participating in federal student aid programs, overseeing the $1.6 trillion federal student loan system.

Education is a non-negotiable priority. Parents and community leaders must work to safeguard the education system. The future of our children—and the fabric of our society—depends on advocating for policies that give every student the chance to succeed.

Anthony Tilghman
Award-Winning Photojournalist, Executive Director of #MakeSmartCool Inc.

http://www.anthonytilghman.com

“Every child deserves the tools to learn, grow, and succeed. Education is the foundation for brighter futures. Join us this #GivingTuesday to support #MakeSmartCool, an initiative dedicated to literacy programs and empowering youth through education. Together, we can unlock potential and inspire future leaders!”

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How One Community is Trying to Break the ‘Vicious Cycle’ of Child Care and Housing Crises

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The district’s commitment to expanding early care and learning opportunities aligned with the values and priorities of the Ocracoke Child Care Board. Owens said it’s about more than aligned values, though. It was about doing what’s best for their neighbors.

Published

6 days ago

December 2, 2024

Oakland Post

Katie Dukes, Director of Early Childhood Policy, EdNC

“If you don’t have the child care in order for people to go to work, they don’t have the income to pay for housing; it’s this vicious cycle,” said Melanie Shaver, superintendent of Hyde County Schools in North Carolina. “So how can we break that cycle at the root cause?” Shaver is leading her district’s attempt to answer that question. Hyde County Schools is now offering universal pre-k to both 3- and 4-year-olds districtwide, at the Ocracoke School on the island and the Mattamuskeet School on the mainland, with the goal of expanding to include early care and learning for children from birth to age 2 in years to come. And the revived Hyde County Education Foundation — chaired by Shaver — is buying two sites to build workforce housing for teachers and other essential workers. It’s a project based on community needs and with community collaboration, and one that became more urgent after the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian five years ago. While Hyde County sits at the far eastern edge of the state and has its own unique geography, this project could be a model for communities in western North Carolina as they develop long-term recovery plans after the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene.

The housing crisis

When Shaver took on the role of superintendent in 2021, she learned that most of Hyde County’s teachers would be eligible to retire within five years. “When you learn you have 60% ready for retirement, first of all, how am I gonna get these people, and where am I gonna put these people?” Shaver said of recruiting new teachers. On the mainland, Shaver said, affordable housing is hard to come by because a portion of the housing stock is inhabited only part-time, mostly by hunters who come to Lake Mattamuskeet seasonally. And on Ocracoke, many houses serve as second homes, and short-term rentals are inhabited by visitors only during the summer tourism season. The high price of homes and lack of long-term rental properties is a major issue for the island’s workforce, including prospective teachers.

“We are seeing fewer applicants,” said Jeanie Ownes, principal of the Ocracoke School. “One of the questions they always ask is, ‘Where can I live?’ and I do think that is deterring a lot of people from applying here.” Housing pressure increased after Hurricane Dorian destroyed dozens of homes and damaged many others in 2019. Sara Teaster, a member of the Hyde County Education Foundation (HCEF) Board of Directors, shared her struggle to find housing. Teaster had visited Ocracoke and loved it, so when a job opened on the island in 2019, she jumped at the chance to relocate full-time. Someone loaned her a house while she searched for a permanent place to live.

Then Dorian hit, destroying and damaging homes that had offered 12-month leases. Teaster said that some homeowners switched from offering those long-term rentals to weekly vacation rentals so they could recoup the costs of rebuilding. Then COVID-19 hit, bringing remote workers with higher incomes to the island, which Teaster said added pressure to the off-season rental market. Add to that the overall rising costs of homes, interest rates, and insurance over the last five years, and the result is an inaccessible, unaffordable housing market for the year-round residents who make the island so appealing to guests. But Teaster said she got lucky. “Four months after I moved here, I was able to find a yearly rental that was affordable, and I lived there for four years,” Teaster said. “Loved it. Would have continued to live there, but the owner decided that they wanted to come back and live in their home.”

Almost 50 years old, Teaster moved four times in four months after losing that rental. She sent her pet to live with her mother out of state. She’s making it work for now by house-sitting while she continues to search for housing she can afford. And hers is just one story. According to Shaver and Owens, two staff members of the Ocracoke School left their jobs — and the island — because they couldn’t find permanent housing and were no longer willing to live in RVs and campers on lots that can cost up to $1,200 per month to rent.

The childcare crisis

Tekisha Jordan, the district’s pre-k administrator for the last 17 years, said that when Shaver came to Hyde County, licensed childcare was also hard to come by. The mainland has two programs: Head Start, which is licensed to serve up to 40 students aged 3-5, and Linda’s Childcare Home, which is licensed to serve up to eight students from birth to age 12. There’s also unlicensed childcare. “Basically, [parents] have relatives that care for their child, a friend that cares for them,” Jordan said. “And we definitely see a big difference when they reach pre-k since the childcare center closed, socially and emotionally.”

By the time Dorian hit the island, Ocracoke’s only licensed childcare program had already been closed for two years. Ocracoke Child Care was a high-quality nonprofit center that touched the lives of most families on the island. Alice Burruss, who previously taught pre-k and is now the first-grade teacher at Ocracoke School, served as the center’s assistant director starting in the mid-1990s. Both of her children attended the program during her 10 years at Ocracoke Child Care.

“While I was there it was so important for us to have [students] learn and not just be little kids that you’re babysitting,” Burruss said. “It really was a learning facility.” But since the program closed in 2017, young children on Ocracoke haven’t had that learning opportunity. “We live in a space where there are very few places for little kids to socialize, get that interaction with each other,” Burrus said. She pointed out that there’s not even a public playground or park on the island.

“And then you walk into a classroom as a 3- and a 4-year-old with 15 other kids, and imagine how overwhelming that is for you,” Burruss said. Burrus and her colleague Amanda Gaskins Jackson, who teaches kindergarten and attended both Ocracoke Child Care and the Ocracoke School, can tell the difference between students who have and have not experienced early care and learning in a group setting before starting school, especially since the pandemic.

Along with Jordan and Owens, Burruss and Gaskins Jackson provided examples of how those differences show up in young learners:

Sharing
Sitting in a circle on the carpet
Learning to trust adults outside of their families
Following group directions
Washing hands
Standing and walking in a line
Having independence from adults

Without the childcare center, students were simply less prepared to function in a learning environment with other children. They were missing out on some of the critical brain development that occurs in the first 1,000 days of their lives. “Instead of spending the time in pre-k where we would focus on fine motor skills, getting you ready for writing and letter recognition and all those pre-foundational skills, now it’s we have to learn how to coexist together, and sit for a little bit of time, listen to a story without seeing it on a screen,” Burrus said.

Shaver called early childhood education “critical” and said, “It does make a difference with your kids. It makes a difference not only on their readiness [to learn], but their social ability and their emotional intelligence to be able to then come and transition into a school.” For children who have been affected by trauma like Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19 — or more recently, Hurricane Helene for children in western North Carolina — stability is key to their healthy social and emotional development. “And so I think looking at early childhood is one piece of that root cause, but looking at that housing piece is another,” Shaver said.

Breaking the ‘vicious cycle’

Since Hurricane Dorian hit the island in 2019, the school district has been using the Ocracoke Child Care building as classroom space for their youngest students while the Ocracoke School was being reconstructed. As Shaver began to prepare for the Ocracoke School’s official reopening in 2023, she started thinking about how the childcare building would be sitting empty once again. And she was still wondering how she would hire new teachers when there was nowhere for them to live and no space to build multi-family housing units on the island, even if someone was inclined to do so.

Then she had an idea — maybe the empty Ocracoke Child Care site could be converted to workforce housing. Shaver realized that the HCEF hadn’t been used for 15 years, so she went about reviving it as a nonprofit entity that could address two crises at once by supporting the development of workforce housing and enhancing early care and learning opportunities.

The HCEF by-laws state: “The Foundation recognizes that due to the remote nature of Hyde County, and the housing shortage, the development of housing will provide both the Mattamuskeet and Ocracoke School communities and others the opportunity to partner with the Hyde County Board of Education and others in a common goal of improving public education by ensuring adequate housing.”

HCEF’s Board of Directors is made up of an equal number of mainlanders and islanders because, as stated in the by-laws, “the Board acknowledges that just as mainland Hyde may not know or understand all the nuances for Ocracoke, Ocracoke may not know or understand all the nuances of the mainland. Anytime a decision directly affects an area, an equal or majority number of board members from that area is needed for a vote.”

With the HCEF re-established and a new board in place, Shaver took the first step toward fulfilling its mission — Hyde County introduced universal pre-k for 4-year-olds when the Ocracoke School reopened in 2023. Because Hyde County Schools had already been providing NC Pre-K to eligible 4-year-olds, adding the rest of the county’s 4-year-olds was a logical place to start filling the community’s early care and learning gap.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Then Shaver went about finding members of the defunct Ocracoke Child Care Board, so they could start having serious conversations about the property by changing hands. She learned that board members had been holding out hope that the center would be able to reopen one day, and they remained passionate about their commitment to providing early care and learning to Ocracoke’s youngest residents. So, Hyde County Schools extended its universal pre-k program to 3-year-olds, to add programs for birth-to-2 students in coming years. In addition to NC Pre-K funds, the district uses Title I funding and grants to finance the expanded Pre-K program.

Jordan described how parents on the mainland reacted when she announced that all 3-year-olds — not just those with special needs or on the island — would be eligible. “I’m gonna cry, but they was like, ‘Oh my God, thank you Tekisha!’ And I’m like, ‘No, oh my God, thank you Dr. Shaver!’” Jordan said. In its first year, the multi-age pre-k classroom at the Matamuskeet School on the mainland has 18 students, and the one at the Ocracoke School has 13. “The whole school benefits when we get them earlier,” Jordan said. “We take them at 3, they transition to 4, we get them ready for kindergarten. If there are any delays, it’s normally picked up in kindergarten. The kindergarten teacher and the pre-k teacher collaborate, sit in on IEP meetings, and then it just follows from kindergarten to first grade. The whole school benefits.”

The district’s commitment to expanding early care and learning opportunities aligned with the values and priorities of the Ocracoke Child Care Board. Owens said it’s about more than aligned values, though. It was about doing what’s best for their neighbors. “I think us being so small, it truly is about community,” Owens said. “So, while we are talking early childhood education, it’s almost like, ‘Well, yes, they’re part of who we are, and we are going to take care of our littles.’ The Ocracoke Child Care Board sold their building to the district for $10. The Outer Banks Community Foundation and a local Occupancy Tax Board each donated $25,000 to help HCEF get architectural plans and cost estimates drawn up. Shaver identified a similar opportunity to develop workforce housing on the mainland at a shuttered 26-unit public housing development called Hycienda Heights. With 10 units planned for the Ocracoke Child Care site, the total estimated cost of purchasing both properties and converting them to workforce housing is about $4 million.

When asked where HCEF would find the money, Shaver joked, “Fish frys! And we’re gonna do a lot of bake sales!” She knows they’ll likely take out a loan for some of it, but the Board is also seeking philanthropic donations and other funding sources to reduce the size of that loan. “We’re willing to beat any bush, look under any couch cushion, meet with anybody who asks,” Shaver said. When the units are complete, HCEF plans to offer them for yearly rent to teachers first, then other essential workers who need time to secure permanent housing. And they’ll use any profits to make further investments in early care and learning, including opening birth-to-2 classrooms. “One of the reasons I’m excited about this Hycienda Heights property, if we can obtain that as well, is that it has a community center there on site that could be easily formed into that zero-to-2 [space],” Shaver said.

The same goal exists in Ocracoke. “On the island, that’s kind of how we do things; we do take care of each other,” Owens said.