Episode Outline

The Give Impact ladies sat down with the smart, innovative, thought-leader Patrick Graham, Ph.D., Chief Executive Director of WeBuild Concord. Not only did we learn so many new things about our friend Patrick; we talked about the tools, strategies, and partnerships that are a benefit to affordable housing in North Carolina. Ways to combat gentrification, community-informed development, land trusts, priority-leasing models, and so much more!

Full Episode Show Notes are Available on our website at https://www.giveimpact.org/podcast-

0:28 Welcome Back!

0:36 Intro to Dr. Patrick Graham & how he grew up on hip-hop and grits!

8:01 Reflecting on his time at Crisis Assistance Ministry, Patrick reflected, “I came from more of a background of grace, but also in believing that people were human assets given the opportunity”

17:00 Patrick shares one thing people may not know about him, “I pride myself on being a dad”

18:12 Patrick drops a gem, “I still see that notion of resilience of grace is important in the work that we do, because we may miss opportunities and people if we don’t have that”

18:29 Liz pours into our listeners and reminds them that they are an asset

21:53 Maya invites Patrick to pull an Affirmation Card. “I let go of the shadow of the past by seeing someone for the first time with the eyes of love” affirmed!

25:52 Patrick shares his lens on today’s housing crisis and the important work he’s doing at WeBuild Concord to combat it

· ARPA Funds: money distributed to state and local governments, counties, and municipalities through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to aid in COVID-19 recovery

33:19 Patrick discusses WeBuild’s partnership with Downhome Carolina to create a revolving construction fund, as a gap funding program to help Concord and its surrounding communities

36:00 Liz expresses, “Diversification is so important”

36:52 Maya asks Patrick which partnerships have been the most critical to his work

40:30 Patrick discusses how community engagement and input has influenced success in his housing projects, specifically in the Logan Community

43:03 Liz asks Patrick about the tools that they use to help encourage diversification of neighborhoods

45:07 Patrick drops another gem, “Build orgs that can still pivot when needed.” “We pride ourselves on being flexible, especially when it makes sense”

47:09 Liz and Patrick discuss WeBuild’s Land Trust model

51:28 Liz mentions WeBuild Concord’s prioritization measure as an anti-gentrification tool in communities

Check it out here: https://webuildconcord.org/priority-measure-for-home-purchase-or-rental-agreement/

52:56 Patrick ends by telling the listeners about the exciting projects they are working on like the Kerr Street Baptist Church conversion project into mixed use development, a Tiny Home village in Downtown Concord, & several single-family projects on donated land

You can donate at: https://webuildconcord.org/donate/

Episode Outline

Zack Wyatt joined the table his amazing organization that is trying to empower community and strengthen the local food systems!

Full Episode Show Notes are Available on our website at https://www.giveimpact.org/podcast-

0:29 Welcome Back!

2:30 Intro to Zack Wyatt

9:33 Zack shares how he met his wife Abby and how he got into farming

13:11 Zack mentions that “There’s a big motto we have within the organization, once you know, you can’t unknow”

14:09 Zack expresses his lens on the propaganda around the food system

· We get 50-60% of produce from Mexico

· We get 30% of produce from Canada

17:09 Zack shares one Authentic thing about himself, “You get what I am, there’s no other version”

19:40 Maya invites Zack to pull an Affirmation Card. “I celebrate all the greatness in my life”

20:25 Zack shares one of his favorite phrases, “there’s tons of opportunity in chaos”

21:53 Liz and Zack reflect on the challenges of owning and growing business

23:27 Zack drops a gem, “growing doesn’t have to be just up, it can be out. It can be understanding and building capacity before taking the next leap or you can take the next leap and hope that the capacity comes. The only thing that’s going to win is perseverance”

23:23 Zack expresses “We need the big system players on some levels because if we can get them to change their supply chain a bit, we can change the world fast”

26:03 Maya asks Zack to dive more into the mission and origin story of the Carolina Farm Trust

28:35 Zack drops another gem “It’s a system thing; you’re never going to solve food insecurity by focusing on food insecurity. The amount of food insecure people is always going to be more than what you have available”

31:06 Liz shares her lens on capitalism & philanthropy

35:04 Zack shares a nugget of what scientists are saying, “we have about enough topsoil for another 34 years”

35:15 Liz and Zack discuss the importance of composting and gives information about Crown town Compost

· https://www.crowntowncompost.com/

37:14 Liz asks Zack to talk about what a Regional Food Economy is. He breaks down the ecosystem and logical solutions to how it can be improved and the things that people can do every day to make a difference.

44:43 Maya asks Zack, where do you see the future of our food system going?

48:31 Liz asks Zack to share information about the current programs that he has in Charlotte that are making an impact on the community

· Phase I: CFT Market in West Charlotte

· Phase II: Retail grocery store, teaching kitchen, and processing center, and a mobile grocery store

· Fundraising: $1.5 MM short-term for operations

o Total Capital Spend: $8.2MM

You can donate at: https://carolinafarmtrust.org/

Maya & Liz sits down with Adrienne & Emmanuel Threatt from Hope Vibes to discuss their journey that led to the creation of serving the homeless community.

Full episode show notes can be found at https://www.giveimpact.org/podcast

Episode Outline

0:49 Welcome Back!

2:26 Intro to Adrienne & Emmanuel Threatt

8:25 Adrienne and Emmanuel share their separate backgrounds before starting Hope Vibes

18:00 Maya invites Adrienne and Emmanuel to share one Authentic thing about themselves

· Adrienne: “I make it a practice to embrace pain and purpose simultaneously “

o “If I can make my pain purposeful, then it won’t hurt as bad”

· Emmanuel: “I like to learn random things that can have no baring on anything, just random information”

22:06 Emmanuel shares how he’s recently been on a coffee journey of becoming a ‘coffee snob’, and shares some of his favorite spots in the city with the listeners

· Night Swim Coffee, Enderly Coffee, Indigo Coffee, Lotties Café,The Percantile and Creamery and Finca Coffee

26:41 Emmanuel shares a quote that both he and Adrienne live by, “Do what you can with what you have until you can do more”

29:17 Adrienne takes us on the journey of how Hope Vibes started

32:40 Emmanuel tells us about the dream he had about a truck that turned into the innovative Hope Tank and the research that he did to make it come to life

· https://www.hopevibes.org/hopetank https://www.seed20.org/

37:39 Liz invites Emmanuel to share what it’s like for a homeless neighbor to experience the Hope Tank

· Artist: Frankie Zombie https://www.frankiezombie.com/

41:21 Emmanuel drops a gem “We feel like dignity is wrapped up into everything that we do”

45:14 Emmanuel discusses his thoughts on what organizations are doing in the community and how it has to go a step deeper. His thoughts on shelters and how family dynamics are affected by them

51:49 Liz invites our listeners who are landlords to work with organizations whose mission is for placement of families and individuals:

· Charlotte Family Housing, The Housing Collaborative, & The Lotus Campaign

52:46 Maya asks The Threatts to share their impact in numbers so far in their journey and the goals that they have for the future

54:32 Emmanuel drops a gem “Sometimes we feel as individuals like we need to be fully the solution, but really you might just be an ingredient to the solution”

59:58 Emmanuel shares how the listeners can support their mission

· Donate money, time, and hygiene items

· Follow them on social media and share content! @hopevibesclt

· Visit their website at https://www.hopevibes.org/

1:01:35 Adrienne shares the need for of how monthly partners can best support the Hope Vibes mission, what the money is allocated towards, and why giving is so critical!

1:02:55 Liz sets a challenge to get 100 new monthly givers! Give Impact is a monthly partner! Join us in supporting this incredible organization. Anybody can be a philanthropist!