North Charleston Citizen Advisory Council honors Rev. Bill Stanfield
January 5, 2011
The North Charleston Citizen Advisory Council has named the Rev. Bill Stanfield 2011 North Charleston Citizen of the Year.
Rev. Bill Stanfield has been named the North Charleston Citizen of the Year by the North Charleston Citizen Advisory Council. Stanfield and his wife, Evelyn Oliveira, live and work in the Chicora-Cherokee community.
Stanfield was selected from a pool of nominees who must "demonstrate a generous community spirit, prove their commitment and display a consistent effort of positively impacting the community, thereby raising the standards of social responsibility."
Stanfield lives and works in the Chicora-Cherokee community. With his wife Evelyn Oliveira, Stanfield started Metanoia, a community development corporation, in 2003. Last year they adopted two children from Ethiopia.
Metanoia works to empower residents by investing in local assets, creating a leadership pipeline, providing after-school programs, fostering entrepreneurship and reclaiming properties to convert them into affordable housing.
"We've still got lots more work to do, but it is very gratifying to get this award," Stanfield said. "It is a shame these individual awards can't be shared, because there are lots of people that do the work I often get credit for."
Stanfield, who is also an associate minister at St. Matthew Baptist Church, which houses Metanoia, has long been admired by North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey.
"I met Bill years ago through his work in the community, where he remains a source of encouragement for the Chicora-Cherokee area," Summey said in a statement. "It is wonderful to have leaders like Bill working in concert to improve the quality of life in the southern end of the city. I cannot think of a more deserving individual to receive this honor."
Metanoia Receives National Recognition
“ In my home state of South Carolina,as in many parts of the country, the effects of the crisis varies fromcommunity to community. For instance, the city of Charleston, apopular tourist destination known forits historic architecture and finecuisine, is faring relatively well overall. Even so, both unemployment and poverty in the greater Charleston area increased significantly between 2007 and 2009. Median income in thenearby city of North Charleston,which has struggled ever since a naval base closed in 1996,is about three-fourths that of Charleston. In some older neighborhoods, families have moved out, leaving behindmany vacant properties. Some parts of the metropolitan area are experiencing economic growth, but the benefits ofthat growth do not reach all communities. While somemajor corporations have expanded into the area,inadequate education and training, as well as the lack ofpublic transportation, make it difficult formany residents of low-income and minoritycommunities to take advantage of new jobs. Local development groups have been workingto ameliorate the situation. For example ,Metanoia CDC, a community development corporation, is located in the heart of the old naval communities of North Charleston, and its work has visibly improved the hardest hit communities. Its holistic range of programs--in community leadership, quality affordable housing, and economic development--appears to be contributing to decreasing crime, rising student grades, and homes for first-time homebuyers. The group focuses on building assets--both physical and human--such as transforming vacant buildings into homes for families and helping students in a Young Leaders program improve their performance in school.” - an excerpt from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s keynote speech to the National Community Affairs Research Council in Arlington Va.
Metanoia Included in BBC Piece on the Wealth Gap
July 5, 2010
Metanoia was mentioned in an international news story when the BBC published a story on an increasing wealth gap among races in America. The story reveals that the gap in wealth between white and black Americans is more than four times as large as it was in 1984. Furthermore, one out of every four black families, the article states, have no assets at all.
BBC correspondent Paul Adams profiles Natisha Boston, a resident of Chicora/Cherokee and mother of two students in Metanoia’s afterschool programs. The article mentions Metanoia by name and describes us as “an award-winning community development corporation in one of the tougher neighborhoods on North Charleston.” Natisha credits Metanoia’s financial literacy and home-buying programs (in partnership with Charleston Area CDC) with helping her to clean up her credit and move toward a position to purchase her own home, thereby building an asset for herself and her family.
The chair of Metanoia’s board of directors, Germaine Jenkins, is also profiled in the piece. Mrs. Jenkins has become a model of the type of community leader Metanoia strives to inspire: she is a Metanoia homeowner and has become a community leader by not only serving on our board of directors, but by helping to sustain her family’s food supply by growing her own produce and creating a website devoted to tips on healthy, thrifty living. Despite all her hard work and effort, Mrs. Jenkins says she owes her current life to her home: “There wouldn’t be a website …I wouldn’t be home-schooling my son. There wouldn’t be any garden if I was still in public housing or, worse yet an apartment, trying non-stop to make that rent. It’s awesome to come home every day, open the door to something that’s ours.”
Creating affordable quality living is one of the cornerstones of a successful communities. At Metanoia, we host financial literacy courses, assist with down payments and build housing in an effort to guide more of our community members toward owning their own home and nurturing that asset.
