Connecting With Renters Helps Carrboro Win Award

GOVERNMENT

Think Carrboro is special? Now it’s official.

On June 29, Carrboro was one of 10 cities to win an All-American Cities Award from the National Civic League. The town earned the award for its work connecting with Carrboro renters, its Green Neighborhoods grants program, and for restoring Bolin Creek’s watershed.

“The award, typically given to 10 communities each year, celebrates and recognizes neighborhoods, villages, towns, cities, counties, tribes and regions that engage residents in innovative, inclusive and effective efforts to tackle critical challenges,” the League’s website says.

The award winners were chosen from a list of 20 semi-finalists. The other winners include Jacksonville and Kinston, North Carolina, Memphis and Seattle. Mayor Barbara Foushee, Braxton Foushee and Town Manager Patrice Toney were among the presenters showcasing Carrboro for the League.

Carrboro in Motion

Carrboro, the presentation said, is a town where 58 percent of the residents are renters. The city doesn’t hear from those residents as often as homeowners; Carrboro in Motion works too change that. The program that takes city staff and officials to apartment buildings for “fun, family-centered block parties” where they can engage renters and give them a voice in shaping town policy.

Renters in multicultural neighborhoods are “often silent voices,” Town Race and Equity Officer Anita Jones-McNair told the audience. Building connections with them reflects Carrboro’s commitment to racial equity.

Toney said it took some work to build trust with apartment managers. “They were initially very hesitant about bringing us on their properties,” suspecting it was a stealth inspection for fire code violations.

Turning neighborhoods green

Carrboro’s Green Neighborhoods grant program encourages neighbors to work together on projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create natural areas in town. The program makes up to $2,500 available for suitable projects, with a particular interest in benefiting low-income households and residents of color.

Town resident Carrie Donley said her program used the grant program to promote and increase composting. She said 60 households signed up; a third of them were new to composting. “Whether facing climate change or racial injustice, we move forward together.”

Since its launch, Carrboro has funded 16 projects, including pollinator gardens that honor Black history, neighborhood composting stations, tree planting initiatives, and vermicomposting workshops.

Bolin Creek flooding

Carrboro’s third project involved combating erosion along Bolin Creek, which not only impacted Bolin’s water quality but also created safety hazards in the surrounding areas, washing out backyards and toppling trees. The town launched the Bolin Creek Stormwater Collaborative, bringing together homeowners, environmental groups, homeowners associations and state agencies. In 2021, Carrboro launched a grant-funded project building natural infrastructure systems to slow runoff, reduce erosion and use native vegetation to filter pollutants.

“150 volunteers worked together to plant over 2,000 native grasses, plants and shrubs,” Carrboro resident Meg Molloy said.

It’s not the first award the work won. The North Carolina Chapter of the American Public Works Association named the grant work the chapter’s project of the year for 2024.

Lessons learned

The presentation allowed time for questions. One resident asked what one lesson the presenters would most like to share with them.

Mayor Foushee said it’s essential to understand that community engagement means “reaching people where they are, not necessarily where I am.” She said Carrboro continues to work on this principle, including traditional approaches such as distributing flyers to share information. “We really seek to reach the community in multiple ways.”

Another audience member asked what one problem the town would solve if it could. Toney said that for Carrboro, like many other communities, the biggest issue was affordable housing. “We are adjacent to UNC, we’re seeing a growing influx of students with rental housing needs.” As property values rise, she said, it will be a challenge to keep the town’s supply of affordable housing and ensure residents can continue to live in their homes.

Fraser Sherman has worked for newspapers, including the Destin Log, the Pensacola News-Journal and the Raleigh Public Record. Born in England, he’d still live in Florida if he hadn’t met the perfect woman and moved to Durham to marry her. He’s the author of several film reference books and has published one novel and several short story collections. This reporter can be reached at: Information@TheLocal Reporter.press