Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 116: Angela Jiménez, CEO Housing Authority of the City of High Point

Transcript

Episode 116: Angela Jiménez, CEO Housing Authority of the City of High Point · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is Change Makers with Katie Gore finding the right
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: solutions for the affordable housing community.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: This week's change Maker is Angela Jimenez, the CEO of
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: the Housing Authority of the City of high Point. From
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: her beginning to public housing to becoming the housing Authority's
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: first female CEO, Angela's journey exemplifies the power of determination,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: including service in the United States Army and earning her
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: MBA from High Point University. Angela, Welcome to the show.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you, thank you for having me.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: I am having such a great honor to have you
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: here because you are exemplifying so many things that the
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: women of NARRO and female leaderships, and I want to
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: start us off right there from the beginning.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: You may not say, hey.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: I'm the first fe CEO, but this really is an
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: accolade for who you are and your leadership. Would you
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: mind sturning us off and just reflecting on your journey
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: to becoming the CEO.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Well, it's been a long journey.
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: I didn't anticipate that I would be landing at an
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: organization which was responsible for where I was reared. I
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: actually came to the high Point Housing Authority as an
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: executive assistant for the first African American CEO, And in
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: that process I was able to learn a lot because
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: he expanded by opportunities to assist him beyond just an
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: executive assistant. So in that process I was able to
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: be able. I was able to utilize my knowledge as
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: a former resident and as an administrator and combine those
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: two things together to try to create an environment even
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: for him and to educate even him and how we
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: could better serve the community outside of just doing inside
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: the box of just providing how and services, but to
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: be able to empower our residents to be able to
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: do more and beaver to use housing authority as a
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: transition station instead of a permanent location.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: So you started as an executive assistant and your path
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: was from there to CEO, I'm sure with lots of
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: promotions and self development. What was that like when you
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: were telling people about your professional journey? Maybe now, I'm
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: sure you speak to residents. What's the first thing you
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: tell them about your journey?
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  Speaker 4: Well, as I was saying before, because I was a
• 2:33
  Speaker 4: former public housing residence, I think it helped them to
• 2:36
  Speaker 4: be able to connect a lot of times when it
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: is always say you can't tell a person about having
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: a baby unless you've had a baby. So sometimes it's
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: a lot easier for you to communicate with somebody who.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Has like experience.
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  Speaker 4: Because I was a former public housing resident, I could
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: relate to a lot of the things that they were
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: talking about, and I was more validated with them because
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: I would say, I grew up in all these communities
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: right along with you. So if I can take these
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: steps and do what I'm doing, you definitely can do
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  Speaker 4: the same thing.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Right And how does that impact how you handle resident
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: programs now?
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: Because I take everything from the perspective as a resident.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: What did I need as a resident that the agency
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: did not provide?
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Or what did I need.
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: As a resident that the agency actually did provide. One
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  Speaker 4: of the things that I noted in my process is
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: that a lot of the individuals that I am encountering
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: that are having a lot of challenges did not have
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: early childhood education. That was one of the things that
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: I noted. A lot of my employees that were former residents,
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: all of them had early childhood education. So one of
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: the things that I'm trying to implement back into our
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: community is early childhood education. If you don't have a
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: good start from out of the box. You're always working
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: to catch up. So we have put programs and services
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: darting from zero all the way up to our most
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: elderly resident, which is about nine to four years old,
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  Speaker 4: to be able to educate them where they are so
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: they can be prepared for the next level.
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  Speaker 2: Excellent and education is such an economic mobility, and like
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  Speaker 2: you just mentioned, it's going to be able to give
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: them that next step up. I am interested to hear
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: what's going on in the affordable housing market in high Point,
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  Speaker 2: Like tell us the state of housing and what the
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  Speaker 2: market conditions are like, tell us a little bit about
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  Speaker 2: high Point two.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, high Point has a need or has a
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  Speaker 4: shortness of about ten thousand affordable housing units within our city.
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  Speaker 4: Last check, we had about one hundred and forty thousand
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  Speaker 4: people within our community. As far as the housing authority
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  Speaker 4: is concerned, as we are working to bring people up
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  Speaker 4: to a level of we call it leveling up to
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  Speaker 4: a level that we can transition, help them to transition
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  Speaker 4: to the private market. But they there's nowhere for them
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  Speaker 4: to go in the private market. We need more affordable housing.
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  Speaker 4: So the city is crafting different types of scenarios in
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  Speaker 4: which we can try to find ways to promote more
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  Speaker 4: affordable housing within our city.
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  Speaker 2: And what's that housing look like. Is it multifamily, multi stories,
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  Speaker 2: is it individuals like or is it just doesn't matter
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  Speaker 2: all of it's needed.
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  Speaker 4: Okay, above all of the above, but the main thing
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  Speaker 4: is decent, safe, in the sanitary housing. We have a
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  Speaker 4: lot of whole old housing spot within our community, and
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: most of the housing that's in our community is owned
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: by someone who don't cur still live in the community,
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: but they're renting the housing in the community. So the
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: city has taking a strong stance on making sure that
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: the housing that is in the city meets minimum housing codes.
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  Speaker 4: They're decent, they're safe in sanitary. But the problem that
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: escalated already the shortage of housing within our city is COVID.
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: When we had the moratorium, there was a lot of
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: landlords that could not evict during that period of time.
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  Speaker 4: So after that we also had a lot of companies
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  Speaker 4: or individuals coming in buying up a lot of the
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: housing stock, and that.
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  Speaker 3: Caused the rents to increase.
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  Speaker 4: So a lot of our residents within the housing authority
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  Speaker 4: who were living in these apartment complexes that was eight
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: hundred dollars in the rent that met the payment standard.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: For the program.
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  Speaker 4: The rents went up to twelve thirteen, fourteen, fifteen hundred
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  Speaker 4: dollars for even a two bedroom, so that priced them
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: out of those units, so that further escalated individuals not
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: finding affordable housing within the community.
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  Speaker 2: What's high point known for what are some of the businesses,
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  Speaker 2: what some of the economy pressures that's going on there.
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  Speaker 4: Well, this is a town that was built on hosiery
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  Speaker 4: and furniture, So therefore a lot of at the educational
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: level for a lot of the people within our community
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  Speaker 4: was to the level for hosiery and furniture. Unfortunately, the
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: hosiery mills had pretty much phased out within our community
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: at a lot of the furniture companies has faced out.
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  Speaker 4: So a lot of our clienteles for the Housing Authority
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  Speaker 4: are in retail business or the restaurant business. So what
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  Speaker 4: we're trying to do now is try to cultivate an
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: environment so that they can become licensed beauticians, barbers, entrepreneurs.
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  Speaker 4: So we're trying to create an environment that they're going
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  Speaker 4: outside of the box and creating their own jobs to
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: be able to generate revenues. So that they can move
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: out of housing and into the private mark better yet
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: even buy a home if they're able to.
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  Speaker 2: What was it like when you were growing up in
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  Speaker 2: public housing and what is it like today for people
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  Speaker 2: like Is there a difference in the types of buildings?
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  Speaker 2: Are they the same buildings? Is there a different part
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  Speaker 2: of the community. Has there been a change in that
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  Speaker 2: time or are you still with the same housing stock
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: and the same location. Does it look and feel the
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: same as it was when you were growing up?
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  Speaker 3: No?
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  Speaker 4: Actually, I started working for the high Port Housing Authority
• 8:04
  Speaker 4: or April Fools they always make jokes about it April
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  Speaker 4: Fools Day two thousand and three.
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  Speaker 3: One of the goals as.
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  Speaker 4: When I transitioned into the position of CEO was that
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  Speaker 4: I wanted to create an environment where people who visited
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  Speaker 4: our community could not tell what was public housing and
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: what wasn't public housing. The old barrack style housing is
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: one of the things that stood out, or if the
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: communities were not maintained to a certain level. You can
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: ride through any community any city can determine that must
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  Speaker 4: be public housing. I'm happy to say in our communities
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  Speaker 4: most people think city properties is public housing and not
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  Speaker 4: public housing.
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  Speaker 3: As public housing because we try to do a high
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: level of maintenance on our community.
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  Speaker 4: We try to do programs where our residents are involved
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  Speaker 4: in the beautification of our communities. We have done at
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: least two development projects, one of which was the former
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: Clara Cotts Homes and Daniel Brooks Homes.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: The Clara Cox.
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  Speaker 4: Homes and day Brooksons were the two public housing developments
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  Speaker 4: that was built during segregation. One Clara Cox was four
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  Speaker 4: and I like to use flavors instead of colors. Clara
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  Speaker 4: Cox was for the Vanilla people and David Brooks was
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: for the So Daniel Brooks was one of our most
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  Speaker 4: recent developments and this is the one that I had
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  Speaker 4: to work with from beginning to end. It was a
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  Speaker 4: two hundred and fifty unit development that was named after
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  Speaker 4: Reverend Day Books, who was a prominent person back in
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  Speaker 4: the nineteen forties. Once the community was one of the
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: first that had you know, inside plumbing, heating, and all
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  Speaker 4: the amenities, so they moved from dilapidated housing into a
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: development of public housing that was like moving into luxury.
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  Speaker 4: But unfortunately, over time the community began to decline because
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  Speaker 4: we're not getting the level of funding that we need
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  Speaker 4: for public houses to maintain them to the level that
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: we need to maintain them. So I looked at it
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  Speaker 4: as that as two folds. This is not even though
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  Speaker 4: it's a historical site per se, because it was one
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  Speaker 4: of the first.
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  Speaker 3: Public housing units in the community. It's time for change.
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  Speaker 4: So we had an opportunity to apply for grants and
• 10:15
  Speaker 4: be able to tear down that development and we build
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  Speaker 4: a new development, and the name of that development is
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: called Legacy Ridge, and we wanted to the community wanted
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  Speaker 4: to maintain the essence of the fact that that was
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  Speaker 4: the first African American public housing community. Reverend day Books
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  Speaker 4: was a very prominent member, but we've had so many
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: others that contributed in the community and i'll say chocolate individuals.
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  Speaker 4: So we decided to call it Legacy Ridge, and we're
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: going to highlight some of those prominent members who have
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: helped us to move. For where we were in the
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: nineteen forties to where we are today. The style of
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: housing is totally different. We built them so that they
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: would look like high end housing but on an affordable rate.
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  Speaker 3: Park Terrace our first development, very beautiful community.
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  Speaker 4: They have all of the amenities that a three star
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  Speaker 4: I would say housing development would have they have saltwater
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  Speaker 4: swimming pool, they have a community center, a business center,
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: they have laundry center. They get to get family self
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  Speaker 4: sufficiency programming within those communities.
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  Speaker 3: Anything that we build comes as with the.
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  Speaker 4: Attachment of the fact that you have to be working.
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  Speaker 4: You have to be able to get family self sufficiency,
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  Speaker 4: be in that program, to be able to help meet
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: goos to help you to be able to be self sufficient.
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  Speaker 4: Our val is to move as many people as we
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  Speaker 4: can off of public assistance.
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  Speaker 2: I have seen some pictures of how you really really
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: change the look and feel of public housing, and I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I have to think it is because you know what
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: it can be and what it doesn't have to be.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: I have to believe it's because you have such a
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: great knowledge to be able to make that happen in
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: a redevelopment project and be able to tackle it where
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: some people would just say, oh, this architecture's adequate, it's fine,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: But is my assumption true?
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely, because your environment will dictate your behavior. So if
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: we have a nice, beautiful environment for low income people
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: to live in, they're going to want to keep it
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: nice and beautiful and it makes them feel proud about
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: where they live at and it helps us. It makes
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: it easier for us to introduce new opportunities for them
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: to have that type of an environment that they actually
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: have their name on the title and that they own.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: So in our programs, that's one of the things that
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: we have in our family Self Sufficiency program is to
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: go through the wonnership process.
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  Speaker 3: Even if you're not ready right now.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: To buy a house, you will know exactly what you
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: need to know when you get to that point, and
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: we're gonna prepare you. So if you decide to by
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: the time we get to the end of the process,
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: then we're gonna walk you all the way to the
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: closing table. So we have had many of our residents
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: to actually go out and buy homes.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: So that's our goal. Ownership fantastic. Another thing that clapped
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: my eye about what you guys are doing and is
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: related to the Brockman Academic Center. Tell us some more
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: about that.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: Well, the CEISO Brockman Academic Center was put in place.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: As I was indicating early, we want to try to
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: work from with our youth from zero all the way
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  Speaker 4: up to our most senior person. We don't have a
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: per se center where we can house and do academic
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: programs for our youth.
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  Speaker 3: So we took a three bedroom.
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: House and we turned it into the Cisow Brockway Youth
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  Speaker 4: Academic Center with twenty five thousand dollars grant from the city.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: From the state, I'm sorry that from the state.
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  Speaker 3: That facility we have.
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: We designed it under the STEM program, so we work
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: with the school system because we're not teachers. We worked
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: with Ready for School, Ready for Life, and they came
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: in and helped us to create an environment of learning
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: because for us.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: Where our thought is about housing.
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: A person in education knows that if you have certain
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: colors in a room, things in a certain way in
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: the room, it affects the learning of that child.
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: So we took the experts.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: And the educational arena to help us set up and
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: design that location. And we also had an NFL football player,
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: former football player, William Hayes.
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: To create a gaming rule for the kids.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: So that's the incentive if you do a certain amount
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: of reading per day, or if you bring your your
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: grade point level up a certain point. We have incentives
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: that he put in place that the kids would be
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: able to benefit from. We also we had trouble for
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: whatever reason, getting tutors. And so we found that the
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: older kids, or some of the kids who had higher
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: GPAs in certain categories math, science, reading, they were actually helping.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: The younger kids are the kids who hadness in that area.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: So in an effort to give them the benefit of that,
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: we started a ambassador program. So the kids that have
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: higher gas are coming in and helping the children who
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: don't have the knowledge to be able to bring their
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: GPAs up. They're spending as much time as as they
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: can with the other youth to be able to do that.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: So our youth educational program right now, kids will prepare
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: for stem contest for the first in the history of
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: this housing authority, which.
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: We try to make sure.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: Where the kids started a TikTok page, because again, when
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: they go to school, if they're not doing great, they're
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: just hearing all this negative things about them, and we're
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: trying to create an environment that's positive and that sees
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: them and that recognizes even the smallest achieved making and
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: the self esteem we see go from zero to one
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: hundred in a very short period of time.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: This model is so fantastic. It's one of the many
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: reasons I wanted to have you on this change Maker's podcast,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: because I think sometimes we get stuck in that same delivery.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: Oh it's the school's problem. Oh it's the parents, they
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: need to be engaged, and then housing authorities sometimes are
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: reluctant to do this these extras that you just described
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: and really meet the needs of the kids who are
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: on in the communities. And so this to me is
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: just phenomenal that you guys offer such a balanced approach,
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: something that's fine with the gaming and then obviously meeting
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: those educational goals. What are the kids say to you
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: when they have spent time there? What is it you
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: hear from them all the time? Well, they love it.
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: I mean I'll say this. We try to highlight them
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: whenever they have accomplishments. We always get a photo of
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: them with the accomplishment that says they're a star.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: We put it on social media.
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: So they love the positive reinforcement of every little achievement
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: that they make. All of our programs are designed to teach.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: All of our programs we have a camp med program.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: I didn't want to have our staff spending time babysitting
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: the children. We wanted to make sure we had something
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: with substance that could help cultivate their mindsets. So we
• 17:39
  Speaker 4: have a summer enrichment program.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: We have camp Med.
• 17:41
  Speaker 4: We have a lot of our kids that have gone
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: through the camp Met program who are now in college
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: in med school.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: So we have a lot of kids that wanted.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: To be football players and all these other things, and
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: when we connect them with we have what we call
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: keeping your Options Open, and we have leaders from different
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: friend professions that come in and talk to our kids
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: about their professions. I think the very first session that
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: we had, we keep the guys and the girls separated,
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: so we have sessions for the boys, sessions for the
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: girls because we believe in focus, so we have guys
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: talking to the guys and the girls talking to the
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: young ladies. And the first year we had an African
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: American developer female and the young ladies said, I never knew.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: We did anything like that.
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: So the developer there that said, Okay, well, why why
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: don't you bring the kids down to Charlotte and I
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: can let them meet other architects and developers and designers
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: and we can take them around and show them the
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: work that we do. They took the trip to Charlotte
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: and the kids came back and said, I want to
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: be an architect. I want to be an engineer. So again,
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: if they can't be, what they can't see, So we
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: try to expose them to as much as we possibly can.
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: And we also it's very important that can see themselves.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: The majority of our population is people of color, so
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: we try to make sure they can see themselves in
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: this environment. You know, they can see themselves.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: As a judge, as a lawyer.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: Even though we're creating diversity within our programs, the kids
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: have to be able to see that I can do
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: that too. That's another thing that we try to do.
• 19:23
  Speaker 4: We also have a financial youth financial literacy program. I
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: didn't learn about finances until I was an adult, and
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: that's after I messed up my credit.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: So now we're.
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: Trying to do holistic approaches with the parents and the kids.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: We have a youth financial literacy program, we have an
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: adult financial literacy program. We even have a money marketing
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: program so that we give these kids a certain amount
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: of money and we get real life situations and by
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: the time they get through the module, did they handle.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: These situations appropriately?
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: Did you have any money left? Did you spend your
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: money on the right stuff, so that helps the pair.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: I have to say, we can't afford this right now
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: because we've had that real life experience. So our goal
• 20:05
  Speaker 4: is to prepare all of our population at whatever level
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: that they are. But we're always educating them. We're always
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: making sure if they're doing essay writings, we sit down
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: with them, you write the essay, and then we'll go
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: through and make sure it's grammatically correct. But we want
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: to make sure you understand why it wasn't grammatically correct.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: So every moment is a teaching moment with our families. Again,
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: I know our primary and fudiciary responsibility is housing, but
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: I'm a firm believer in preparing people for success and
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: the only way we can build that foundation, we have
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: to understand that it takes more than brick and mortar.
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: We have to be able to create the esteem and
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: the belief and the confidence in these individuals to know
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: that they can do it. So that's what we're there for,
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: and that's what we're here for.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: Excellent, do you have a favorite success story that you
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: can share with us that maybe kid who has been
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: at the academic center or has moved on to a
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: career that you're particularly proud of.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Well. I got a couple of those.
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: But two that comes to mind right now is one
• 21:18
  Speaker 4: year lady by the name of Adasa. She's actually our
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: twenty twenty three rising Star. She had a four point
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: five GPA, participated in.
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: Every program that we have here.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: She also ride horses. She's also a part of the lacrosse.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: Now I remind you this is a young lady in
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: public housing. She did not miss an opportunity for anything
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: that was going to help advance.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: Her in her future.
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: Yes, So now she's in college, she's received the full wide.
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: She's going to school to study in biology. We have
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: several We have another young man who received a three
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: point five GPA. He plays football.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: He got a free ride as well because of his
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: academic achievements, and actually we're going to be highlighting them
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: at our annual meeting. But those two individuals, I was
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: just really extremely oppressed. Now with the young man who
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: had the three point five, he was working full time,
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: going to school full time, and still participating in sports.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: How he did that, I have no idea.
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: But they are still trying to come back and venture
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: the other kids and those type of things.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: So I love.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: How the staff, make sure that the students understand that
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: you still have to reach back to help lift someone
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: else up while he was trying to move forward and
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: establish your life.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: And you are speaking some great truths here about how
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: programming can work and how it makes a difference for
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: that next generation, doesn't it? Absolutely?
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: Absolutely? Absolutely So.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: We've talked about a lot of innovative housing models here,
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: both on the bricks and six side and on the
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: personal side. If you could dream for more housing models
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: or technology that you could bring back to high point,
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: like what's your holiday wish list for the housing authority?
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: What would it be, Well, more money to do more
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: programs for my youth, and then more money to be
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: able to help my elderly or senior population to agent plates.
• 23:39
  Speaker 4: We want them to have a productive end of life.
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: As you can.
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: Say, even though our seniors are some of them even
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: in their late nineties and it can run circles around me,
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: I still try to make sure that we don't forget
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: about them, that we still have programs for them.
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: We have a senior Computer program.
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: Around where they can go in and learn how to
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: use a computer, how to set up social media, how
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: to research resources. Also money for our youth where we
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: could build a youth center where it could build one
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: stop shop so that we don't have to try to
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: always keep the programs in all of the fifteen developments,
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: but we can have a one stop shop where our
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: kids can come and get everything that they need. And
• 24:28
  Speaker 4: I also think that more money where I can tear
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: down the old public housing scenery after I call it
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: and move it.
• 24:37
  Speaker 3: More to what.
• 24:38
  Speaker 4: We're trying to create is an environment where you cannot
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: tell what's public housing.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Okay, yes, So switching topics here, are you experiencing challenges
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: related to emergencies or natural disasters or resiliency recovery planning?
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: What is that looks like.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: Being at the location you are and where you are?
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: How are you approaching those kinds of concepts well?
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: As far as emergencies, we luckily we have not had
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: a lot of those that we've taken place within our area.
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: We are available.
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: However, if any of our sister agencies need assistance with
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: housing families, they would contact us, and if.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: We have the availability, we definitely would be able to assist.
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: But for us directly the Housing Authority and Hoppo, we
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: haven't had a tremendous amount of situations where we've had
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: to assist individuals with emergency housing.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: Okay, excellent. And how is homelessness handled within your community?
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: Are you part of a community collaborative or what's the
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: some of the pressure on the dynamics there that you're
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: up against.
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: Well, we work.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: With the CEOC with which is tenuum of care who
• 26:01
  Speaker 4: works with the homeless. One of our challenges is is
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: making sure the organizations that work for the homeless understand
• 26:11
  Speaker 4: is if we only have one hundred units, we only
• 26:15
  Speaker 4: have one hundred units. If we can't create an environment
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: where we can have affordable housing for those individuals in
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: those hundred units to be able to transition to the
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: private market, we have no more units. So the people
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: that are homeless when they apply or when they seek
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: housing with us, most times we're not able to assist
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: them because we have very low turnover in our population.
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: So that's why it's so important for us to try
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: to create an environment to get the higher income people
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: up and out into.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: The private market.
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: But again, where they're going to go post COVID, it
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: is almost next to impossible to find affordable housing for
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: them to transition to.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: And even with purchasing homes right now is become a challenge.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Why you need more funding to build more and renovate
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: more with more units?
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: Right? Absolutely?
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: What have we missed? Something else you want to tell
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: us about what's going on at the agency, or something
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: else that you're particularly proud of and you know is
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: a change maker for our industry there.
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: Well, I think for me.
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: Growing up in public housing, public housing coach with a
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: set of stereotypes. One, people in public houses don't work,
• 27:34
  Speaker 4: It's a bunch of single mothers, high crime there, the
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: individuals are not as intelligent as everybody else, all of
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: these things. But what I can tell you I grew
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: up in public housing, and that was not my experience.
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: My experience was a community. A you did something down
• 27:56
  Speaker 4: the street that parent can tap your tail and the
• 27:59
  Speaker 4: one by the time you get home you probably got
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: tapped about five times before you We always made sure
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: that we were a community.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: If I needed sugar and you had it, we shared it.
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: So public housing for me was the closest that I
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: can say where a community was like a one set family.
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: What has changed over time is the dynamics of the community.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: But what I've tried to do.
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: Is to bring back some of those experiences that I
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: had as a child that helped cultivate.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: Me to where to get me to where I am today.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: So I think a lot of the programs that we
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: have is designed to create that family environment and if
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: the parents are not equipped at any given point to
• 28:47
  Speaker 4: support their youth. I myself have a program called Cease
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: to Success, and I promise you I have visited every
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: principle at every school in my city to say, hey,
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: I got X number of kids to attending your school,
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: and I want to see how we can collaborate to
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: make sure to help my kids at my staff go
• 29:06
  Speaker 4: into third the lowest performance schools to include not just
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: our kids, to help them with reading, because again, these
• 29:14
  Speaker 4: are other kids that are going to be taking care
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: of us.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: So we need to be.
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: Not investing in bigger houses and bigger cars and all that.
• 29:22
  Speaker 4: We need to be investing in these kids so that
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: when they are able at the age where they're taking
• 29:28
  Speaker 4: care of us, they have the right mindset and the
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: skills and ability to be able to take care of us.
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: So I'm always thinking about.
• 29:35
  Speaker 4: The future, and the future starts with the youth that
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: we are looking at and dealing with and working with
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: every day, and I think sometimes they get lost in
• 29:44
  Speaker 4: our day to day efforts to be able to meet
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: the adult problems and not realizing that these kids are
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: going to be the ones that help us.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: Solve those future problems. So that's where our focus is.
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: My primary focus is with my youth and my seniors,
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: because we want to celebrate them for all that they've
• 30:05
  Speaker 4: done to get us here, and with our youth to
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: prepare them to be able to take care of us
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: and hopefully see us the same way when we get
• 30:13
  Speaker 4: to that place.
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: So that's my biggest goal.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: I'm glad you mentioned stereotypes because it is part of
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: all of our responsibilities who's in this industry, is to
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: continue to chip away at those preconceived notions about the
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: people who are in affordable housing, who are the people
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: who need it? And if there's anything we've learned for
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: these last several years through this national pandemic, is that
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: everybody is really, really close and on the verge with
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: a few short steps of meeting housing or needing affordable
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: housing or being housing insecure. And I don't think that
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: was on a lot of people's radars before the pandemic,
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: and so now there is a lot of conversation about
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: affordable housing, but in some ways it's also chipped away
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: at that stereotype, and we need to keep reminding everybody
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: and debunking some of those myths.
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: Well, I can tell you when I've been homeless twice myself,
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: so I can tell you firsthand.
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: I went through it.
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: I was in the military and I went through a divorce.
• 31:28
  Speaker 4: I found myself moving from a nice, beautiful home, shopping
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: for Nang brand clothes, wearing the best of everything, to
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: a two bedroom apartment in public housing in high Port,
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: North Carolina.
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: So I try to make sure every opportunity I.
• 31:45
  Speaker 4: Get whenever I have to go out and do talks,
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: that I remind people that you have to be mindful
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: of that you can have everything today and you can
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: be here tomorrow. So it's so important to make sure
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: you understand that number one, the population of the people
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: in the community. You would be surprised of who is
• 32:03
  Speaker 4: in the community.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: So all of that said to say that we.
• 32:08
  Speaker 4: All need to be mindful that where we are today
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: that can change in the flash. So we need to
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: be mindful of the fact that the Bible states that
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: We are only as good as the least of us.
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: So if we're not paying attention to the people who
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: currently right now cannot afford affordable housing, that's going to
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: impact everything else. So we have to look for where
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: there is the least to make us the greatest.
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: That's what I see.
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: I appreciate you sharing that, and that resonates a lot
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: with me and my own personal journey. And I'm telling
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: you maybe it's why we're in this business doing what
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: we're doing, because we realize not just the need, but
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: we realize the personal impact of sort of losing everything
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: and having life implode for a moment and then having
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: to say there and say. You know, what I like
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: to say is, you know, housing is not a hand out,
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: it's a hand up. And if we can reframe that,
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: then we should be taking care of, like you say,
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: you know, the least of these, We should be offering
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: that hand up. So thank you for sharing that. I
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: know that we all get concerned about the regulations and
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: the compliance and the grounds being kept up, which are
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: all very fair, but we need to be reminded about
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: why we're doing this and who we're helping. So I
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: appreciate you coming on here. It has been a pleasure.
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: You are definitely a force of change and you are
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: definitely making a great impact for the city of high Point.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: So keep up the good work.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, Thank you for having me again.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Change Makers with Katie Gore. To
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: find out more about Katie, go to quadel dot dot com.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: That's q U A d e l dot com. This
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: has been a production of Forbes Books Radio
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: H