Summit to honor 10 leadersBy Charlene Price PattersonBy CharleneBy Price-By Patterson
Posted: Friday, May. 31, 2013
Modified: Wednesday, May. 29, 2013
Wallace Pruitt is a longtime president of the Seversville neighborhood. He will be honored this week along with nine other neighborhood leaders.
Taking on a leadership role in any neighborhood is not easy. Just ask Wallace Pruitt. He has been a leader in the Seversville Neighborhood Organization for more than 20 years.
Pruitt has worked tirelessly in the Seversville neighborhood for so long that he is affectionately known as “The Mayor of Seversville.” A community center has been named in his honor and he volunteers there.
“Being a community leader takes a lot of hard work because a good leader is also a good follower,” Pruitt says.
He appreciates support from residents as well as city and county leaders. At 81, Pruitt said he recognizes the need to recruit new leadership.
“It takes young people to keep the community moving,” he said.
Pruitt is one of 10 community leaders who will be honored for more than two decades of community service at the Urban Community Leadership Summit, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. June 8 at Grimes Lounge on the campus of Johnson C. Smith University.
It’s being sponsored by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership. Its goal is to reach out to residents of low income communities, neighborhood association officers, youth ages 16 and older, and anyone else who wants to help make Charlotte’s neighborhoods stronger.
Other community leaders who will be honored include: Marty Doss (Madison Park); Theresea Elder (Rockwell); Darryl Gaston (Druid Hills); Virginia Keogh (Southwest Coalition); Diane Langevin (Winterfield); Mattie Marshall (Historic Washington Heights); Aaron McKeithan (Historic West End Neighborhood Association); Dorothy Waddy (Clanton Park & West Blvd. Coalition); and Louise Woods (EAST Organization).
The June 8 leadership summit will do a lot more than honor community leaders.
It also will provide helpful information for anyone in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community. Four presentations will be offered:
• “A Change is Coming” – The Community’s Role in Rezonings.
• “Who’s Got Next” – Succession Planning for Your Neighborhood Association.
• “Youth Forum” – Real Talk Youth Forum for Future Community Leaders.
• “Show me the Money” – Leveraging City Grants for Community Improvement.
The topics were selected because they stood out as top challenges for communities and neighborhoods.
This event is free and open to the public.
A continental breakfast will be provided from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. There also will be a free lunch. Although preregistration is not mandatory, it is preferred.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership is part of a national network of affordable housing providers called NeighborWorks America. Every year it offers a grant that provides seed money for a transformative project. The goal for the project this year is to focus on the gap between the older generation of community leaders and the younger community leaders.
The City of Charlotte also is a sponsor of the event.
“The bottom line is to ensure that our lower income and challenged neighborhoods are vital and valuable,” says Kim Graham, Community Affairs Liaison for The Housing Partnership. “We want to reach out to youth and give them a call to action so that they can step up and lead the way.”
Wallace Pruitt said of his neighborhood, “We’ve come a long way, and Seversville is moving on to even bigger and better things.”
Charlene Price-Patterson is a freelance writer. Have a story idea for Charlene? Email her at CPPCityNews@gmail.com
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/05/31/4073914/summit-to-honor-10-leaders.html#storylink=cpy
