WFCN –
Charlotte, North Carolina — Helping those in disadvantaged areas get back on their feet is the mission of an organization based in Charlotte.
A program is available through Peace 4 Poverty that equips both children and adults with the resources they need to launch their own enterprises. Local leaders celebrated the participants’ graduation on Sunday.
It went beyond just being a graduation. The 66 members of Peace 4 Poverty’s Next Great 50 graduating class were honored at the ceremony.
The City of Charlotte joins recent CMS grads in celebrating their employment launch.
Zamir Knight, a youth alumnus, stated, “It’s a really awesome program and I made friends and made a new business and met a lot of cool people along that way that helped me grow and change a few things around in my life.”
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Knight learned what he needed to know to start his own business over the seven weeks of the program. His colleague Quentin Hines is expanding his lawn care business.
“My love for lawncare really began when my grandfather gave me a riding mower, and ever since then, I’ve known I had to pursue it,” Quentin explained.
A unique classmate existed for the eleven-year-old. He enrolled in the class alongside his mother, Shirley Hines, who runs a secondhand shop.
“We’re learning to establish our LLCs,” she reported. It’s payroll time. We’ve been able to spend quality time together since we started working on websites.
Parents and program directors are taking action to help steer youth away from violent behavior, which is a serious problem in our society. So far this year, police in Charlotte-Mecklenburg have filed charges against twelve minors in relation to homicides.
“You change a community by starting with the youth,” stated Minister Dr. James Sutton Jr., VP of Peace 4 Poverty.
Seeing the graduates cross the stage is a monumental moment for Sutton.
“I am overwhelmed with pride because not only did they finish the program, but for some of them, this may have been their first attempt at a goal they had set for themselves and achieved,” he said.
There have been 288 newly formed, legally organized enterprises among the program’s participants since it began in January 2021. For forty-five of them, we have inmates at the Mecklenburg County Prison.
What Sutton meant was that they should not return.
Each month, the program directors will check in with the new company owners to make sure everything is running smoothly.
A lot of new clients are coming to him, Shirley said. It’s just a case of mixing and mingling businesses; I get to talk to the women that are phoning him.
In September, the program will begin its next session. Up to this far, forty individuals have expressed interest.