March 31, 2015

Debra Weeks is three weeks into a big job: resuscitating C.W. Williams Community Health Center, the federally subsidized clinic on Wilkinson Boulevard that is formulating a plan to get out of bankruptcy, win back thousands of patients who left when operating hours were cut, and build community support.

Weeks was hired just weeks ago to be CEO of C.W. Williams. Participating in the Forum with her was William Walton, who joined the nonprofit’s board eight months ago and now is its chairman. Walton said he thought Weeks’ participating in a recent bankruptcy hearing convinced the judge that the organization could be rebuilt.

Weeks, when asked why the center had encountered difficulties, would say only, “Poor leadership and mismanagement of funds. That’s it. There’s no other excuse.”

Their presentation was as much plea for help as it was report on recent activity. And help they got: offers of assistance with raising money in particular. Mecklenburg County withdrew its financial support before the bankruptcy, and most of the center’s revenue right now is from federal grants.

Below, in three videos, are the presentation and the Q&A that followed.

An April 27, 2015 article on C.W. Williams in the print edition of the Charlotte Observer is here.