June 9, 2015 Two officials from Charlotte's workforce development group called for collaboration to give young people the skills they will need for today's jobs, and maybe even tomorrow's. Charlotte Works, which funnels federal funds into training efforts, can't do it all. Central Piedmont ... Continue Reading →
Plan for Charlotte Civil Liberties resolution goes to Council Monday
May 28, 2015 Community Relations Committee Director Willie Ratchford this morning sent in this PDF file containing material going Monday, June 1, to Charlotte City Council about a proposed civil liberties resolution. Ratchford writes: "The attachment contains the following items which will be ... Continue Reading →
Wiring the digital city: An update on Plan Google
May 12, 2015 At the count of three .... don't hold your breath. Two staffers from Google Fiber addressed the Forum this morning. And while they laid out the company has for wiring Charlotte, they kept returning to the reality that laying 6,000 miles of cable doesn't happen overnight. And it ... Continue Reading →
Ending homelessness: Provide shelter first, then support services
April 14, 2015 It's one of those Duh moments: Are there people who are homeless? Well, let's find them a home. Then we won't have a homeless problem. Such is the simple but numbingly difficult mission of Housing First, a coalition of Charlotte-based people, agencies and corporations that ... Continue Reading →
Ken Koontz on historic moments in city, and in people’s lives
March 3, 2015 Ken Koontz has been a chronicler of Charlotte's community life for 45 years. On Tuesday, he offered some characteristically candid words about that history. He offered young people sharp words on how not to make some of the mistakes their elders made. And he briefly touched on his ... Continue Reading →
Chamber President Bob Morgan
Feb. 24, 2015 Bob Morgan went to school in Charlotte. His calling of place names and schoolhouse names and the legendary educators who helped shaped him drew smiles from the smallish Forum audience that braved Tuesday's light snow to hear the president of the Charlotte Chamber. He spoke, in a ... Continue Reading →
Lawyer offers tips on handling encounters with the police
Jan. 20, 2015 Charles Everage has won big legal cases against the police. He's defended the police. The Montgomery native with a Charlotte practice spoke Tuesday at the Forum, and had some unambiguous advice for people young and old who find themselves in an encounter with the police. Excerpts are ... Continue Reading →
Friendship Trays to launch new culinary jobs training program
Lucy Bush Carter, executive director of Friendship Trays, made this presentation Tuesday about the launch Wednesday of a new culinary job training program. Friendship Trays, launched in 1976, is the primary meals-on-wheels program in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. “About 20 years ago, the director of ... Continue Reading →
Young Entrepreneurs Network: Learning together as they grow their businesses
After their presentation at the Forum, some of the members of the Young Entrepreneurs Network posed for a photo with Nasif Majeed (in cap above), who in a long business career was at one time leader of the West Charlotte Business Incubator near the Johnson C. Smith University campus. The ... Continue Reading →
Neighbors review Recreation Center renovation plans
Park and Recreation officials met Monday night with neighbors to discuss renovation plans for the West Charlotte Recreation Center. The roughly $1 million project is likely to close down the center from late spring to roughly December 2015. It will be the first major re-do of the heavily used ... Continue Reading →