Program Guide Winter/Spring 2024

services from City and County departments and community organizations. Beyond just a combining of purposes, the space itself would be flexible enough to suit a wide variety of needs. Blanton envisioned that a grandmother could take her three grandchildren into this kind of space. She would drop the teen off to play basketball, bring the toddler to story time, and settle the elementary-age child down to do homework while she took a Zumba class. While she was there, she would use a digital kiosk to check recent police data for her neighborhood and learn about an upcoming workshop on tenant-landlord dispute resolution. “It becomes a destination, a place where the community can have multiple needs met in one location. The community won’t have to leave their community to get the information and services that they need,” Blanton says. That vision spurred City Council to commit to planning funds for such a project. Blanton and McCray, then a Parks and Recreation planning and project development division manager, began working together to see how the City could invest in a new, community hub complex. “The entire concept of this community complex started with discussions how the City could be better stewards of public dollars, be more efficient and innovative in delivering services, and meeting the needs of our residents, all in a way that aligns with what is most important to the community and what the residents now and in the future need,” McCray says. Planning with Intention At every step, the team planned with intention, including their efforts to attract minority- and women-owned businesses into the fold. The City’s Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) office hosted a mixer-style event, a City first, where contractors could come meet each other, learn more about the project, and assemble design teams that would be inspired by the community and team’s vision.

FEATURE STORY

Coming Soon: A Historic Groundbreaking Windsor Chavis Nocho Community Complex Making Progress By the end of 2023, the final designs should be complete. By the end of 2024, dirt will be turning on East Gate City Boulevard. The first-of-its-kind Windsor Chavis Nocho Community Complex (WCNCC) is coming to life. This massive indoor, outdoor center, built around the community’s needs will take the library, park, and recreation center to another level. “This project represents the future of how government and nonprofit services will be provided to a neighborhood that has been traditionally underserved,” says Greensboro Public Library Director Brigitte Blanton. An Innovative Idea The idea for the project has been percolating with Blanton and Assistant City Manager Nasha McCray for more than a decade. Blanton participated on a grant evaluation team and read dozens of proposals for building out media labs – creative maker spaces where people could collaborate to create new things. She came away inspired by the proposals, which partnered public libraries with other community organizations. She wondered if Greensboro could build such a place of important partnerships – a space embedded in a neighborhood where community members could receive a wide range of necessary

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