What We Do
We are a “place-based” organization meaning that we focus our work in the Freedom Drive Corridor of West Charlotte so that we can go deep and work holistically with families in the interconnected areas of housing, employment, education and health and wellness.
Our Key Focus Areas Are …
Family Stability
We provide holistic, wraparound solutions for families.The connections, support and solidarity that equips families with the tools and resources to ignite their respective path to upward mobility and sustained economic stability.
Moms Moving Forward
Moms Moving Forward is a two-generation program that targets both low-income and high potential children and parents from the same household by combining parent and child interventions to interrupt the cycle of poverty. It is a 12-month, cash incentive program to drive upward mobility and family stability for single mothers and their children.
Each year, we serve on average 90 women and their 225 children through the launch of 3 new cohorts and the graduation of the 3 cohorts that launched in the previous year.
Affordable Housing
By building new mixed income housing and preserving naturally occurring affordable housing, we are creating pathways for family stability and wealth creation in the community.
New Construction: Rental
To combat the affordable hosing crisis, Freedom Communities has developed an innovative partnership with Crosland Southeast. Crosland Southeast develops new for-rent affordable housing that Freedom Communities owns. The first project of 180 units opened in 2020, the second 156 units opened in 2021, and we are planning to open additional projects in 2022 and 2023.
New Construction: Home-ownership
Home-ownership is one of the most common ways of creating generational wealth for families. Historical policies prevented black and brown families from securing home loans and from the opportunity to build and pass on wealth to the next generation. In Charlotte, housing prices are skyrocketing, making affordable homeownership unattainable for most. In response, Freedom Communities is preserving land in the Freedom Corridor for future development of for-sale affordable housing.
Preservation of Existing Affordable Housing
Freedom Communities is preserving naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH) units in the community with the goal of creating pathways for tenants to purchase their homes over a 10-year period, allowing families to stay in the community and to build generational wealth.
Early Education
In the neighborhoods surrounding the Freedom Drive corridor, only 1 in 5 children moves into 4th grade reading proficiently.
Learning to read by the end of 3rd grade puts children on a pathway toward college and career readiness. To get there, we have partnered with a community leader to add new quality early education slots in the community, and we are also focusing our education efforts on supporting the children of the moms we are working with in the Moms Moving Forward program.
Support Children of Moms Moving Forward Program
Each year, we serve 90 women and their (on average) 225 children through our Moms Moving Forward Program. Our Youth Development Coordinator works with each parent to create a success plan for each child taking into account the holistic needs of each child. Our goal is to ensure that each child is able to gain the resources and connections needed to build a strong foundation for their future success.
Expand Access to Quality Early Education
80% of a child’s brain develops by the age of 3. Analysis of the supply and demand for childcare in the Freedom Corridor identified that it was a childcare desert for children below the age of 3 - the most critical time for brain development! In January of 2022, in partnership with local community leaders Gloria and Ray Dukes, we opened the Bright Future Early Learning Center adding 77 new quality early education slots for children in the community.
Collaborative Partnerships
A well-aligned, collaborative network of partners and neighborhood leaders have the power to transform the Freedom Drive Corridor.
It starts with building relationships, inventorying assets, opening up communication, identifying gaps and developing solutions.
Meet the Freedom Corridor Collaborative
In February 2020, Freedom Communities spearheaded the launch of the Freedom Corridor Collaborative where (prior to COVID-19) 70+ people representing neighborhood groups, as well as public, private, and faith-based organizations, came together to envision the change that’s possible through collaborative efforts. We established a steering committee and plan to host bi-monthly meetings.
Through the collaborative we identify community assets and gaps, we attract public, private and philanthropic investments to fill those gaps and connect those who live, work and pray along the Freedom Drive Corridor.