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COMMUNITY FOCUS: New Hill Development
VINEGAR HILL’S RAZING is symptomatic of institutional racism that is as evident now as it was in 1964 when the first bulldozer demolished the neighborhood as a part of the city-sanctioned “urban renewal project.” Families were forced into public housing, livelihoods were destroyed, and Cville’s Black community continues to bear the burden of deliberate displacement.
Since 2017, husband-wife team and Common House Members, Quinton and Yolunda Harrell, have been creating pathways to restore what was lost following Vinegar Hill’s razing. Their organization New Hill Development was built to ensure that Cville’s Black residents have economic opportunities for upward mobility through three core pillars.
1) Financial Empowerment: In partnership with Operation Hope, New Hill provides tools and resources for wealth generation. Financial Coach, Bernard Whitsett, offers consulting services to better position people who are seeking a loan to open their own businesses or make a down payment on a home.
2) Economic Development: Because of the many barriers Black entrepreneurs face to obtain startup capital, Yolunda and Quinton are in the preliminary stages of creating a business incubator, where emerging and preexisting businesses will come together under one roof to share resources and facilitate mentorship for mutual growth.
3) Affordable Housing: The Harrell’s are raising funds to buy and sell houses to first-time home buyers as well as people below the 80% median income threshold. Their goal is to acquire land, build affordable housing on it, and sell the new homes at fair market prices so that Black residents are no longer systemically displaced to the outskirts of town.
Through each of New Hill’s pillars, Yolunda and Quinton are paving the way for real structural transformation to take root. Nothing can bring back the businesses nor homes that were demolished at Vinegar Hill. Their non-profit, though, centralizes and amplifies Cville’s Black community so that historic and ongoing inequalities will be brought to light. To learn how to get involved, or to make a donation to New Hill, please click here.
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