White navel-gazing is not the proper orientation toward Black History Month. We’ve got to do the needed self-examination, but we are not the center of the narrative. Using the work of blacks to put ourselves back at the center of the story is not the right strategy. But while reading all that black history, it does help to know what seat we are sitting in.
With little opportunity for youth and children — or almost anyone else — Christian community builds chances from the ground up
Helms Jarrell, co-director of the QC Family Tree intentional Christian community, had given crystal-clear instructions for the youth group’s annual trip to Boone, N.C. They had just hauled a van-full of Enderly Park teenagers up from Charlotte and the group…
For this intentional Christian community, seeking the world’s healing means battling gentrification close at home
Enderly Park is blistering under an unseasonable September heat, and Frank Byers saunters across Tuckaseegee Road to the rec center where he likes to play cards with his neighbors. He doesn’t use the crosswalk, but in many ways he’s earned…
What is QC Family Tree?
QC Family Tree is an intentional Christian community forming relationships and seeking justice alongside residents of the Enderly Park neighborhood of Charlotte, N.C. Since 2005, co-directors Greg and Helms Jarrell have called the Queen City home and sought wholeness with…
Video: What does justice look like in Enderly Park?
Helms Jarrell speaks about the long, ambiguous path toward justice as well as finding hope among her neighbors. In this series on QC Family Tree, we learn how the Jarrells are organizing to combat gentrification, which increasingly threatens long-time Enderly…
Video: How is QC Family Tree seeking justice in Enderly Park?
Greg Jarrell discusses the role of imagination in a justice-seeking life. In this series on QC Family Tree, we learn how the Jarrells are organizing to combat gentrification, which increasingly threatens long-time Enderly Park residents with rising property value and…
Video: What do you love about Enderly Park?
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Video: How is QC Family Tree on the path toward justice?
Cornelia Hagens, volunteer with the QC Family Tree youth group, speaks about what justicelooks like for children and teenagers in Enderly Park, Charlotte, NC. In this series on QC Family Tree, we learn how the Jarrells are organizing to combat…
Video: Why are you fighting for stable housing in West Charlotte?
Frank Byers speaks about his experience with gentrification and displacement, and why his community is fighting to maintain stable housing in Enderly Park. Frank is a long-time Charlotte resident and chair of the West Side Community Land Trust. In…