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DrumzUp GunzDown combats gun violence

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Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Written by Amber Little

19There is no doubt that gun violence is an epidemic in America, with no town, city or metropolitan being exempt. According to the CDC, there were over 48,000 gun related deaths in the United States in 2023 and those most likely to be affected are teen and young adults, with rates being higher in the African American, Latino and Indigenous communities.
That makes the work of local nonprofit, DrumzUp GunzDown that much more important. The group focuses on mentoring youth in the community through the art of drumming, spotlighting the need for safe activities for local youth and helping families who have been affected by gun violence and advocating for gun control.
Founder Kandi Hoskins is no stranger to gun violence and it’s ripple effect in the community and the devastation it leaves in its wake. The organization was founded after the loss of Hoskins brother.
“The purpose of Drumzup Gunzdown is to make a change in our community to inspire and educate our youth on positive decision-making. We started Drumzup Gunzdown after we lost my brother to Gun violence … The purpose of Drumzup Gunzdown is to make a change in our community to inspire and educate our youth on positive decision-making,” Hoskins said.
Drumming has long been an activity that gathers and bonds people. Hoskins is a believer in the drumming and its ability to provide an alternative to vulnerable youth in the area. Providing an after-school activity and a safe space decreases the chances that they will pick up a firearm or have a firearm used against them. Drumming is also a great way to channel emotions and learn discipline.
“We want our community youth and everyone in our community to know that drumming is therapeutic and the type of music that we listen to can impact our decision-making. We want our community to know that whenever you’re stressed or dealing with any type of emotions, you can pick up a pair of drumsticks and create a beautiful sound. Those drumsticks will distract you because you’re creating a beat. In so many ways we’ve learned that drumming has helped those that have mental illnesses. We’ve learned that drumming is therapeutic, and we’ve also learned that drumming is something that people can do that can make them happy,” Hoskins said.
While teaching and mentoring is the main focus of the organization, DrumzUp GunzDown, hosts free community events providing a safe space for families to gather and have a great time. They also collaborate with other local nonprofits for fundraising events, helping bring awareness and resources to those who need them the most. Hoskins and the group have been active in the community talks about gun violence in the city of Fayetteville and Cumberland County. They have hosted countless events bringing awareness to the areas with high firearm violence rate and the lack of funding that is allotted to programs to help combat the problem from the source.
With any organization working with the youth, it takes a village.
“I want to give a shout out to my family and our organization for believing in me to know that we’re not just doing this for our brother, but we’re doing this for all of those that have lost and loved ones. I also want to give a shout out to our community for standing behind us, believing us, and knowing that we really truly care about each and every one. Thank you.”
For more information on DrumzUp GunzDown, how you can get involved and their next event, follow them of their social media https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090423213986.

Mural captures spirit of Fayetteville Technical Community College

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Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Written by Erin C. Healy

15A new mural at Fayetteville Technical Community College celebrates the spirit of the school through its dedication to a diverse student body and its commitment to the employment needs of the community.
The design team made each decision about artistic elements and colors with purpose. FTCC art instructor Katharine (Katey) Morrill began sending emails out on the idea in January. Sandy Ammons, executive director of the FTCC Foundation, applied for the initial grant and maneuvered expertly when additional funds became necessary.
FTCC alumna and artist Britney Deveault, who painted two other murals on campus, returned to lead the design collaboration. Three art students volunteered over 45 hours to complete the project. They contributed their time with no financial or grade compensation, outside of school hours and away from family. The result: A big, colorful, cheerful mural that, through art, shows FTCC’s contributions to its students and our community.
Prominent citizens came together in 1985 to establish the foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, established to raise money to cover any unmet needs on campus and to fund scholarships. Ammons initially secured a small grant from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County.
First, a suitable wall needed to be determined, and then the design needed to be approved. The team—which Morrill emphasizes enjoyed a high level of give and take, everyone listening to input and contributing ideas—discovered that a section of the wall would be unsuitable for painting.
A different wall needed to be selected for the project, and then additional funding needed to be secured for a reworking of the design and additional paint. The work went from 80 feet long to 104 feet and the design expanded in proportion. Now, looking at the mural, one cannot imagine it without the returning troops and the American flag at the right-hand side of the work.
Ammons successfully moved the grant proposal from one funding option under the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County to another better suited to the expanding project.
In addition, the North Carolina Arts Council helped support the effort. Furthermore, the City of Fayetteville, Cumberland County and other community partners made contributions to see the project come to fruition. Finally, the FTCC Foundation itself awarded a mini grant for the artwork’s completion.
The design team made each decision about artistic elements and color with purpose. Of course, the high number of active-duty soldiers and veterans who go through the doors of FTCC are represented at both ends of the mural, starting on the left with paratroopers jumping over a rose, representative of one of many of the college’s specialties: horticulture and its must-see Fayetteville Rose Garden at 2201 Hull Road.
The welder reflects the numerous career paths involving welding, from steel fabrication to automotive pursuits. The geese/ducks represent our area’s rich flora and fauna. They share space with a computer operator, revealing how sustainable use of resources is not incompatible with conservation efforts and how technology can be harnessed for good in the constructive management of our natural environment.
Nursing and culinary arts represent two additional academic programs for which FTCC is renowned. And finally, we see the American flag and returning soldiers who may need a new career path after transitioning out, or new skills they can apply to their current active-duty positions.
Even the colors were chosen with care. Of the students who attend the college as a stepping stone to furthering their education at a four-year school, the majority end up at Fayetteville State University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, East Carolina University or North Carolina State University. The school colors of those universities are incorporated in the color pallet used in the mural.
Students choose FTCC for a variety of reasons. First, the college focuses on offering career paths that are marketable. For instance, Merrill stresses that the art department avoids the negative starving-artist mental image and instead teaches artists how they can build relationships within the community and treat their art as a business that can provide an abundant livelihood.
Students also come for the flexibility of after-hour class offerings. They could be holding down full-time jobs and raising families. Older returning students lend their wisdom to the collective student body, and people who take single classes are often in search of personal enrichment.
Plus, as Ammons adds, you cannot beat the affordability of a community college. FTCC offers over 280 course concentrations, culminating in associate degrees, diplomas and certificates. Financial aid is available, so whether you want to work in auto body repair or teach preschoolers, be a civil engineer or an electrician, a graphic designer or a dental hygienist, you can’t go wrong with the hometown technical college.

(Photo: The mural team shows off their work: from left, FTCC instructor Josh Deveault; FTCC art instructor Katharine Morrill; FTCC graphic design alumna Britney Deveault; and art students Sarah Johnson, Ryan Hauth and Kevin Elmore.)

School board faces lawsuit discrimination lawsuit

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Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Written by Evey Weisblat, CityView Today

7A former custodian at Cumberland County Schools is suing the Cumberland County Board of Education for unlawful employment discrimination, claiming he was fired after not being able to obtain a commercial driver’s license because of his disability.
James Weathers filed a civil lawsuit against the school board on Oct. 31 seeking damages, attorney’s fees “and further relief as the Court deems just and proper” for his termination, which he alleges was a result of his disability. Weathers is a disabled veteran whose medical conditions — including tinnitus, glaucoma and high blood pressure — prevented him from attaining a commercial driver’s license, or CDL, according to the lawsuit.
“[These] conditions substantially limit Weathers’s ability to see and hear, as well as the functioning of his circulatory system,” the complaint states.
Lindsay Whitley, CCS associate superintendent of communications and community engagement, told CityView that the school district implemented a policy change in 2013 requiring certain classified employees to obtain a CDL to be able to drive school buses. The policy change aligned with updated federal regulations requiring that all bus drivers hold a CDL, and was enabled by a 2012 edict by the district superintendent that established the CDL requirement for classified employees with dual roles, Whitley said.
In his complaint, Weathers argues that the school board’s policy violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, as not all employees may be eligible to receive CDLs because of certain disabilities.
“The Board’s policy disproportionately excludes qualified individuals with a disability from employment,” the complaint states.
Case history
The lawsuit states that Weathers was initially hired as a custodian at Westover High School in June 2019, and while employed there “had no performance issues and was rated highly on his regular evaluations.”
Whitley, speaking on behalf of CCS, confirmed Weathers was hired in June 2019, and said his “primary assignment was as a custodian with a secondary bus driving responsibility.”
Whitley said employees are informed of the CDL requirement at their start day and must sign a written acknowledgement of the requirement.
Weathers alleges in the complaint that he was informed in October 2021, nearly two and a half years after he was hired in his role as a custodian, that “he must get a commercial driver’s license (‘CDL’) and learn to drive a school bus, or he would be fired.”
The incident described in the complaint would have coincided with CCS’s school bus driver shortage that peaked in 2021, when the district’s school bus drivers protested for better pay and staged a walk-out.
Weathers claims that the board allowed him to continue working through the end of the 2021–2022 school year, but informed him he would be fired “after the school year ended because he could not get a CDL.”
Weathers’ position was terminated in June 2022 at the end of the school year, according to the complaint. CCS also confirmed Weathers was employed by the school district until June 2022.
CCS did not answer queries as to whether Weathers was fired for the reasons stated in the complaint, but acknowledged employees have been let go in the past because they did not obtain CDLs. Whitley told CityView that CCS employees are given the option to apply to other district jobs when this happens.
“Classified CCS employees who did not meet the CDL requirements necessary for serving as a school bus driver have been separated from employment, with the option to re-apply for other positions with CCS that do not require eligibility to serve as a driver,” Whitley said in an email to CityView.
A CDL is more challenging to obtain than a regular driver’s license, in part because it requires meeting extensive physical health standards, including for vision, hearing and blood pressure. CCS on its website notes that school bus drivers must also pass a DOT physical examination.
In the complaint, Weathers’ attorney argues “the circumstances of Weathers’s discharge raise a reasonable inference of unlawful discrimination” because he was ineligible to obtain a CDL as a result of his disabilities.
What’s next
On Nov. 4, the case was selected for mediation, according to court documents. Mediation is a process by which parties in a legal dispute attempt to resolve the conflict without a formal trial.
Board of Education Chair Deanna Jones declined to comment on the pending litigation and referred CityView’s inquiries to the school board’s attorney and to Whitley. Whitley did not directly address questions about the ongoing litigation, such as if the Board of Education’s plans to challenge this litigation or if the board anticipates it will get resolved in mediation.
“The lawsuit was just served yesterday, and we are still reviewing the allegations,” Whitley said in an email to CityView on Wednesday. “However, it is our normal practice not to comment on pending litigation.”

(File Photo)

Fayetteville looks to shake title ‘America’s least walkable city’

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Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Written by Morgan Casey, CityView Today

6It was a hot August morning when content creators Preston Griffin and his friend Sam Reid started their walk across Fayetteville. Griffin, the Fayetteville resident, was a guide in a video on Reid’s YouTube channel titled, “I Walked Across America’s Least Walkable City.”
Even after living in Fayetteville on and off for 16 years and trying to navigate it as a pedestrian as a teen, the almost nine-hour and over 16.5-mile journey for the YouTube video took Griffin by surprise.
“I was just taken back by the actual, real-life lived experience,” Griffin told CityView. “It is actually pretty mind-blowing to see the way that our city is set up and the way that it’s not pedestrian-friendly by any means.”
The City of Fayetteville has been trying to improve its lacking pedestrian infrastructure for over two decades. Residents like Griffin and a local urbanism advocacy organization hope their voices will speed up the city’s efforts to lose its title as the least walkable city in America.
Fayetteville’s title comes from Walk Score, a subsidiary of real estate company Redfin. Walk Score awards a given address, neighborhood or city a score out of 100 based on the number of walking routes to amenities like grocery stores, post offices and other errands. The higher the score, the more walkable the particular location.
The website gave Fayetteville a score of 21, dubbing it a “car-dependent city” where almost all errands require a car. Fayetteville ties as America’s least walkable city with Chesapeake, Virginia. However, Fayetteville has worse transit and bike scores and North Carolina had the worst average Walk Score of any state, Reid said in the video. Reid said he used both metrics as the tiebreaker.
Blisters, sunburns and a gallon of milk
From the start of the walk across Fayetteville, Griffin and Reid were without sidewalks. They walked inches from cars in grass and sand along 35 or more mile-per-hour roads. They got stuck in a small median while trying to cross Owen Drive and sprinted across other intersections to avoid oncoming traffic. They walked under the blazing summer sun the entire day, forgetting to reapply sunscreen and drink anything other than the milk they picked up as part of the video’s several challenges.
Griffin said the experience made him trace many of his bad pedestrian habits to growing up in Fayetteville. Even in a pedestrian paradise like New York City, the second most walkable city in the country according to Walk Score, Griffin said he jaywalks by default. He said it’s because he isn’t used to seeking out pedestrian infrastructure.
Fayetteville saw 80 pedestrian crashes across the city in 2023, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Non-Motorist Crash Dashboard.
“It almost feels normal in some ways, in the context of Fayetteville, to have to navigate some of the strange versions, or maybe even limited versions of pedestrian infrastructure that does exist and just kind of hoping that it does the job,” Griffin said.
Decades of pedestrian infrastructure planning
The City of Fayetteville has long tried to update its pedestrian infrastructure, with its first pedestrian infrastructure plan dating back to 2002. Among other recommendations, the 2002 plan included trails and sidewalks along roads like Honeycutt Road and Ramsey Street.
Seven subsequent plans, and the pedestrian infrastructure projects they created, followed before the city published its first Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan in 2018. The plan outlined several improvements, including adding sidewalks to the intersection of Raeford Road and McPherson Church Road.
The Comprehensive Pedestrian Plan is updated every five years. With most of the original plan’s long-term projects almost completed, the city has been collecting public input to inform its first update. The first round of feedback was in August and the second will be sometime in December, said Virginia Small, transportation planner for the City of Fayetteville. She said the final plan should be ready for presentation to the Fayetteville City Council by spring 2025.
The plan helps the city prioritize funding the projects residents want, explained John McNeill, the city’s senior project manager for traffic. While the city has found the money for its current slate of projects from city bonds and federal grants, McNeill said funding is the number one limiting factor. One foot of sidewalk can run the city anywhere from $50 to $100, he estimated. Projects on older streets can get expensive quickly since the city must tear up old infrastructure before shifting its placement and rebuilding it.
“There’s so much need,” McNeill said. “You can’t get enough funding to do it all at one time.”
Much of the need for sidewalks comes from territory annexed into the city in the “Big Bang” annexation of 2005. The annexation included areas in now-western Fayetteville that were built without sidewalks, explained McNeill. He believes that is likely one of the major reasons Walk Score ranked the city last for walkability.
The city’s “sidewalks-to-nowhere,” something Griffin and Reid ran across in their journey across the city, also play into the poor Walk Score. Gaps in sidewalks stem from development requirements, said Small.
Per city ordinances, sidewalks are required for all new development on public-facing streets except for agricultural and certain residential areas, along certain NCDOT roads and a handful of other places. However, Small said, there is no requirement for developers to build sidewalks that connect to the next one or the next major roadway.
“That’s why you may see sometimes there’s a gap,” Small said. “But that is also identified through our plan and through other projects that we have with the city.” Past city sidewalk gap-filling projects include intersections at Owen Drive and Melrose Road, Bonanza Drive and Santa Fe Drive and Skibo Road and Morganton Road.
Pedestrian infrastructure projects like these take years. Small expects to be long retired before any projects from the updated Pedestrian Plan are completed.
A newcomer’s push for walkability
Ben Hultquist, the founding member of Strong Towns Fayetteville, wants to keep the city and residents’ focus on walkability. Strong Towns is a non-profit organization advocating for more urban and pedestrian-friendly development. Hultquist and the Fayetteville chapter are pushing for denser construction, more sidewalks and bike lanes and slower roads throughout the city.
Hultquist, a brigade senior human resources noncommissioned officer with the Army, moved from Korea to Fayetteville four months ago. He founded the local Strong Towns chapter in October. He said he instantly saw the need for more pedestrian infrastructure the first day he arrived in Fayetteville. That day, he struggled to navigate roads with no crosswalks on his walk from the FAST Transit Center to his hotel. As a biker in Fayetteville, he said he is frequently yelled at by motorists as they pass inches from his handlebars.
“I was looking for some kind of advocacy organization to get involved to try to make this a more pleasant place, safe place for everybody, certainly myself included,” Hultquist said. “I couldn’t find any of those organizations, so I decided to start one.”
While Hulquist is often a pedestrian by choice, almost 6% of residents get to work by walking according to the county’s 2021–22 Community Health Needs Assessment. Six and a half percent of residents don’t have access to a car, according to 2017 data from the North Carolina Institute of Medicine.
Hultquist said he knows the pedestrian infrastructure that he and Strong Towns Fayetteville are pushing for — connections to grocery stores and neighborhoods, for example — won’t emerge overnight. But he is excited by what the City of Fayetteville is planning.
“They’re saying a lot of the right words, kind of moving in the right direction,” Hultquist said. “I think they just need a little bit more support from the residents.”
For Griffin, the experience he had in Reid’s YouTube video ignited a fire in him to improve Fayetteville’s pedestrian infrastructure.
A date for the next public feedback session on Fayetteville’s updated Pedestrian Plan has yet to be decided but more information will be announced once details are finalized, said Small. She said the session will be held at the FAST Transit Center.

UCW Editor's Note: This article has been edited for space. To read the full article, visit https://bit.ly/48OjjnY

CCS Choice Programs: Opportunities for all students

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Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Written by Dr. Lindsay Whitely

19aCumberland County Schools (CCS) is proud to offer its Choice Programs, a unique initiative designed to provide tailored educational opportunities that cater to the diverse interests and goals of students across the district. Whether your child is interested in STEM, the arts, language immersion, or Career and Technical Education, our Choice Programs are designed to inspire every student.
Choice Programs allow students to explore areas of personal interest while acquiring valuable skills for their future. This means that regardless of a student’s passion, be it engineering, culinary arts, or performing on stage, CCS has a program to support their growth. CCS recognizes that every student has unique strengths, and through the Choice Programs, students can thrive in environments that best suit their learning styles and career ambitions.
The application period for the 2025-2026 school year begins on Monday, Nov. 18, and will remain open until Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. This window gives families time to explore the various offerings, identify the best-fit program for their student, and submit their applications. During this period, we encourage families to consider the variety of programs available and discuss how these options can shape their child’s educational journey.
To help families navigate these unique opportunities, CCS will host its annual Choice Fair on Saturday, Nov. 16, from 9 a.m. until noon, at E.E. Smith High School, located at 1800 Seabrook Road in Fayetteville. The event offers a great opportunity for both students and parents to connect with representatives from various Choice Programs, ask questions, and learn about the unique offerings at each school. It serves as an important first step in discovering a program that suits your student's interests, helping families make well-informed decisions with firsthand insights.
The Choice Fair will feature interactive displays, program overviews, and plenty of opportunities for attendees to learn about curriculum specifics, extracurricular activities, and potential career pathways. Whether your student is interested in hands-on learning through a career and technical education program or looking to hone their language skills in an immersion setting, you’ll find information and inspiration at the Choice Fair.
At CCS, we are committed to fostering an environment where every student has the opportunity to succeed. The Choice Programs exemplify this commitment by providing a range of options that encourage exploration, creativity and achievement. Our goal is to ensure that all students find a path that aligns with their unique interests, talents and aspirations, empowering them to reach their full potential and thrive both academically and personally.
Join us in exploring the endless possibilities the Choice program offers. With options to suit every interest and every student, CCS is here to support your child’s educational journey and help them build a bright future.
For more information on our Choice Programs, visit www.choice.ccs.k12.nc.us.

(Image courtesy of Cumberland County Schools)

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