Greensboro: Rooted in History, Building Toward Opportunity
- Second Harvest
- Mar 6, 2025
- 4 min read
Greensboro is a city with a legacy of resilience and progress. From Charlotte Hawkins Brown’s pioneering school for African Americans to the Woolworth’s sit-in that sparked a national civil rights movement, Greensboro has often been at the forefront of change in the Southeast.
But its story also reflects longstanding challenges. Since the late 1800s, Black neighborhoods were deliberately concentrated on the east side of town, separated from goods and services by railroad tracks. Those divisions echo today: in East Greensboro, half of families live on less than $30,000 a year, and life expectancy can be fifteen years shorter than in wealthier neighborhoods just a few miles away.
Access to healthy food has long been limited. After the Winn Dixie closed in 1998, the community endured decades without a full-service grocery store. Even when residents tried to take matters into their own hands—launching the Renaissance Community Co-Op in 2016, efforts were undercut, forcing it to close just two years later. Limited public transportation makes matters worse, restricting families to carrying just two bags of groceries at a time on long trips across town.
Shifting Power, Building Trust
Addressing challenges this deep requires more than food distribution—it requires creating space for residents to lead. That is the vision driving Second Harvest Food Bank’s work in East Greensboro, supported through a grant from Feeding America's Food Security Impact Fund.
Launched in 2023 with an initial round of funding and strengthened with renewed investment in 2024, this work continues today in 2025—building momentum through new cohorts of leaders, expanded programming, and broader collaboration.
“The goal is to address the root causes of food insecurity and affect long-term change in personal, family, and community stability,” says Nikki McCormick, Vice President of Partnerships & Impact at Second Harvest. “That means not telling people what we think they need, but equipping them with the tools to achieve their own self-identified goals.”
This approach has guided Second Harvest’s community engagement work for the past six years. Instead of offering prescriptive programs, the Food Bank has focused on building trust and supporting neighbors in leading the way.
The Community Leadership Academy and Personal Development Curriculum
At the heart of this work is the Community Leadership Academy (CLA), led by True Salvation Christian Fellowship. The CLA offers professional development workshops designed and taught by neighborhood experts—covering topics like civic participation, community organizing, and practical responses to difficult experiences.
Since its first graduation in 2023, the program has grown steadily. Additional cohorts have followed, and graduates remain connected through an ongoing network that continues to lift up community voices.
Complementing the CLA is the Personal Development Curriculum, which provides enrichment opportunities such as financial literacy, CPR training, gardening skills, and healthy cooking.
“It’s a brainchild of True Salvation,” says Renai Wisley, Resident Engagement Manager at Second Harvest. “Folks are learning practical skills that can change their lives—skills they asked for and said they needed.”
Investing in the Next Generation
Alongside these initiatives, Turning Everything Around leads a Teen Program that equips young Black women with mentorship, leadership skills, and role models. Older girls mentor younger ones, while successful women from the community share their journeys.
Since its launch, the program has served multiple groups of young women, with some former mentees now stepping into mentorship roles themselves—a powerful sign of its growing impact.
“Second Harvest and Turning Everything Around are working together to challenge the notion that Black girls from low-income communities have no way out,” Wisley explains.
“We are showing them the traits it takes to become successful businesswomen and community leaders.”
A Broader Vision for Change
Already, these efforts are sparking transformation. CLA participants have traveled to Raleigh to meet elected officials and learn firsthand how decisions are made at the state level.
Graduates are beginning to lead in creative ways, blending passion with purpose.
“What excites me,” says Wisley, “is the possibilities that digging deeper into root causes allows us as a food bank and as a community accomplice. Some people used to think of us as just a place to get a food box. Now, through partnerships and programs like these, we’re showing that we’re so much more.”
Greensboro’s history reminds us that progress is never easy, but it is always possible when communities take the lead. Today, this work continues—new cohorts, new leaders, and new partnerships are building on the foundation laid in 2023 and 2024, shaping an even stronger future for East Greensboro.
Looking Ahead: Small Grants, Big Impact
The work in East Greensboro is part of a larger movement—neighbors leading neighbors toward healthier, more food-secure communities. Through our Food Security Small Grants Program, also supported by the multi-year grant from Feeding America and other donations, Second Harvest is investing in grassroots leaders whose creativity and commitment are transforming lives in powerful ways.
In the months ahead, we’ll introduce you to some of these local changemakers:
A church program helping seniors stay active and connected.
A day center training caregivers in skills that strengthen families.
A community leader guiding families to discover fresh, whole foods.
A grower cultivating not only vegetables, but also opportunity.
Stay tuned for these stories—and more—about how small grants can spark big change when placed in the hands of neighbors who know their communities best.
