Last year, when we reported that no one had filed for the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools Board of Education, we were delighted by the response. Almost twenty members of our community stepped up to serve on the board, any one of whom would have been terrific, and we elected three new members, along with […]
Posted inAffordable Housing, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill Town Council
Chapel Hill Town Council has some big decisions to make on housing
Back in September, the previous Council approved an impressive affordable housing strategy, which included not only lofty goals for housing development and preservation, but an investment plan to make sure we can pay for the affordable units we all say we want. Now, the current Council will have a chance to show its commitment to […]
Posted inElection 2024, Elections, Orange County
Endorsement guide for NC Democrats: 2024 school board, county commissioner and state-level races
Early voting starts tomorrow for the March 5, 2024 elections. In Orange County, we’ll be voting in the primary for federal, state, and county offices. Voters in Orange County outside of Chapel Hill and Carrboro will also vote for School Board candidates for Orange County Schools and for County Commissioner. Only contested races appear on […]
Posted inChapel Hill, Chapel Hill Town Council, Downtown, Economic development, Small business
Chapel Hill recently awarded grants to help 3 businesses stay downtown
In January, the Town of Chapel Hill announced that it made grants to three business as part of its Downtown Small Business Relocation Grant Program. The grant program is targeted at for-profit and rent-paying downtown businesses facing imminent displacement due to redevelopment. The town, which was criticized by Adam Searing and others during the 2023 […]
Posted inChapel Hill, From the archives, Housing
We’re mapping Chapel Hill’s Black population and land ownership loss – and we need your help.
Two facts have been swirling in my head since I first heard them: that Chapel Hill’s Black population share plummeted between 1960 and 1980, and there’s been a 32 percent decrease in Black homeownership in Chapel Hill since 2010. Mike Ogle’s Stonewalls blog traces Chapel Hill’s Black population decline, using John K. (Yonni) Chapman’s dissertation […]
Posted inChapel Hill, From the archives, Housing
Northside: How did this historically Black neighborhood in Chapel Hill develop?
The areas of African-American landownership that date furthest back are around Caldwell Street, on the east side of Church Street. That land was bought in 1879 by a man who grew up enslaved, Wilson Caldwell (a well known historical figure whom you can google for more information). His descendants developed the lots in yellow above […]