New Hanover County Community Endowment leaders defend priorities, open door to future homeless shelter proposal

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY-TV) — The leadership of the New Hanover Community Endowment says it is pleased with how its semiannual public meeting unfolded Wednesday night, despite concerns from residents about several recent funding decisions.

The endowment did not take questions from the media during the meeting, but Board Chair Shannon Winslow and President Sophie Dagenais spoke with WWAY on Thursday.

Winslow and Dagenais said they felt the meeting successfully communicated the organization’s values and priorities to the public.

Residents raised questions on a range of topics during the meeting, including the endowment’s recent commitment of up to $116 million to New Hanover County Schools and the decision to withdraw funding from the proposed Northside Food Co-op, a project intended to address food access concerns in Wilmington’s Northside community.

Dagenais acknowledged concerns surrounding the school funding commitment and questions about how the endowment supports people living in poverty.

“At the end of the day, set that grant aside and look at our 421 grants year to date now since inception, 99 percent of them, have targeted exactly those populations, it’s the work,” Dagenais said.

The discussion comes about a week after Mayor Bill Saffo said he planned to seek support from the endowment for the creation of a new low- to no-barrier homeless shelter in Wilmington.

Dagenais said the endowment would be willing to consider such a proposal if local partners bring forward a plan.

“There are root causes of homelessness sometimes they intersect with housing affordability but not always and we’ve invested in both of those areas and we’ll listen and when the time is right for our partners to come to us with and idea we will work with them,” Dagenais said.

Since its creation, the endowment has awarded more than 420 grants and committed more than $310 million in funding, according to organization leaders.

Tune into WWAY News on Friday evening for the endowment’s response to concerns about food access in Wilmington’s Northside neighborhood following the loss of funding for the food co-op project last year.