Discussion during town hall touches on education, crime
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on February 28, 2017 10:10 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Jermaine Dawson speaks during a meeting Monday night at Resurrection of Goldsboro to discuss issues in the city and what people can do to help. Dawson and mayor pro tem Bevin Foster organized the meeting, bringing local community members together with several leaders.
Resurrection of Goldsboro at 2419 E. Ash St. hosted a town hall forum Monday night to address ongoing issues in the community.
It was organized by husband and wife team Jermaine and Nicolette Dawson.
Around 30 people attended, discussing issues surrounding education, crime, how money is spent in the community and more.
Dawson said part of the reason the town hall was organized was to gauge the community's interest in that type of event, and whether or not people would come out to talk about issues.
Dawson added that the end goal of the town hall session was to get the ball rolling on unifying the community and bringing people together.
Mayor Pro Tem Bevan Foster was on hand to listen to people's concerns and then take them to the Goldsboro City Council.
Foster spoke at the beginning and end of the meeting, sharing with the audience things the council set as goals for this year, including creating 40 youth summer jobs.
In those summer jobs, youths ages 14 to 18 will be able to meet with mentors. If a child wants to become a doctor, then the child will be able to meet and work with doctors, Foster said.
Foster said the council is also urging the local police force to ramp up community policing efforts.
Additionally, the council is working to hold people throughout the city accountable as well as working on ways to unify the community.
During the town hall, several people spoke about pressing local issues.
Lashawnda Perkins, who has been with Wayne County Public Schools for a number of years, spoke on issues facing education.
She stressed the importance of public education and touched on problems within the system that need to be rectified.
"Public education promotes a promise of equal educational opportunities no matter where you come from, what color your race is and your background," Perkins said. "It also commits to high standards and expectations for the students."
Perkins stressed the importance of diversity in schools, and said not all of the roughly 33 schools in Wayne County are diverse.
Perkins also spoke on the importance of parental involvement with children's education, saying many parents are not involved at the middle and high school level unless their child is playing sports.
Perkins was followed by Bobby Harvey, a local entrepreneur who owns a local moving company.
Harvey spoke on unity and the need for community to come together to take action and do more than simply complain about ongoing issues.
"What is the community going to do to fix itself up?" Harvey said. "If everybody here is so fed up with what's going on, what are you going to do about it?"
Harvey touched on a point raised by an audience member about vocational programs being removed from Goldsboro High School.
He said if that is going to be the case, there are electricians, carpenters and others with trades that can take on mentees and teach them their craft.
He also touched on the need for communities to police themselves, because the police can only do but so much.
"What are we going to do -- not what are they going to do -- to help our own community?" Harvey said.
Harvey was followed by Ja'Shawn Faire, a local youth who co-founded an organization called Impact Teens.
Impact Teens is a youth-led, non-profit created with the goal of making more teenage leaders in Goldsboro.
The organization was recently recognized by the Goldsboro City Council, Faire said.
Myelle Thompson, who made a bid to be Goldsboro's mayor in 2015, also spoke about several upcoming events in the community.
The audience asked questions of those who spoke throughout the night, raising issues ranging from the city's crime rate to how money is spent at the local and state level.
Dawson said more town halls will be held in the future since there was much interest and strong involvement in the first one. No date has been set for the next town hall meeting.