Men seek funds for communities
By Busta Brown
“Look at our people in the underserved areas of East Winston-Salem; they work hard like everyone else, yet don’t make a lot of money. So they’re late paying bills and then 25 percent of their disposable income is going to penalties for late payments because you’re poor. That takes a toll on you,” said James Grace.
Bill McClain added, “Most of the kids in East Winston go to Title 1 schools, and only 6 percent of those students are above average, and the district was 24 percent. In the 2015-16 school year, 33 of the 72 schools in Forsyth County received grades D or F. And guess where they’re located? East Winston-Salem. Busta it’s going to take money to fix this.”
James Grace is a businessman and the founder of “The 20.” McClain is the vice president. The 20 is an organization of local leaders and businessmen that find financial resources to help the underserved communities increase better education, homeownership, help build small businesses, and support supplier diversity, by spending the money with minority-owned businesses to strengthen our communities.
McClain and Grace went to a National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) meeting in Washington, D.C. with other leaders and businesses to speak with banks that have a marketing budget of $3.95 billion to commitment to the underserved communities for development.
“We can get some of that money to fix our communities, but we have to come together with a concise plan. These banks are not going to give us millions of dollars if we’re not organized,” said McClain, who is the executive director for The Guiding Institute for Developmental Education Inc. (GIDE), a nonprofit in Winston-Salem.
“The 20 is looking for the best minds we got to join us and work together on a solid plan.” The 20’s founder, James Grace, added, “What they’ve done is set aside billions of dollars that we can have access to, but we have to remember that these are banks, and they’re not going to relax their criteria, so we have to come correct.”
The 20 is looking for of the best and brightest minds who have a passion for making our underserved communities bigger, better and stronger. If that’s you, call the organization’s vice president, Bill McClain, at (336) 602-0565 or send an email to bill.tcewp@gmail.com.
