WS Chronicle

Regina Ford Hall, a former program manager with the City of Winston-Salem, has been named executive director of the Boston-Thurmond Community Network, the sustaining arm of the Boston-Thurmond United Community initiative. 

Hall was previously the reintegration and youth development manager with the city, where she directed a former-offender work experience program and coordinated the Winston-Salem Urban Food Policy Council. She has also worked on various city projects during a total of eight years with the city, including community development, hunger awareness and recreation services. Previously, she was district liaison for the 12th U.S. Congressional District, working with former representative Mel Watt. 

Hall started with BTCN on Oct. 11 and replaces Sylvia Oberle, who served in an interim capacity as BTCN executive director during the launching of Boston-Thurmond United. Now part of the Purpose Built Communities network of community revitalization initiatives across the country, Boston-Thurmond United includes both BTCN, which provides the long-term sustainability and resources for the work, and the Boston-Thurmond Community Engagement Roundtable, the resident-leadership organization that develops the vision for the neighborhood and builds capacity for community leadership. 

Hall’s selection was announced by Lilicia Bailey, senior vice president for Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and chair of BTCN’s board of directors. “We are excited to have someone with Regina’s experience and energy, her deep community roots, and commitment to neighborhood revitalization to work with residents and other partners in Boston-Thurmond. We are confident that she has the long-term vision and resourcefulness to help residents create the future they want to see and to make sure it happens.” 

“Being part of creating new opportunities for children and families to live and grow in a safe and thriving neighborhood is one of the things that attracted me to the position,” Hall said. 

“I am honored to serve the Boston-Thurmond community, an area where I work, serve and worship. I am eager to assist residents with the development of strategic goals surrounding education, wellness and revitalization without displacement,” she said. “I learned a lot from the National Purpose Built Conference in Atlanta last month. Now that I’m back from the conference, one of my priorities is to host a neighborhood “meet and greet” to connect with people I know, and to meet people I don’t know. After which, we will host regular community input sessions to develop strategic plans for the area.” 

Hall is a native of Winston-Salem and a graduate of East Forsyth High School and East Carolina University, where she majored in communications. She has a master’s degree in psychology from Virginia State University and will receive a master’s in public administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in December 2019. 

She is on the board of Insight Human Services, serving on the executive committee; a Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce Ambassador; a member of the Family Services Committee for Habitat for Humanity of Forsyth County; and a member of the North Carolina Community Development Association. 

Hall was a recipient of the Winston<40 Leadership Award from the Chamber of Commerce and the East Carolina University 40 Under 40 Award for Public Service, both in 2016. She also participated in Project Blueprint of the United Way of Forsyth County and the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University School of Law. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. 

She is married to DeWayne Hall, a vice president with the State Employees Credit Union. They have one child, Morgan Hall. 

Purpose Built Communities focuses on the intertwining of three separate approaches to community revitalization within a specific neighborhood: quality, mixed-income housing that is affordable and accessible to all; an educational pipeline of excellence from birth through grade 12; and community health and wellness. The separate sustaining organization, sometimes called the community quarterback or backbone organization, is a unique part of the Purpose Built framework, intended as a single-focused organization whose sole purpose is to: 

*Drive the revitalization initiative to make sure the housing, education and community wellness components are successful and sustainable; 

*Ensure that residents in the neighborhood outline their own vision and that they are the ones who are served, first and foremost; 

*Braid together a sustainable funding stream of public and private resources; 

*Serve as a single point of accountability for partners and funders. 

A community meet-and-greet with Regina Hall, resident leaders of the Boston-Thurmond Community Engagement Roundtable, and members of the Boston-Thurmond Community Network is scheduled to take place after the holidays.