About this Event

Join us to hear from Evan Raleigh, Director of the Winston Salem Office of Business Inclusion and Advancement, who will present the findings of the city’s Poverty Thought Force. Light snacks and wine will be served.

In 2014 more than 24 percent of the citizens in Winston-Salem lived in poverty, based on their household income. These residents cannot provide themselves with adequate medical care, education, housing, food, and other resources.

However, the consequences of poverty impact everyone: social workers, employers, church-goers and church staffs, law enforcement officers and court officials, teachers, students and school staffs, employees of local government, merchants, lenders – everyone.

The Winston-Salem Poverty Thought Force is a communitywide collaboration spearheaded by the city of Winston-Salem to identify steps both feasible and impactful to reduce the number of residents living in poverty.

The Poverty Thought Force was formed in October 2015 and comprises 22 members representing a broad range of Winston-Salem’s civic and academic institutions. The Poverty Thought Force has five subcommittees that focus on various aspects of poverty:

Health and Wellness
Housing and Homelessness
Jobs and Workforce Development
Education and Life Skills
Hunger and Food Insecurity.

To ensure the broadest possible input into their work, the Poverty Thought Force used the world café method to gather information and ideas from the public and from people who work in these areas.

The Poverty Thought Force will took the information and ideas harvested from these world cafés and came up with a list of 56 policy recommendations, spread across its five focus areas.

Learn more and read the full report at: http://www.povertythoughtforce.com/

About Evan Raleigh:
Evan has worked in municipal government for several years and currently serves as the Director of the City of Winston-Salem’s Office of Business Inclusion and Advancement. As director, Evan is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the department’s two divisions: Small Business Development and Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise. In addition to his regular management responsibilities, Evan works closely with the Offices of the Mayor and City Manager to lead a variety of special initiatives including the mayor’s efforts to combat the city’s growing poverty rate.

Prior to joining the City of Winston-Salem, Evan completed his Master of Public Policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. In addition to his degree from the Ford School, Evan is a proud “Double Deacon” holding both a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Arts in Management from Wake Forest University.

Evan is actively involved in the community and serves as a board member for several local non-profit organizations including the United Way of Forsyth County, Leadership Winston-Salem and Financial Pathways of the Piedmont. Evan also serves on the Wake Forest University Alumni Council and is a member of the Master of Arts in Management Advisory Board for the Wake Forest University Schools of Business. A native of Greensboro, NC, Evan and his wife Cierra currently reside in Winston-Salem, NC.