Kevin Mauer, the Director of Community Engagement for the
Cape Fear Collective, on Wilmington s Creekwood neighborhood, and a joint project with WHQR to help bring the voices of residents forward to tell the story of a complicated and misunderstood community.
Links for this episode:
You can find details of North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein s new requirements for the $1.25 billion New Hanover Community Endowment
Find the latest, as of broadcast, on the the school reopening process from WHQR reporter Rachel Keith
The Newsroom, which will first air this Friday, February 5th.
The Newsroom will air at noon on the first Friday of every month and will be rebroadcast on the following Sunday at 1pm on HQR News 91.3fm.
Hosted by Ben Schachtman, Managing Editor of HQR News, the program will be an opportunity for local officials and reporters the people who make news and the people who report it to talk about the issues that affect our community. According to host Ben Schachtman, Our goal is to have candid, in-depth conversations about the topics that concern our listeners. It will be a chance to dig a little deeper into the news.
âWhen are they going to be handing out the money?â
Word of the sale and its financial flood has understandably excited those working in the area’s philanthropic sphere.
From whispers to public chatter, community leaders are eagerly awaiting updates from the endowment with open hands.
“I think thereâs been a lot of speculation from nonprofits about, well, âWhen are they going to be handing out the money?â” Hannah Gage, the endowment’s co-chair, said. “First of all, we donât have the money. Thatâs outside of our control.”
If the sale does close Feb. 1 as expected, the endowment will receive $1.2 billion of the $1.9 billion in cash Novant is paying for the county-owned health care system, immediately making the newly formed foundation one of the largest nonprofit philanthropic organizations in North Carolina.
NEW HANOVER COUNTY When $1.25 billion in public assets changes hands to
a private group in New Hanover County as a result of the sale of the county-owned hospital, the intent of the transaction is that money will stay within county limits.
Outside of an anticipated regulatory review, the deal is done. Still, some regional leaders in surrounding, rural counties are asking: Did we get left out of the deal?
Related:
The possibility the county took an overly insular approach to setting up the private benefactor of the public assets, New Hanover County Community Endowment, Inc., means residents that live outside the county line may not directly benefit from this aspect of the sale. As a county-owned hospital, there’s no doubt New Hanover County deserves the overwhelming bulk of sale proceeds.