[ad_1]
After 20 years as the CEO, Floyd Davis is retiring from Community Link. Davis will leave his role with the organization at the end of December this year.
In an interview with QCity Metro, Davis said he think it’s time for him to step aside and allow for new leadership.
Even though Davis is retiring, he’s spent years planning for succession and said he plans to be accessible to help his successor “in any way” the person might need.
“I’m not riding off into the sunset,” he said.
Free Newsletter
Stay informed with news and events that impact Charlotte’s Black communities.
“I think we got a bunch of smart people in this town,” he said. “And I think we can come up with some good solutions that will help Charlotte continue to stride and grow as a healthy community,” said Davis.
QCity Metro met with Davis to reflect on his time as CEO of Community Link and ask what comes next. Check out what he had to say.
Answers are edited for brevity and clarity.
I’m on the board of directors of the Better Business Bureau. I’m on the board of directors and treasurer of Traveler’s Aid International and a member of the Charlotte Rotary Club. I’m also an officer at First Presbyterian Church., so I will have things to entertain me. I will still be active and available to my successor when she feels she wants to consult with me.
I know it’s lonely at the top. There are issues that you have to wrestle with that you can’t talk to your board about yet. I want to be there to be a sounding board for her and those types of situations.
I learned back in 2000 that there was $6 million of unclaimed Earned Income Tax Credit here in Mecklenburg County, and primarily in two zip codes, 28208 and 28206. And that lit a fire under me. I had some conversations with the IRS, which led to us starting what we call today VTA, volunteer income tax assistance.
We realize that a lot of people that we deal with only have earned income. They don’t have any investments and so forth. When they go to a for-profit tax preparer, they’re charged $250 or $300 to do the simple tax return. They need that money to help with housing for themselves and their families.
Hopefully, the organization is positioned to live out its mission, enabling individuals and families to obtain and sustain safe, decent, and affordable housing. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do over the last 20 years but there’s a lot more work to be done in this area and for this region. We can’t only look at the city of Charlotte or Cabarrus County. We’ve also got to look at the surrounding counties where the opportunity for affordable housing development is available.
I wish we, as a region, and as a city in the county, could have done a better job of forecasting the headwinds that we will be facing in terms of housing. [I wish we] had some strategies to deal with it before we found ourselves in a crisis situation like we are in today.
I realized that there’s a balance between being open to developers’ and investors’ wishes and what things need to be in place to have a healthy, thriving community.
I think we’ve gotten to a place here in Charlotte where we realize that we need to have that balance. From my perspective, it would have been much better if we had realized that 10 years ago and prepared.
[ad_2]
Source link