Nonprofit CommunityWorx faces foreclosure

In June, nonprofit CommunityWorx announced that they are facing foreclosure on their two properties on West Main Street in Carrboro.

CommunityWorx was originally founded in 1952 by the Chapel Hill Art Guild to provide funding for arts education in the area. Its thrift shop later provided funding to the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools District Parent Teacher Association, subsequently becoming the PTA Thrift Shop. In 2019, the nonprofit rebranded to CommunityWorx after a decline in funds being given from the shop to the CHCCS PTA.

Barbara Jessie-Black, president of CommunityWorx, said revenue lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic is the main cause of their current financial situation. She said their six-month closure during the pandemic forced them to sell their additional Chapel Hill location to save on costs, and that they also lost one of their tenants, CHCCS, who did not have the funds to pay for their second floor office space due to the pandemic.

“The financial challenges really stem from not having the appropriate revenue due to unforeseen challenges,” she said.

Jessie-Black said they are early on in the foreclosure process, and they are still not sure of what is to come.

“We’re moving along at a rate where, as information becomes available to us, we can share,” she said. “Fidelity [Bank] initiated the foreclosure proceedings and we are now kind of in that sort of early stage, we're waiting for more official notification.” She said that the official notification will let them know how to proceed. 

The nonprofit is in the process of starting a fundraising campaign with the goal of collecting approximately $4.4 million. Jessie-Black said donations from both private citizens and their partner organizations have been coming in since they initially announced the foreclosure.

“It's just been really sweet to see some donors that we haven't seen before, but who've been in the community and who've shopped with us and donated merchandise, who — when they saw the newsletter — said ‘oh gosh, how can I help from a financial perspective?’” she said. 

Jessie-Black said they are in the process of reaching out to local governments for investment or support. Jon Hartman-Brown, Carrboro's economic development director, said he notified CommunityWorx of Carrboro’s revolving loan fund, which can provide them a maximum of 80,000 dollars.

Both the main CommunityWorx building and the adjacent YouthWorx on Main nonprofit building were put up for sale last year, and they will sell the two properties if they can't reach their goal for the fundraiser. Jessie-Black said that any buyer must hold their values and retain their current tenants.

There are currently nine nonprofit organizations located in the YouthWorx building, including the Youth Mentoring Collaborative, Musical Empowerment and the Refugee Community Partnership.

Ash Nuckols, development and communications manager for Community Refugee Project, said the YouthWorx building is an important space for the various local refugee communities that the group assists. They said it uses the building for member events and to hold meetings with community service partners.

“A lot of our work is in person and place-based, so we are a safe space for a lot of these communities who don't feel safe in a lot of different parts of Chapel Hill,” Nuckols said.

They said the group has also used the second floor of the main CommunityWorx building as a pop-up dental clinic for refugee families who are unable to go to a practice due to the language barrier and or lack of insurance coverage.

“Members were able to come right here, to a site that they already trust, because this is where we have our gatherings and our meals and get access to the oral health care that they needed,” Nuckols said.

Nuckols said the organization has discussed looking for new locations it could rent, but has yet to begin the process.

“We're still hoping that there's going to be a path to staying here,” they said. “This has been our home.”

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