When NC CIVIL first cut the ribbon on our home office at 800 W. 5th Street in the heart of West Greenville, we knew that we were moving into a suite of offices with a long legacy of current and historical community servant-leaders who have called this place the headquarters for their efforts. Inside the building, the faces of well-known leaders from our community’s rich past, including Gaston Monk, D.D. Garrett, and others fill pictures on the walls of the shotgun-style hallway where the office doors now give access to the the current host of nonprofit leaders working for local impact. Conversations with the building’s owner and landlord, Arthur Wallace (Mr. Art), a talk that is always warm, authentic, and educational, has often included stories of the work that took place in the times past of this building’s history. Those storie included many honorable mentions of the incomparable Mrs. Barbara Fenner.
Even though I grew up in West Greenville and attended school with her daughter, it is through Mr. Art that I learned that my newly acquired office was once her office. Now that we’ve been in the building for 6 years, my learning of her works in the community has only grown and I’m sure that I still don’t know the half. But in the wake of her untimely death this past December 29th 2022 and in remembrance of her on today, which would have marked her 80th birthday, I want to share the small proportion of her work that I have learned of with hope that it blesses and our community in her wake.
Mrs. Barbara was a trailblazer who worked with passion, purpose, vision, technical skill, an informed world view, and a deep understanding of the social conditions of the black community in America (and of course in West Greenville). She was the founder and director of the West Greenville Community Development Corporation, which was responsible for the construction of some of the only newer housing units that we see today in the Greenville Heights and surrounding neighborhoods of West Greenville. She was an educator and owner/operator of a book store once located in downtown Greenville and herself very well read. She was an organizer within the social worker community, helping to promote equality and opportunity for black social workers. She cultivated local and statewide partnerships through her work that garnered various resources for our community, including a nonprofit partnership with the NC Department of Labor in their IDA program, designed to help low-wealth individuals build financial assets through the startup of new businesses, post-secondary educational investments or the purchase of a home. She also operated an AmeriCorps VISTA program, which sponsored paid opportunities for volunteerism and capacity-building in the local community.
What stands out the most to me about her life’s legacy is how greatly needed the presence of people like her are in towns and in times that desperately require progressive spirits who are open to collaboration and yet still firmly upheld against the many social forces that can so easily curb progress. One very prominent elder of our community, who was also working for progress during those times when Mrs. Barbara was in action recounts their experience with her, sharing that they had come up against so many challenges and barriers that they had decided to move away in search of a more progressive community. It was meeting Mrs. Barbara and being challenged by her asking, “why would you have such a vision and talent for driving progress and then take that vision and talent to a place where you know it already exists, instead of being a part of the work to grow progress in the communities that obviously so desperately need it”? As this individual shares this story with me and i think of how much this person has helped me in my journey of service, I consider what might have happened if Mrs. Barbara was not here to inspire and challenge this person and others?
So, it is this spirit that I hope to honor in sharing this with the community on Mrs. Barbara’s 80th birthday – 1st posthumous birthday. I am also including a short snippet of some recorded audio footage from our last conversation, where she met embraced me and team of new trainees who were accompanying me on a day of canvassing in the community. I take no pleasure in saying that she was one of the few community elders who I truly felt like embraced me, showed how proud she was of me, and cheered on young people growing in local leadership. While she will truly be missed, her impact will most certainly always be felt.
In loving memory of Mrs. Barbara Brockett Fenner and with love to the Brockett-Fenner family!
from Jermaine McNair, the NC CIVIL family, and the entire West Greenville community.
We will keep pushing for progress, ma’am. Happy heavenly birthday.
