Charlotte City Council votes in favor of firefighters, against two local nonprofits

CHARLOTTE, NC — Triumphs for some and tribulations for others. That’s what Monday night’s Charlotte City Council budget meeting brought.

It was a big win for local firefighters. On top of fighting fires, they’ve been fighting with the city to get a 10% salary increase. That would equal the bump in pay that CMPD officers will be getting.

City council voted Monday to give that equitable pay raise instead of the 7% increase proposed weeks ago.

Monday did not go as well for a couple of nonprofits, Prospera and For The Struggle.

Prospera gives bilingual assistance to Hispanic entrepreneurs. For The Struggle helps senior citizens with housing. They also have a youth program for at risk teens.

“Typically we receive $100,000 and that is how I, with that money, I support my staff, ” explained For The Struggle founder, Alesha Brown.

Neither nonprofit made the cut for for initial funding this year based on the city’s grading system. However, city council voted last month to consider still giving them money.

Brown says she was told by city council members they would push for a yes vote for the community investment contingency fund. That didn’t happen. Instead, council members explained it’s out of respect for the process.

City council did vote to recommend Prospera and For The Struggle for the Community Development Block Grant program.

Brown tells WCCB even if they did get that federal grant it wouldn’t even be close to the $100,000 they were up for with the city funding.

“The federal money is literally for home repairs, for us to do more home repairs for senior citizens.
It has nothing to do with the youth program. It has nothing to do with me covering staffing and capacity needs,” explained Brown.