This year hundreds of ONE Wake leaders organized a grassroots listening campaign that engaged 2,000 members of our communities in the spring to identify the top pressures and new priorities for our organization, and together formed five Research Action Teams supported by over 120 volunteers to turn our new priorities into tangible, winnable issues. Two of these teams (Cary Housing Team and Public Transportation Team) led our organization into two public actions this fall with a combined turnout of more than 700 people, during which we won commitments from candidates for local office in Cary and Zebulon which total over $12 million in new and continued investment for affordable housing and public transportation.

(See pictures from our Cary candidate assembly here, and our Zebulon candidate assembly here)

Also this fall, ONE Wake's remaining three Research Action Teams have all developed new issue proposals to lead ONE Wake into action next year to address the lack of a permanent White Flag facility in Wake County for residents experiencing homelessness; rising energy cost burden; and barriers to mental health resources. These issue proposals were reviewed by ONE Wake's Strategy Team on December 5, and will ultimately be submitted for ratification by the ONE Wake membership during our Annual Meeting on March 7 (please register in advance here).

Additionally, ONE Wake leaders have begun to explore a potential transformative campaign to bring at-scale affordable homeownership to Wake County, based on a very successful model (Nehemiah Housing) pioneered by our sister organization East Brooklyn Congregations which has led to the creation of 6,500 affordable homeownership units that have generated over $1.5 billion in equity for first time African American and Latino homeowners (watch a recent CBS Sunday morning segment on this initiative here). This has involved an inter-city trip to New York with 30 faith leaders, elected officials, and staff in August; a clergy meeting in September; and a 100+ person internal conversation hosted recently at Watts Chapel MBC in late November (pictures on our Facebook here).

We end the year poised to move into action across Wake County in 2024. Our strategy for the spring includes leveraging the spring budget processes in local municipalities and Wake County to advance our issue agenda. All ONE Wake members and supporters are invited to join us at our March annual meeting to hear the new issue proposals from our Research Action Teams, and action proposals for this spring. You can register in advance here.

It's been a big year! THANK YOU for your time, talent, and energy that you have invested making change through ONE Wake. Another THANK YOU goes out to all of the donors who have invested in ONE Wake through a one time or recurring donation this fall. You can join them by making a gift here.