Highland Neighborhood Association Newsletters

The City of Gastonia, Kintegra Health and Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services formed the Highland Neighborhood Association to address disparities, including obesity, access to healthy foods and housing affordability, in this low-income, historically African American community.  

• Gaston Business Association: The grant, awarded by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, will fund an upcoming project to showcase art outside the Erwin Center. This project aims to amplify the stories of underrepresented individuals from North Carolina, fostering conversations and opening up new perspectives in historically divided communities.  

• Gaston Gazette: Art can open the door to conversations, and those conversations can be healing. Especially in communities that may have been historically divided. This can open up new perspectives,” said program manager for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation Tiki Windley. 

BUILD and its communities apply bold, upstream, integrated, local, and data-driven (BUILD) approaches to improve health in communities that are adversely affected by upstream factors.

Gastonia’s Director of Housing and Community Engagement Danette Dye said in June that the goal of the research was to, “implement the best and most effective plan to increase the supply of affordable housing and create opportunities for residents to obtain quality, affordable housing,” 

 “Access to nourishing and affordable food should be a right, not a privilege. Highland Neighborhood Association strives to make this attainable for our participants and customers to improve the health outcomes of our community.” 

Gastonia’s urban renewal plan took several decades. It started in earnest in the 70s when the federal government opened up new funding to cities for inner city revitalization.