🧵 In Today’s Edition

1. After a rough year, the Interactive Resource Center names its new director.
2. The new Elon University Poll shows bipartisan concern over the possibility that President Donald Trump will prompt a constitutional crisis.
3. Plus, What We’re Reading.

Bennita Curtain, the new executive director of the Interactive Resource Center. Photo: Gale Melcher for The Thread.

Interactive Resource Center Names New Executive Director

After nearly six months as interim leader of the Interactive Resource Center, the organization announced Bennita Curtain as executive director on Tuesday.

Curtain took the helm at the IRC, a downtown day center for those experiencing homelessness, in November following the resignation of Kristina Singleton. The IRC’s board of directors unanimously voted to offer Curtain the permanent role, according to board chair Jim King.

“This is a day that we’ve been working toward for several months now,” said King.

King said Curtain “has done an exemplary job leading the IRC back to its core mission, ensuring that individuals experiencing homelessness have access to the resources, safety, and supportive community they deserve.”

She has proactively met with community leaders and residents to strengthen partnerships and build trust, he said.

At a Tuesday morning press conference, Curtain took the podium with a bright smile and confident energy to a round of supportive applause.

The shift in leadership follows a rough period for the organization.

The IRC’s original mission was a day center operation, where members of the city’s unhoused community could congregate in a safe location and have access to services such as mail, bathrooms, and showers. Under this model, the center saw relatively few incidents of violence and or calls to 9/11.

In January 2024, the organization started offering services 24/7. Need badly outpaced resources and there were more disturbances, incidents of violence. Last year’s 9/11 calls peaked at 3,400. After pushback from nearby business owners as well as the city, the IRC scaled back in November by returning to its original day center model and operating between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. 

The difference was immediate. With the shortened hours and under Curtain’s leadership, 911 calls plummeted from 330 in October to 101 in November, and continued to fall to 47 calls in December. From January to March, there were 104 total calls.

During the last six months, the IRC has offered resources like workforce programs and a mobile health unit return, along with a new meditation program. They’ll add even more soon, IRC leaders said.

“The thing that made the IRC is listening to our guests,” said Curtain, “They’re the ones who are experiencing this every day.” The organization will partner with a law firm to set up a legal clinic for their guests, Curtain said. The organization will soon announce the name of the firm, she said. 

“That is so needed for our community,” Curtain said, “We know the disparities they’ve faced, and so we’re really excited about that. Those are the types of resources that we want to see here.”

The organization’s board is confident in Curtain’s ability to navigate the financial uncertainties ahead, King said—especially as the federal and state funding landscape continues to shift.

Curtain also issued a call for more support.

“We need your funds,” she said. “Right now, we’re probably behind about $200,000 that we really need, and we’re trying to look at how we’re going to continue on through this next fiscal year without that.”

“That’s one of the things that we really want to be clear on with our community,” Curtain said.

“I think everyone appreciates transparency,” she said. “I know I do, and one of the ways that I lead is with transparency and compassion.”

— Gale Melcher

Thanks for reading The Thread, a 3x week newsletter written by Greensboro editor Joe Killian and reporters Sayaka Matsuoka and Gale Melcher. Reach us with tips or ideas at greensboro@theassemblync.com.

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(Photo: Travis Dove for The Assembly)

Elon Poll: Americans Concerned About Constitutional Crisis

Three months into President Donald Trump’s second administration, Americans across the political spectrum say they’re concerned about a constitutional crisis, according to the latest Elon University Poll.

The poll, released last week, showed two-thirds of respondents (67%) are very or somewhat concerned that the executive branch and judicial branches may reach a point where neither side will back down, creating a crisis over who has the final say on an issue. Among Democrats, 88% said they were concerned about a constitutional crisis. That number was 61% among Independents and 51% among Republicans.

“[Trump] has definitely pulled together a unique, broad-scale coalition,” said Jason Husser, director of the Elon Poll. “But he doesn’t control how they think when it comes to what they think about fundamental parts of American governance.”

Read the full story here.

                                                                                                                            — Joe Killian

What We’re Reading

Sit-In Lunch Counter Not Leaving The Smithsonian: Last week, the website BlackPressUSA reported Trump administration orders to remove  “improper ideology” from The Smithsonian meant officials were “sending back exhibit items to their rightful owners and dismantling them — starting with the 1960 Woolworth’s lunch counter sit-in exhibit.” That report was false, according to officials from the Smithsonian and Greensboro’s own International Civil Rights Center & Museum, now located in the old Woolworth’s building downtown. The misinformation spread quickly online, but the News & Observer has the fact-check.

A Tale of Two Mascots: UNCG was once North Carolina’s first state-supported women’s school and Minerva, the Goddess of Wisdom and Justice, was the school’s mascot and defining symbol. But almost as soon as the school went co-educational in 1963, administrators worried male students—then and for many years the vast minority on campus—would find Minerva “too feminine.” Her image was redesigned to be more gender ambiguous, and by 1967, when the men’s basketball team played its first game, “The Spartan” was introduced as a new mascot. Warriors of Sparta—a Greek city state at odds with Minerva’s Roman origins—were male, but Minerva and The Spartan have been twin icons of the university ever since. The UNCG Magazine has the story.

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Joe Killian is The Assembly's Greensboro editor. He joined us from NC Newsline, where he was senior investigative reporter. He spent a decade at The News & Record covering cops and courts, higher education, and government.

Gale is a Report for America corps member and Greensboro-based reporter for The Assembly. She previously covered local government and community issues for Triad City Beat. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from N.C. State University.