Community Link CEO to retire. Under his watch, thousands in NC found a real home.
Two decades ago, when Floyd Davis Jr. took the helm at Community Link, finding affordable housing for thousands of Mecklenburg County residents was not without its challenges.
The then-73- year-old nonprofit had noble ambition with modest resources: Bringing the masses safe, decent and affordable housing.
And back then affordable housing stock was mostly available. It was easier to assist homeless persons and the working class. But Charlotte had an economic boom, with several factors impacting available housing, causing supply to dwindle and prices to skyrocket.
“We’ve seen a dramatic increase over the last couple of years,” Davis, the CEO, told The Charlotte Observer Monday. “We’re dealing with people who are working in the service sector. With wages not going up and prices and costs of housing and food escalating, (it) puts much more pressure on them, to figure out ... how to survive.”
There is more to accomplish for Davis, but the 79-year-old says he’s ready to retire and will step down Dec. 31.
With more than five decades in the nonprofit sector, Davis’ legacy at Community Link claims expansion into 16 North Carolina counties and service to some 25,000 families and individuals — including thousands who became homeowners. His deputy, vice president and COO, Tameka Gunn assumes the top role Jan. 1.
Davis will keep a hand in the game, shepherding Community Link’s division focused on building homes for veterans and first-time homeowners.
“I’ll continue to serve on boards. I’m an officer at my church and I’m in the Charlotte Rotary Club,” Davis said. “I’m going to be busy.”
In 2002, fresh from leading the United Way in Winston-Salem, Davis joined Community Link, becoming the first African American to lead the nonprofit since its 1929 start. Among what interested him, he learned Community Link’s board had plans to move into the Children and Family Services Center building.
Still in its infancy at the time, CFSC was flush with new money and investment with private and public sector partnerships. Davis saw an opportunity: Foster consolidation between both nonprofits. It would mean gaining badly needed support for Community Link with technology, accounting and human resources. Before sharing costs, Community Link operated out of a small schoolhouse.
“It gave us the capacity to really focus on on expanding geographically,” Davis said. The 93-year-old nonprofit now serves customers beyond Mecklenburg County, even communities eastward of Interstate 95.
Davis also help expand the nonprofit’s services, adding financial literary classes, rental assistance, counseling programs to build assets and assistance for first-time homeowners, Rodrick Banks, the nonprofit’s board chairman said in a release.
Another accomplishment Davis touts is bringing diversity within the ranks. Over the years, the customer base at Community Link changed, with 85% today identifying as persons of color.
“We’ve been able to transition our staff to be more reflective of the population that we serve. When I arrived here, that was not to say, the situation,” Davis said. “People of color understand the struggles of our customers. Because in many cases, they have family members who have experienced ... those same issues.”
Davis said the housing market crisis that began in 2008 and lasted for years, with many investors offering “garbage mortgages” to prospective home buyers, has also contributed to a lack of affordable housing.
“Investors who had lost money ... began to realize that they could buy up housing stock, and then turn it into rentals,” Davis said. “Where we find ourselves today, here in Charlotte, we have a large segment of our metro housing, especially single family housing, that’s corporately owned.”
Davis is originally from Baltimore, but has lived in North Carolina for a few decades. His first jobs were in the private sector during the late 1960s — landing a job at IBM in Poughkeepsie, New York after majoring in business and accounting at Norfolk State University.
IBM had a 24-month leave program for employees to do community work in nonprofits. He took a position and loved the work so much, he quit IBM. Afterwards, he took a nonprofit job in Minnesota.
He never looked back to the private sector, going on to build a career at the United Way, serving in New York, Michigan, Florida and later North Carolina.
This story was originally published November 22, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
