Crisis Assistance Ministry closes ‘extraordinary chapter’ as Carol Hardison retires
After 26 years of helping Charlotte-Mecklenburg residents through financial and housing difficulties, Crisis Assistance Ministry CEO Carol Hardison is turning a new page.
The organization announced Hardison’s retirement in a Wednesday press release.
Founded in 1975, Crisis Assistance Ministry assists families in the Charlotte area facing financial hardship. Hardison, the nonprofit’s second-ever CEO, has led Crisis Assistance Ministry through defining moments of instability, helping displaced transplants and Charlotte residents during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Great Recession of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“Over more than two decades, Carol has guided Crisis Assistance Ministry through some of our community’s most transformational and challenging moments,” Edwin Holland, Chairman of the Crisis Assistance Ministry Board of Directors, said in a news release. “She will leave behind a legacy of stability, sustainability and enduring impact.”
Hardison started her current job in 2000 after 18 years at Duke Energy. Even while working for the energy company, Hardison spent her free time volunteering and advocating, she said. When she saw in the newspaper that Crisis Assistance Ministry’s founder Caroline Love Myers would be stepping down, Hardison’s “heart sunk” and her “mind jumped” — she knew this was the job for her.
Over her career, Hardison helped the organization adapt to the rapid growth of the city. When the agency started, the edges of the community it served stretched from Windover to Eastway. But Charlotte’s size and needs have changed, including the cost of transportation, childcare and rent.
To keep up with this growth, Crisis Assistance Ministry expanded its connections under Hardison’s tenure so that people in areas like Pattonville and Davidson can go to local agencies and receive the support of Crisis Assistance Ministry, which is centrally located near NoDa.
“This is a dream job. This is my purpose,” Hardison said. “I don’t feel good sleeping at night in my air-conditioned home with a full belly, including dessert, knowing that just a mile from me someone is sleeping without electricity (or) with fear of losing their home.”
In 2005, Crisis Assistance Ministry partnered with the Red Cross to provide housing to those displaced by Hurricane Katrina. As the country crashed into the Great Recession, the organization developed homelessness prevention plans and helped families stay in their homes. And in 2020, Hardison guided employees to address the needs of families who faced unemployment and homelessness when no coordinated response existed.
Outside these periods of crisis, Hardison also oversaw the organization when it launched formal financial coaching in 2013 and brought together the Financial Security CLT coalition to address system issues including childcare in 2018.
Although Hardison once believed she would stay CEO until she was “6 feet under,” two factors contributed to her decision to retire, she said. When the organization hit its 50th anniversary last year, and Hardison reached her 25th, she got the feeling it might be time to pass the baton to someone else for the next quarter-century. Second, family illness reminded her of the “frailty” of life.
Her retirement “marks an extraordinary chapter in the life” of Crisis Assistance Ministry, Holland said. In retirement, Hardison said she looks forward to spending time in the North Carolina mountains, inspired by a paperweight that sits on her desk that reads, “In the mountains, we do not count the days.”
Hardison will step down after a search committee finds her successor and that person starts. The CEO search will prioritize community engagement to identify qualities most important, a news release said.
The release does not set a deadline for selecting a new CEO, but states Hardison will step down in 2027.
This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 2:51 PM.