What to know as Fayetteville moves forward with Murchison Road community center partnership
Fayetteville City Council officially approved a partnership with a local nonprofit Monday night to manage a future community center on Murchison Road.
The center will bring programming aimed at Fayetteville’s youth through a partnership with the nonprofit Way2Real, established in 2021, according to documents submitted to the City Council.
Way2Real, whose offerings include crime prevention programs, career opportunities, tutoring and counseling services, will lease the community center space for at least 20 years, with the city paying for the cost of the building, according to a presentation last month by Chris Cauley, the city’s director of economic and community development. As part of its agreement with the city, Way2Real will also face regular monitoring from city staff, Cauley said.
The $1 million cost for the community center will come from American Rescue Plan Act money, Cauley said last month.
More on the community center: Fayetteville's Murchison Road community center could offer 'crucial' services for youth
“Staff is recommending a partnership with this organization to provide a variety of services within the target community aimed at youth diversion and community mental health,” Cauley wrote in a Sept. 11 memorandum to the City Council.
Way2Real has suggested 2400 Murchison Road, the now-vacant former home of Christ Cathedral Church, as the future space for the community center, Cauley told the council last month. Century 21's commercial real estate website lists the two-story, 10,000-square-foot building for $699,000.
Tony Haire, the founder of Way2Real, said Wednesday that he is excited to bring the nonprofit to Murchison Road, having grown up in the area before graduating from E.E. Smith High School and Fayetteville State University. Way2Real is overseen by an eight-member board of directors, according to Cauley's memo. Haire is the cousin of Councilman D.J. Haire.
"When we do this right, we'll become a model for other counties and other cities that want to do this," he said. "I know that our young people have so much more to offer than what we're getting from them."
Haire said he owns and works as a consultant for C-REP Behavioral Health which provides in-home therapy and support to at-risk youth and their families.
"We work with youth who display physical aggression, verbal aggression, poor academic performance, anxiety, depression — the normal behaviors that lead to out-of-school suspension or destructive behavior in the community," he said.
Haire said he plans to bring one of the 25 individuals, businesses and government agencies that work with Way2Real into the community center each week, encouraging them to work from the center instead of from their typical offices.
"I just believe in people," he said. "The greatest product ever known to man is people."
Haire encouraged community members interested in volunteering for Way2Real or partnering with the center to contact him at 919-235-8451.
"We want everyone's help," he said. "We have to do this together. I can't do this by myself. I need all the help that I can get."
Government watchdog reporter Lexi Solomon can be reached at ABSolomon@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville approves Murchison Road community center partnership
