Habitat Charlotte Region hosted the 2023 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project! From October 1-6, 2023, over 2,100 volunteers from 31 states and numerous countries came together here in Charlotte to build 27 new homes in West Charlotte in the Meadows at Plato Price development and on New Pineola Road. The Carter Work Project not only accelerated the construction of these single family homes by over a year, but allowed Habitat Charlotte Region to bring more national awareness to the ever-growing need for affordable housing.
The event marked the official return of the Carter Work Project after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. We were honored to pick up the hammer from Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville, the host of the 2019 Carter Work Project – and equally as honored to pass the hammer to Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity, who will host the 2024 Carter Work Project.
In its 36-year history, the Carter Work Project has brought people together all over the world to build homes, communities, and hope. In 1987, Charlotte hosted the third ever Carter Work Project. Jimmy and Rosalynn worked alongside volunteers, Habitat staff, and future homeowners to build 14 new affordable homes in Optimist Park, creating a lasting impact in the Charlotte community. When the Carter Work Project returns to Charlotte in 2023, volunteers, staff, partners, and future homeowners will once again come together, this time to build at the Meadows at Plato Price.
After 36 dedicated years building with Habitat around the globe, Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter have retired from public life at the ages of 98 and 95. The Carters have forged a path of home and hope, and now a new generation of Habitat humanitarians carry the torch. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood continued the Carters’ legacy as hosts of the 2023 Carter Work Project.
Habitat Charlotte Region’s new 39-home development will create opportunities for affordable homeownership in an area of Charlotte where the homeownership rate (26%) falls far below the county average (57%). The Meadows at Plato Price will provide families a community within a community, bringing stability to more families in our region. The accelerated timeline brought by Charlotte hosting the Carter Work Project will allow 23 of those homes to be completed in record time.
Named for the segregated African-American Plato Price school, the Meadows at Plato Price will sit in a historically significant area of west Charlotte. The Plato Price School closed in the 1960s when desegregation took hold, and the land lay vacant until the City of Charlotte donated it to Habitat Charlotte Region in 2018. The Meadows at Plato Price is rising as a thriving community in this historically African American neighborhood. Watch the video to see what the Plator Price School meant to some of its honored students.
