Meet Charlotte’s 19 Top CFOs – Chief Furry Officers PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Goh Friday was National Bring Your Pet to Work Day. But, with most of us working from home these days, we think it should be considered National Bring Your Human to Work Day for our pets. We wanted to know more about the CFOs of the Queen City. No, not Chief Financial Officers — we’re talking about Chief Furry Officers! We asked our followers on Instagram and Facebook to share their canine (and feline) coworkers with us, and they did not disappoint. Click the link below to meet our newest fuzzy friends who deserve to win “Employee of the Month” and receive a 50% raise in daily treats. 
 
Pedro Perez Cares About Families Experiencing Homelessness by Josh Jacobson“My career is defined by a number of firsts, taking on new challenges and persevering against the odds,” Perez said. “Resiliency is an attribute I share with the families served by Charlotte Family Housing.”
When you think of an ex-New York State Trooper, especially these days, Pedro Perez is not what the mind conjures up. Joining Charlotte Family Housing as its Executive Director in 2018, Perez has been a strong champion of equity and social justice. He chose Charlotte because he saw Leading on Opportunity – our community’s response to coming in 50th out of 50 cities in economic mobility for its poorest residents – as a blueprint for a future in which he wanted to be a part.

Black Lives Matter Mural Shirts Now AvailableSince the installation of the Black Lives Matter mural on the 200 block of S. Tryon Street in Uptown, people have been tremendously interested in buying shirts that show the mural. But, this is a matter where the intent and the rights of the artists and photographers needed to be respected. Their desire isn’t to make a profit off this work, but to help. And, they’ve been taking their time to be careful about how the images of the mural are used. There are people who have used images of the mural without permission, but now, the official shirt is available for purchase. It’s being printed by F4mily Matters with full permission and the proceeds received through the end of the month will be donated to A Place for Hope in Rock Hill, a nonprofit that serves people in need of a hand in York County, SC.

COVID-19 & The Digital DivideCOVID-19 has all of us running to catch up. But, if you are in the grasp of the digital divide, without access to reliable broadband, operational equipment and technical knowledge, you’re even further behind. On this batch of The Biscuit podcast, Matt Olin chats with Andrew Au, director of operations for Digital Charlotte and the Knight School of Communications at Queens, about how those he serves have been impacted over the past few months and about being at home to watch his son (who just turned one) develop during stay-at-home time. 

Those You Seek to Serve Have the Answers by Greg Schermbeck“Bryan Stevenson, Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, often speaks to the idea that leaders don’t need to have the answers, they simply need to “get proximate” and listen to those most affected by injustice to best respond. Too often, we aren’t getting proximate nor are we co-creating with those we seek to serve. Now is time for that change.”
The author of this article, Greg Schermbeck, is the founder of SchermCo, a social-impact consulting firm offering strategic advising, organizational development and implementation services to schools and education-focused organizations that support underserved communities.

QC Life: 3 Things We’re Excited AboutEvery week, Charlotte Is Creative co-founders, Tim Miner and Matt Olin, visit with the folks at WBTV’s QC Life to share three Queen City creatives or initiatives they’re excited about. This week, they shared information about: And, they paid tribute to National Color TV day with some backgrounds of WBTV’s past, including one of Betty Feezor, whose cooking show was the first in the world to be video-recorded in color. Here’s @CLTDevelopment’s vision of a water feature around the city’s crown … 
QC Life is a media partner of Charlotte Is Creative and The Biscuit. 

Henry Roe is SHOUTing! from the Rooftops … in his Front Yard“Use your gifts to encourage and inspire others. It may not be what you did yesterday or what you will do in the future, but be creative where you are now.” – Henry Roe
Charlotte SHOUT! is an annual celebration of Queen City art, music, food and ideas — and it’s scheduled to return later this year! So we’ve tapped our city’s creatives to help get us pumped for the festivities by highlighting the creativity that graces Charlotte all year long. We may not be able to watch concerts in our favorite venues, but the music cannot be silenced. On this episode of “SHOUTing from the Rooftops,” Charlottean Henry Roe covers “Forever On Your Side” in his front yard. 
 
Fun Fact: Wednesday, July 1 is National Gingersnap Day, arguably the biggest holiday of the year, so we thought we would pump the hype up even more by sharing the gingersnappiest looking piece of art in the Queen City. Every time we pass this installation at the Scaleybark light rail station on South Boulevard, we can’t help but daydream about giant cookies. And no, our diet isn’t going well. Thank you for asking. All jokes aside, these six large disks known as “Furrow” were created by Raleigh artist Thomas Sayre through a process called earthcasting, which Sayre himself developed. The process involves digging large shapes from the earth to create a mold and filling them with reinforced concrete and iron oxide. The steel-reinforced sculptures might look thin and fragile, but you don’t need to worry about them crumbling like a cookie. Each 11-ton disk was designed to withstand hurricane-force winds. According to Sayre’s website, the installation was “inspired by the harrow disks used for centuries to cultivate farmland, the forms pay tribute to the location’s agricultural past.” Directions: 3609 South Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28209 This Queen City exploration was powered by OrthoCarolina.

Don’t go ’round hungry. If you missed the last batch of The Biscuit, don’t worry. We’ve kept it warm for you. This batch features: - A cultivated collection of photos from Mitchell Kearney of CLT creatives working during COVID-19
- An interview with Manuel Campbell of Aspire Community Capital
- Jason Jet’s new song “Numb,” which shares his feelings about being Black and proud
- A 5-Minute Biscuit Blitz chat between Matt Olin and Armah Shiancoe of Give N’ Go
Click here to dig in, y‘all. The Biscuit is proudly sponsored by: |  |
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