It Pays to Be Nimble in Business, Life
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Olympic-sized challenges await Mallard Creek High graduate Gabbi Cunningham – namely packing for the trip to Tokyo TThhee CChhaarrllootttteeTHE VOICE P POF THE BLACKo oCOMMUNITYss SINCEtt 1906 WEEK OF JULY 22, 2021 VOLUME 47, NUMBER 46 WWW.THECHARLOTTEPOST.COM $1.50 Juvenile justice adjusts with law NC’s Raise the Age results in fewer teens charged as adults By Nadia Ramlagan NORTH CAROLINA NEWS SERVICE RALEIGH – In 2019, North Caro- lina stopped charging most 16- and 17-year-olds as adults, and a new report looks at the law’s ef- fects on the state's juvenile-justice system. The state reported there was only a 38% increase in the number of ATRIUM HEALTH youths referred to juvenile deten- Atrium Health President and CEO Gene Woods has led the company’s growth and stature as a regional economic power over five years. tion, about half of what was pre- dicted, after raising the age a person can be charged as an adult to 18. Tarrah Callahan, executive direc- Atrium Health CEO: It pays tor of Raleigh-based Conservatives for Criminal Justice Reform, pointed to the numerous societal benefits of not charging kids as adults. to be nimble in business, life “Enabling this population to start out their lives as 18-year-olds with- Gene Woods on flexibility, health care equity and his passion for music out an adult criminal record hang- By Herbert L. White trustees, talked about his early life, men- where a lot of actually interracial couples ing around their necks, to the fact [email protected] torship, leadership and equity at a recent in the Navy would go and had a robust that the majority of the kids in this A calendar mixup led Gene Woods into session of The Post’s C-Suite Conver- Portuguese population. So actually, it system are coming in with a men- a career in health administration. sations. Responses are edited for brevity was born on a base in Providence, it's tal-health diagnosis and really Atrium Health’s president and CEO as- and clarity. called Quonset Point. We lived there for ought to be treated accordingly,” pired to become a business professional His upbringing: a while, then in New Jersey then ended she said. when he enrolled at Pennsylvania State Woods: My father was born in a rural up going back to Spain. And so really the Because the first full year of University but veered to a different path town in Tennessee called Yuma, [in] most formative times in my life, I spent North Carolina’s Raise the Age law after a chance meeting with a hospital western Tennessee. I think the pop- seven years in Spain as a child from 4 all happened during the COVID-19 administrator at a health career day. In ulation when he was born was about the way to 11. pandemic, the report found the five years as Atrium Health’s CEO, 300, and so he tried to get out of there My mom is the oldest of 12, and my number of juvenile court cases Woods has led the company to unprece- as soon as possible and joined the Navy. dad’s the oldest of nine, so every time dipped dramatically and reduced dented growth that includes Charlotte’s And along his travels, he ended up in the family gets together, there's a lot the state's overall youth detention first medical school and recognition by Rota, Spain, southern Spain. going on. It's a big party, so that’s the population. the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Serbia is where my mother was born kind of environment I grew up in. Callahan pointed out both sides Services in 2020 for initiatives to reduce about an hour south of that town, so What directed him to health care ad- of the political aisle tout public health disparities. they actually got married, and it couldn't ministration: safety as a priority, but haven’t di- Woods, who is past chairman of the have been a more unlikely couple. Then Woods: The folks I grew up with, some gested the volume of data on the American Hospital Association board of they moved to Rhode Island. That's Please see ATRIUM | 2A efficacy of juvenile-detention pol- icies. “When we can show that tough- on-crime, ‘lock ‘em up and throw away the key’ policies, particularly «APPRECIATION for children, are not effective, then it really suggests that we need to James Cuthbertson, Please see FEWER | 2A father of The Post’s HBCUs split Top Seniors honor into haves, By Herbert L. White have-nots [email protected] By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Before he was a championship-winning tennis coach, James Oscar Cuthbertson Jr. was a champion Jeff Amy and Larry Fenn of Black academic achievement. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Mr. Cuthbertson, founder of The Post’s Top Seniors ATLANTA — Two recent high- initiative, died July 8 at age 71. As a staff reporter in profile faculty appointments could 1975, he turned a lack of inclusion of Black high be a fundraising and enrollment school seniors in Charlotte-Mecklenburg into an an- bonanza for Howard University, nual recognition. Although his responsibilities in- one of the nation’s most presti- cluded writing the popular Prep Chatter TROY HULL | THE CHARLOTTE POST gious Black colleges. Many other sports column, Top Seniors was his sig- Mecklenburg County Public Health Director Gibbie Harris is retiring after nearly 40 years Black schools are not so fortunate; nature idea. of public health. in fact, many are struggling. “The [Charlotte] Observer had an out- Some, especially standing display of outstanding seniors smaller private col- in Mecklenburg County by school, and leges, have been fight- if you were not [No.] 1 or 2 in your class, Public health director bows ing for their survival you probably wouldn’t make that,” Mr. for years, with weak Cuthbertson Cuthbertson said in a 2014 interview endowments, aging recognizing Top Seniors’ 40th anniver- out – for certain this time buildings and steady sary. “Consequently, they didn’t have a wide array By Aaliyah Bowden work this time,” Harris said with a enrollment declines, of students.” all made worse by the [email protected] laugh. “I used to joke about the fact Dillard Top Seniors grew from a single-page announce- Mecklenburg County Public Health that I’m going into retirement. Once coronavirus pan- ment of 10 scholars in The Post’s print edition to a Director Alma “Gibbie” Harris is re- [the job is] in your blood, it’s sort of demic. “While larger HBCUs often glossy magazine with upwards of 200 student pro- tiring – again. hard to stop. I don’t know anybody have the funding resources nec- files, scholarships and public recognition as part of In 2015, Harris retired from Bun- in public health who ever quit doing essary to attract accomplished tal- the annual Charlotte Post Best gala. combe County Department of some work in that area, so I ent like Nikole Hannah-Jones and Mr. Cuthbertson’s passion was tennis, and he suc- Health but was then called in 2017 wouldn’t be surprised if I get in- Ta-Nehisi Coates, many smaller in- ceeded as a player and coach. At Olympic High to serve as Mecklenburg’s director. volved in volunteer work or possibly stitutions need donors to step for- School, he was the Trojans’ No. 3 seed, followed by In nearly 40 years in public health, consulting work.” ward, contributing much-needed a career at UNC Charlotte, where he joined the team Harris has earned numerous acco- Harris, 69, grew up in Statesville, financial resources for us to com- upon its return to campus in 1971. He earned his lades, including The Post’s 2020 where she had a legacy of health pete,” said Paulette Dillard, pres- varsity letter as a senior the next year. Newsmaker of the Year and North workers on her father’s side, which ident of Shaw University in Raleigh. At Johnson C. Smith, Mr. Cuthbertson coached the Carolina Health Director of the Year inspired her to pursue nursing. Har- Hannah-Jones accepted a faculty Golden Bulls men’s team to their most successful in 2011. ris’ grandfather worked in a hospi- position at Howard amid contro- Please see JAMES CUTHBERTSON | 2A “I’m going to see if I can make it Please see MECKLENBURG|3A Please see ACCLAIM | 2A INSIDE Please STAY IN TOUCH Digital edition: Sports 5A Snapchat: thecharpost www.thecharlottepostnewspaper.com Recycle Life 1B Twitter: @thecharpost A&E 5B To subscribe: (704) 376-0496 or online Facebook: The Charlotte Post Classified 4B http://tcppc.com/Subscribe Instagram: @thecharlottepost #PaperThursday 2A NEWS | The Charlotte Post Thursday, July 22, 2021 «APPRECIATION Atrium Health CEO James Cuthbertson, father Continued from page 1A part of the mission. of them wanted to be doctors, some It showed up in the middle of of them wanted to be lawyers. No- COVID. Last April, when we saw in of Top Seniors and JCSU body knew what a healthcare admin- West Charlotte, in the West End area, istrator did. Nobody had any sense of that there were disparities in testing, what that was. I’m fluent in Spanish for example, it was all about action. It tennis coach, dies at age 71 because my mother spoke to me in wasn’t about words at that time. So, Spanish since day one, and I knew I we loaded up our roving vans, we Continued from page 1A liked business, so I thought I was work with the church communities, the campus tennis courts after Mr.