Goodwin Announces Charleston Council for Outreach and Empowerment (C-COrE)

Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin today announced the formation of the Charleston Council for Outreach and Empowerment (C-COrE). This citizen action group will promote justice and fair treatment for all, by cultivating trust and confidence within the community, fostering transparency and honest communication from the administration, demonstrating sensitivity and empathy in resolving community concerns and advocating for marginalized populations of Charleston.

“C-COrE will work closely with City administration and the public in order to cultivate relationships, advocate on behalf of Charleston citizens and create additional opportunities for community input,” said Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin. “A core group of community leaders including Miles Cary, Letari Thompson, Marlon Collins, LaKeisha Barron-Brown, Courtney Campbell and Kayonjra Guerrant have been meeting for several months and have created a solid foundation for this group. We are excited to add several individuals that represent different racial, ethnic, socio-economic, political, religious and cultural viewpoints.” 

“The group assembled for C-COrE represents a wide-array of people throughout Charleston that will work collectively to give all citizens an increased voice,” said Marlon Collins. “I am excited to work with the Mayor, her team and the community to create a strong path forward.”

“Charleston deserves a group that advocates for all and C-COrE will work on behalf of people throughout the Capital City,” said Courtney Campbell, Charleston community leader. “Our core team has been meeting with Mayor Goodwin and her administration for months and we look forward to continued meetings with our larger group.”

Objectives include:

• Cultivating trust and confidence within the community by strengthening connections to and promoting positive and sustainable relationships of mutual understanding and respect among key cultural, educational, social, economic, religious and civic entities.
• Fostering administrative transparency to encourage greater community involvement and to promote positive and healthy partnerships among various entities who are striving to make the City of Charleston a better place to live, work, learn and worship.
• Demonstrating sensitivity and empathy toward community concerns and issues and ensure that those concerns are addressed in a timely and impartial fashion, especially as they relate to public officials.
• Advocating for marginalized populations; impoverished, uneducated, intellectually disabled, victims of domestic violence, and those who have suffered injustice, to ensure their voices are heard, concerns acknowledged, and needs are met.

The meeting schedule will be determined during the first meeting of C-COrE which will take place in the coming weeks.   Recommendations will be provided to City administration.

The C-COrE leadership team includes: LaKeisha Barron-Brown, Courtney Campbell, Miles Cary, Marlon Collins and Letari Thompson.  Additional members include: Sue Barazi, Jason Booker, Luciana Britton, Becky Ceperley, Tré Clark, Tray Coleman, Chenelle Coy-Williams, Shawn Cunningham, Christina Dalton, Michael Farmer, Theresa Galloway, Mayor Amy Goodwin, Jasmine Gray, Kayonjra Guerrant, Tiffany Jones, Duke Jordan, Parnel Legros, Larry Moore, David Payne, Tamara Rizk, Shannon Robinson, William Schwartz, Jeff Sikorovsky, Victor Urecki, Brianna Washington, Eddie Whitehead and Tiffany Williams.