Habitat for Humanity has had a long-lasting relationship with former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, the late former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. In 1984, former president and his wife teamed up for the first ever Carter Work Project. This involved working alongside New York City volunteers, including 19 families in need of homes, to create safe and affordable housing.
Since that time, Habitat for Humanity has held weeklong Carter Work Project events in different locations across the globe each year. The 2023 event took place in Charlotte, North Carolina, from October 1 to 6, and featured Habitat Humanitarians Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks as hosts. The setting was The Meadows at Plato Price, a historically African-American neighborhood. The property was once the Plato Price School, but this closed in the 1960s, in the wake of desegregation. The neighborhood was vacant for many years, and the city of Charlotte gave it to Habitat in 2019.
The property is now emerging as the Charlotte region’s premier large-scale affordable housing neighborhood. On September 8th, 2023, volunteers broke ground on a project that will ultimately yield 39 completed residences by early 2025. Seven homes were already underway by the time the Carter Work Project commenced, and volunteers worked tirelessly throughout the week to make progress on 27 single-family affordable homes.
