Kinston Teens launches survey to help shape East Kinston’s future

KINSTON, NC - Kinston Teens, a nonprofit organization committed to youth empowerment and community development, is proud to announce a major planning effort aimed at transforming East Kinston through the organization’s Neighborhood Hub project. This transformative project is poised to revitalize the community, and to ensure that it reflects the aspirations and needs of its residents, Kinston Teens is actively seeking input from community members through a newly launched survey.

Ranked as the most economically distressed neighborhood in North Carolina, East Kinston has long been a focus of Kinston Teens, with the organization's mission rooted in addressing pressing issues such as gun violence and neighborhood conditions. In 2020, Kinston Teens opened the Neighborhood Hub, a previously abandoned house that the organization’s volunteers renovated into a homebase for its outreach efforts in East Kinston. Now, Kinston Teens is working with the Raleigh-based architecture studio Design Workshop to create a site plan for a larger facility that is more responsive to the growing needs of the organization and East Kinston community.

“Our vision for this space is for it to be one that is multi-functional—with the ability to hold large meetings and gatherings, to be used as a staging area for emergency relief and response efforts, to be renewable and sustainable,” said Chris Suggs, founder and executive director of Kinston Teens. “We believe that this space, combined with our ongoing community development efforts in East Kinston, will serve as a catalyst to building a healthier, and safer neighborhood.”

To gather valuable insights and ensure that the project aligns with the community's vision, Kinston Teens has worked with its design team to develop a community visioning survey. This survey invites residents and stakeholders to share their perspectives on the Neighborhood Hub’s possibilities, East Kinston's strengths and challenges, and the priorities that should guide the project's development.

The survey is easily accessible on the Kinston Teens website at www.EastKinston.org, where interested individuals can also find more information about the project and its timeline. Kinston Teens invites all East Kinston residents, community advocates, and organizations to take part in this opportunity to help shape East Kinston’s future.