Sunday Interview with Cathy Williams: 'You just get pulled into serving the community'

Cathy Williams is one of Columbus’ most high-profile community advocates.

Since settling in the Chattahoochee Valley in 1982, she has revitalized several blighted neighborhoods as the founder and leader of NeighborWorks Columbus. She also spent eight years on the Muscogee County School Board, serving two years as chairwoman.

Williams sat down with Ledger-Enquirer reporter Alva James-Johnson to talk about her life in Columbus, her work at NeighborWorks, and years as an elected official.

Here are excerpts from the interview, with the content of the some of the questions edited for length and clarity.

Tell me a little bit about your growing up.

My father was a university professor, and he also worked for the United Nations and the International Labor Organization. He traveled quite a bit. I was born in Anaheim, Calif. — I didn’t stay there long. We lived in Eugene, Ore., then the Philippine Islands and Detroit, Mich. Then in 1963 he was brought to Boca Raton to open Florida Atlantic University. Most of my childhood was spent there. ...

How did you get to Columbus?

I left (Boca Raton) in ’73. I was in high school and my mother remarried military, and he was stationed here at Fort Benning and that’s what brought me up here to go to high school. I returned to South Florida for college and then, while I was traveling in Europe visiting my mother, I met my ex-husband who was in the military. We spent about five years in Germany and when he got repositioned to the United States they brought us right back to Fort Benning. I said, “All right, I am here to stay,” and so I’ve stayed here since ’82.

What was Columbus like when you first moved here?

It was a very different town. The community had decided to not be on the interstate system. ... Getting to Atlanta was interesting back then. I think it sort of thwarted some of the progress we could’ve made. I think once we put in I-185 we began to see changes happen in Columbus, and most all of them were very positive.

How did you start getting involved in the Columbus community?

... I really got involved when I became the executive director of the Greater Columbus Home Builders Association. That made me have to really get involved with City Council. ... I went through Leadership Columbus; I got involved in the Chamber of Commerce; I chaired the Leadership Columbus board. When you start entering those arenas, you just get pulled into serving the community.

How did NeighborWorks come about?

In 1997, I was with the Home Builders Association, and Evelyn — then Turner and now Pugh — had been working with the Chamber of Commerce and had an idea that most of us thought was very good: We do an inner-city visit with the Chamber every year. ... Evelyn said, “We need to do an intra-city visit. We need to look at ourselves. ...” It was called “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” tour.

Carmen Cavezza was the city manager at the time. We took big touring buses throughout Columbus ... and one of the communities ... was called South Lawyers Lane and it went into the heart of a community that had been somewhat forgotten. ... We came to find out that in 1989 “Dateline NBC” had named a corner in that community ... “The Most Drug Infested Corner” in the country. ... That coupled with this tour was a wakeup call to our community.

What happened from there?

After the tour, Carmen asked Amy Moore and myself to co-chair a housing committee and to really study the issue of substandard and affordable housing. We spent a year and a half with a committee. ... We finished with a report and we gave it to Carmen. It basically said three things: One, we needed for every person from every pulpit and every podium to say, “Not here, this is not acceptable”; and we needed for there to be a nonprofit organization established dedicated to affordable housing and the issue of substandard housing; and we needed all the banks to come together and fund the capital line of credit that would enable this nonprofit to affect these two issues.

We gave it to Carmen... and he handed it back to us and said, “OK, now go do it.” That’s how the Columbus Housing Initiative was born. Then shortly after that a local foundation came and said, “We will fund the startup of the organization if you’ll move over into the leadership of it.”

How has the organization grown and expanded over the years?

The funding that we had in the first six years, which was incredibly generous, allowed us to build the plane as we flew it. We knew of a model that we really liked so we went up to Chattanooga. ... In order to affect substandard housing, we had to be able to develop affordable housing. Originally we thought we would do it with the builders that I had relationships with. But we quickly found out that it’s hard to develop in neighborhoods that are challenged, and the builders just really didn’t want to do it. So we said, “OK, well then, we will have to become builders,” and so we did. Then we said, “We’re doing counseling to make sure we are not just creating first-time homebuyers, but we’re really creating lifelong homeowners. So we know that education and financial counseling have to be important components of it.” Then we said, “But we’re having a little problem: Once our families want to move into an area, they’re having trouble getting loans.” And so I said, “Well, I guess we have to become lenders,” and so we did. That’s kind of how the model grew.

At what point did the Cottage Program come in?

Almost everything we have done has come out of need. We kept finding these elderly residents living in shacks. When I say shacks, I’m talking about housing conditions that rival Third World countries. I’m talking about no bathroom and no kitchen. ...

We met with the city and said, “We’ve got an idea: Let’s start a Cottage Program where you fund half of it and we’ll raise half of it. We’ll do one a year and we’ll commit to do six if you’ll commit to it.” And they did. All told, we’ve built about 11. ... Yesterday, we received notice that we got a $1.5 million financial award from the Community Development Financial Institution Fund. Now we will work to match that through the generosity of this community. And instead of having $300,000 or $400,000, we will have $3 million or $4 million. We will really be able to impact lives. ... We’re so very excited about that.

Is most of the work that you do in South Columbus?

No. We have three neighborhoods. ... We’re active in Beallwood, which is actually considered north Columbus. ... East Wynton Park, that was our first neighborhood and that’s in midtown. Then Winterfield is in south Columbus and that will be the next neighborhood we will probably move into after Beallwood. ...

What happened with the veterans housing that you had planned for Winterfield that was moved to Beallwood?

There were two things that happened simultaneously. One, in our environmental assessment, the engineers determined that the sites that we owned and that we were going to put the duplexes on weren’t going to work. I am a developer, but I’ve never heard this. They were too flat for the stormwater system in Winterfield. At the same time, we were having issues with the amount of crime that was occurring in Winterfield. ...I couldn’t get any veterans to say — even if we could mitigate the stormwater issue — that they wanted to live there. I will say, myself, I thought that there were some reputational risks as well as financial risks by moving forward in Winterfield.

How did you go about choosing Beallwood?

I was mapping Beallwood and I was walking through it and I called one of my board members, Seth Brown. I said, “Seth, I’ve got a feeling about Beallwood. Would you mind running some numbers for me?” ...He called me back the next day, he says, “...I am kind of interested. What was your feeling?” I said, “I have a feeling that it’s a pretty safe neighborhood. He said, “Safer than the neighborhood that you live in... safer than the neighborhood I live in, too. ...” I said, “You know, I can work with that.”

So, you’re going to return to Winterfield after you finish with Beallwood?

We have assets in Winterfield and I would love to be able to say we will return to Winterfield, but it will only be done after the city has been able to affect the level of crime in that neighborhood.

OK, now let’s talk about the Muscogee County School Board.

What I really enjoyed during my tenure on that board was watching the superintendents. I served under three. ... (They) really worked toward excellence in every school. I think that right now, with Dr. (David) Lewis, we’re seeing that progress. ...

What motivated you to run for office?

Well, the neighborhood I was working in at the time was East Wynnton Park, and that’s home to Carver High School. I saw a couple of things going on in the district at the time, but in hindsight it was pre-SPLOST days. ... The limited resources of the district often meant delayed maintenance and certainly no redevelopment of schools, and Carver was in really bad shape. ... (The school board) was just another forum in which I could advocate for change within the communities that I was working in.

Your first run for office was against Mary Sue Polleys and there was some confusion with that election, right?

There were three in that race and the night of the election there was no majority winner. The two highest vote-getters were Mary Sue and then I was right on her heels, and there weren’t a lot of votes separating us. Unknown to us, that year, and only that year, the General Assembly had changed the local nonpartisan races to be plurality races. Nobody knew that. We went for — I want to say — a week or 10 days thinking there was going to be a runoff, and then somebody, I think in Harris County, caught it and said, “No, this is a plurality race.” Mary Sue was then deemed the winner.

While you were on the board, there were several contentious issues that came up.

There are always contentious issues on school boards — we’re not unique.

I will just go down the list of a few things and have you comment. Tell me about Superintendent Susan Andrews and the issue with the principals whom she had recommended, which the board voted down.

That was May 21, 2012. ...It’s a day I will never forget. ... The thing about public education and elected school boards is that sometimes politics gets in the way of policy and that was on display that night. I thought it was awful what happened. In that moment I knew that I had lost my board, that it was flipped, which is why I did not seek the chairmanship the next year.

When you say politics, why do you think board members voted the way they did?

They wanted to affect one person’s appointment, and when they couldn’t, they decided to just vote them all down.

Then of course there was Frank Myers and his efforts to remove Hatcher Stubbs as the district’s legal counsel. It seemed you joined Frank in that campaign concerning the no-bid deal with the law firm. Can you talk a little bit about that and why you sided with him on some of those issues?

...There are several instances when the board of education has to use no-bid contracts. For instance, highly specialized consultants, if you are going to hire somebody who specializes in teaching autistic children how to read, you want to be able to go to the best that you know and not necessarily bid that out. ... Some consultants, and I would put legal services into that, I felt that there could be some savings achieved by bidding out certain services. ... Once I started to see that we were moving specialties out of one firm I got very comfortable with leaving it as it was. I think that Frank Myers hasn’t gotten to that place that I did yet. We do not have the same opinion any longer.

Did you consider yourself his ally at one point?

I considered myself his friend at one point — I don’t know that ally is necessarily an accurate description.

How is your relationship now?

We are not.

Why is that?

There is a right way and a wrong way to try to change public policy and I don’t necessarily feel that he has taken a respectful, right way to do it and that has been a disappointment.

Looking back at your time as chairwoman of the board, how would you describe that experience?

It was more work than I thought, but it was incredibly rewarding to be on the frontline of change occurring. ...The lessons I’ve learned I’ve used over and over again.

Why did you decide not to run again?

I had a grandchild. (And) after 2007 and ’08 ... I didn’t sleep for three years because I never knew if we were going to survive that horrendous economic meltdown. ... I had to start paying all of my attention to NeighborWorks Columbus.

Do you think you will ever run for office again?

I don’t know. Politics is a full-contact sport and I certainly don’t see it in the near future. I think if I were to ever consider it, it would probably be after I retire. Again, NeighborWorks Columbus is my priority and it will be my priority until the day that I retire.

What are your views on the north/south divide that seems to be here in Columbus?

I think that there are divides between the haves and have nots in every community our size or larger. You have to be very intentional in neighborhood revitalization. ... I don’t think you’re going to impact the crime rate in Columbus until we have dramatically impacted the unemployment rate, especially among the minorities and especially among the young minorities.

Superintendent Lewis thinks that education plays a big role in solving that.

It does, but... if you can’t find a job, you’re still going to feel hopeless and helpless. One of the things we are seeing with our clients coming through NeighborWorks now is we are seeing enormous amounts of student debt. Kids are going to these for-profit colleges and racking up the debt and they still can’t find a job.

How do you think Superintendent Lewis is doing overall?

I think he is an amazing superintendent. I remember going through searches for the superintendents. When I was sitting in that interview room talking to David Lewis, I knew we had the right person. ...

How do you feel about the school board now and how it’s functioning?

...Today you’re seeing a split board, but more consensus, and it seems like a lot of decisions are reached on a 7-2 vote and that’s OK. It’s not always pretty, and I think it could be more respectful today than it is, but debate is necessary.

So, what’s it like being married to Chuck Williams?

Being married to Chuck is just amazing. He is an amazing, amazing person and the love of my life — a joy to be with and call my best friend. I am blessed.

How did you guys meet?

Back in 1997... the Ledger had assigned Chuck to cover the start-up of the Columbus Housing Initiative. One day this big guy walked through my door at the Home Builders Association and said, “I’m here to cover you.” I said, “OK?” And about a couple of months later, we had started bicycling together and had become really good friends. ... Then one night we realized we probably needed to not have that type of a relationship. So we had to wait for his editor to get back from vacation so he could tell him, “I think I need another beat.” He said, “Why?” He said, “I think I want to take Cathy out on a date.” That was it. In like 6 months time — 4 months later — we were married.

He is a reporter always looking for a scoop. You had a high-profile position on the school board. How did you all handle that as a couple?

It was very, very difficult. I know that the Ledger did a great job of trying to insulate him away from any stories about education. A lot of times he would ask, “Well, what are you talking about?” I’d go, “Well, I can’t talk to you about that.” He was like, “OK.” We just had an understanding.

What made you decide to live in the Historic District?

Well, when we got married we purchased a home in midtown in Overlook but we both work downtown, we worship downtown and we play downtown. ... There was a pull between both Bibb City and here, but I wanted here badly because I wanted to be able to walk to work. I wanted to be able to get on my bicycle on my front porch and go riding on the RiverWalk. ...

What are you doing these days for fun and relaxation?

I walk a lot and I have two amazing grandchildren that live in Atlanta, and it’s just my heart and my joy to be able to spend quality time with them and to help my daughter whenever she needs it. My son is in a wonderful relationship, with three children — I call them “my grandchildren in waiting.” They are wonderful children and I get to see them a little bit more than the two in Atlanta so I’ve really enjoyed the role of being “Gigi” to the five.

Bio

Name: Cathy Williams

AGE: 57

Hometown: Born in Anaheim, Calif; raised in Boca Raton, Fla.

Current home: Columbus

Job: CEO and president of NeighborWorks Columbus

Education: 1975 graduate of Spencer High School; 2005 graduate of Troy University, with a bachelor’s degree in political science; attended professional development classes for three years at Harvard University

Political office: Served eight years as an at-large representative on the Muscogee County School Board (2006-2014) and two years as chairwoman of the board

Family: Husband, Chuck Williams, four children and two grandchildren

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Sunday Interview with Cathy Williams: 'You just get pulled into serving the community'."