To kick off Black History Month, we are buzzing about Melrose Plaza in the historically African-American community of Northwest Roanoke. It's located in a once thriving Black neighborhood that was decimated in the 1950s and 1960s by discriminatory redlining and eminent domain.

Last time on our show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill talked with E.B. Smith, the new executive director of the Harrison Museum of African American Culture, which is considering a move from downtown Roanoke, Virginia, to Melrose Plaza.

Today Michael chats with Zenith Barrett, vice-president of advancement at Goodwill Industries of the Valleys, which is coordinating the $30 million Melrose Plaza project. Melrose Plaza will feature anchor facilities to create positive change and address the community’s most vital needs – affordable food, healthcare, education for adults, and financial independence.

BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill chats with E.B. Smith, the new executive director of the Harrison Museum of African-American Culture in Roanoke, Virginia. E.B. Smith just started the job at a moment of exciting transformation for the museum, which Is committed to promoting, showcasing, and celebrating the art and history of African Americans for Roanoke Valley citizens and visitors.

Today we're buzzing about Masterpiece Alliance, a Roanoke, Virginia nonprofit with a mission of building community for adults with intellectual disabilities. BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill speaks with Scott Habeeb, who founded Masterpiece AlliancA in part to help people like his daughter who struggle to make friends and find social connections once they graduate from high school. One place where assume they can find community is the church. But as Scott shares, that’s often not the case for a variety of reasons, and his organization has created an upcoming conference designed to fix that.

Are you a nonprofit with an event that we could help promote? Or a marketing problem we could help fix? Contact us and we’ll share on an upcoming episode.

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The United States has more than 1.5 million nonprofits — from homeless shelters, food banks and rescue squads to children’s choirs, science museums and animal refuges — that employ one out of every 10 Americans. Like any company, nonprofits have salaries and bills to pay, a budget to balance. They require money. And if enough people don’t know about them, don’t believe in them, don’t support them — in short, if they lack BUZZ — they suffer and die.