She's a dynamo, a definite Type A (make that Type A+). She's exuberant, excited, intense, the proverbial bundle of energy. When she walks away, whirlwinds gust in her wake.
This rolling ball of fire heads the Religious Coalition for Community Renewal, an organization of mixed denominations devoted to providing housing and other help to the homeless.
Monday, Jan. 5, 2009 - In front of her office building on Washington Street, newcomer Debra Payne looks confidently ahead to her role as executive director of the Religious Coalition for Community Renewal, a group focused on housing for the homeless. She moved to Charleston a year ago from Columbus, Ohio.
A self-employed computer consultant from Columbus, Ohio, Debra Payne moved here a year ago when her husband accepted a promotion from Huntington Bank. As a Columbus suburbanite, she accepted a seat on the landscape commission and wound up representing a predominantly white ward on the city council. Imagine what she's like campaigning!
She embraced the challenge of moving to a totally unfamiliar place with the same bright-eyed optimism she brings to everyday life.
"I grew up in Columbus with a mom who was a professional when it wasn't a popular thing. She managed a radio chemistry lab where they tested water. She taught us that it was OK to be a professional woman. My dad went out on disability retirement from the post office in his 50s. So dad was the one at home helping us with homework and cooking dinner and cleaning. I felt we had a good middle-class kind of life.
"I was good in math. I wanted be an actuary because actuaries make piles of money. As an African-American actuary, you could almost write your own ticket. I took the first of eight exams and didn't do well. I went to Nationwide Insurance when I was ready to get out of college and said I wanted to be an actuary. They suggested computing.
"I went to a college where we time-shared a computer. We used punch cards, nothing like what we have today. Nationwide asked me to take a little test. I passed it. They offered me $10,000. That sounded like a whole lot of money.
"I started as programmer. They taught me on the job. In computing, every three years, people would offer you more money, so I would go to another company and get a big salary boost. I was working at a worldwide research facility in Columbus when I decided I needed to stay to work on retirement. I stayed six years and got laid off. I thought, 'nobody will ever do this to me again.' So I started my own computer consulting business.
"The last eight years, I lived in Gahanna, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. I judged a science fair and met the mayor. Two weeks after I moved into my house, the mayor called and wanted me serve on the landscape commission. That's how I started out in politics. A couple of years later, the mayor said I ought to run for city council.
"I went door-to-door in the ward and asked people, 'Do you know who represents you?' And they said 'no.' I said, 'I'm here and he's not, and you need to vote for me.' And they did. Gahanna is a white community. The ward I was running in tended to be people moving in and out, not ingrained in Gahanna. These people were used to diversity. In any other ward, I probably would not have won.
"My philosophy on life is, exposure breeds understanding. A lot of people in Gahanna hadn't been exposed to blacks. When they were exposed, they understood, and they liked me. By the time I left, they wanted me to run for mayor.
"I ran for state Senate twice, and that's when I ran into the partisan issue. People who knew you were a Democrat would close the door in your face. I got 46 percent of the vote with about $15,000, a pittance in a state race. The party would not help me because I was a newcomer.
"The next time a race came up, the party came looking for me. To get 46 percent of vote with no help from the party was phenomenal. So they helped me raise funds. But the person I ran against paid almost $1 million to keep his seat. He did an ad that had me against veterans - and my son was in the Middle East.
She's a dynamo, a definite Type A (make that Type A+). She's exuberant, excited, intense, the proverbial bundle of energy. When she walks away, whirlwinds gust in her wake.
This rolling ball of fire heads the Religious Coalition for Community Renewal, an organization of mixed denominations devoted to providing housing and other help to the homeless.
A self-employed computer consultant from Columbus, Ohio, Debra Payne moved here a year ago when her husband accepted a promotion from Huntington Bank. As a Columbus suburbanite, she accepted a seat on the landscape commission and wound up representing a predominantly white ward on the city council. Imagine what she's like campaigning!
She embraced the challenge of moving to a totally unfamiliar place with the same bright-eyed optimism she brings to everyday life.
"I grew up in Columbus with a mom who was a professional when it wasn't a popular thing. She managed a radio chemistry lab where they tested water. She taught us that it was OK to be a professional woman. My dad went out on disability retirement from the post office in his 50s. So dad was the one at home helping us with homework and cooking dinner and cleaning. I felt we had a good middle-class kind of life.
"I was good in math. I wanted be an actuary because actuaries make piles of money. As an African-American actuary, you could almost write your own ticket. I took the first of eight exams and didn't do well. I went to Nationwide Insurance when I was ready to get out of college and said I wanted to be an actuary. They suggested computing.
"I went to a college where we time-shared a computer. We used punch cards, nothing like what we have today. Nationwide asked me to take a little test. I passed it. They offered me $10,000. That sounded like a whole lot of money.
"I started as programmer. They taught me on the job. In computing, every three years, people would offer you more money, so I would go to another company and get a big salary boost. I was working at a worldwide research facility in Columbus when I decided I needed to stay to work on retirement. I stayed six years and got laid off. I thought, 'nobody will ever do this to me again.' So I started my own computer consulting business.
"The last eight years, I lived in Gahanna, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. I judged a science fair and met the mayor. Two weeks after I moved into my house, the mayor called and wanted me serve on the landscape commission. That's how I started out in politics. A couple of years later, the mayor said I ought to run for city council.
"I went door-to-door in the ward and asked people, 'Do you know who represents you?' And they said 'no.' I said, 'I'm here and he's not, and you need to vote for me.' And they did. Gahanna is a white community. The ward I was running in tended to be people moving in and out, not ingrained in Gahanna. These people were used to diversity. In any other ward, I probably would not have won.
"My philosophy on life is, exposure breeds understanding. A lot of people in Gahanna hadn't been exposed to blacks. When they were exposed, they understood, and they liked me. By the time I left, they wanted me to run for mayor.
"I ran for state Senate twice, and that's when I ran into the partisan issue. People who knew you were a Democrat would close the door in your face. I got 46 percent of the vote with about $15,000, a pittance in a state race. The party would not help me because I was a newcomer.
"The next time a race came up, the party came looking for me. To get 46 percent of vote with no help from the party was phenomenal. So they helped me raise funds. But the person I ran against paid almost $1 million to keep his seat. He did an ad that had me against veterans - and my son was in the Middle East.
"My husband works for Huntington National Bank. An opportunity became available for him here. We saw it as an adventure. We knew all the who's whos in Columbus. We wanted to see how long it would take us to get ingrained in a whole community.
"I came here in December 2007 without a job and not knowing anyone. I knew God would provide a job. I have children who are 30, 32 and 7. We adopted our 7-year-old granddaughter, Jasmine. I researched online for schooling for her and found Kenna Elementary and decided that was where we needed to be. I started looking for houses around Kenna. We ended up in Coventry Woods, off of U.S. 119.
"I wasn't searching for a job, but I knew I wanted do something hands-on. With city council, you appropriate funds for things to happen, but you don't get to touch. I wanted to do something where you touch it and feel it.
"My husband and Jasmine go to Panera Bread on Saturdays. They kept running into Bill Thomas, pastor at St. Matthews. They started talking about RCCR. He said their executive director was retiring. My husband said I might be interested.
"RCCR deals with homelessness. We have a membership of congregations of all denominations. Our first project was the Samaritan Inn on Quarrier Street. The Samaritan Inn takes men from homelessness into transitional housing. We work with them on addiction, employment and permanent housing. Once those three things are in order, we have a graduation.
"In 1994, the city gave us Smith Street Station, a rental facility where you go to your own low-income efficiency apartment. In 1995, we started Jubilee Housing, which teaches people how to buy a home. We are originating mortgages that have subsidies from the West Virginia Housing Development Fund and Community Works through federal funds, and then we build homes and sell them to low- to moderate-income people.
"Some of our guys from transitional housing will tell you, if it hadn't been for the Samaritan Inn, they would be dead. The Samaritan Inn got them going in the right direction. I like to see people coming from nothing and making a start. I enjoy touching peoples' lives. This is a perfect job for me. That's because it is God-chosen.
"I enjoyed moving here. It's a little slower pace, but that's OK. We were running a mile a minute in Ohio. Here, we can embrace the community slowly. When we were ready to move, people would say, 'Why are you moving to West Virginia?' Even after we moved here, people would ask Sam why he came to West Virginia. We were starting to think West Virginians had a complex about West Virginia.
"Sam and I are OK with coming here. People back home didn't understand the opportunity presented here for Sam. They didn't get it. That's OK. We got it. We would definitely do it again. Today, I spoke at a luncheon. One of the gentlemen said that people from here go away and then come back when they retire. I can see why. It's a lovely place.
"I enjoy my little piece of the mountain. I have a little bit of a mountain behind my house, and I have a meditation spot on a little deck up there. That's a wonderful thing. I enjoy watching deer walk across the yard. I have a bird feeder behind my house. I went and got a bird book to see what the different birds were. We didn't see many different kinds in Columbus.
"My goal in life is just to help as many people as I can before I hang up my hat. I want to see that people's lives are being changed, and RCCR gives me that opportunity. I'm high on life. I just enjoy living.
"I teach computer classes online. Used to teach face-to-face at 8 in the morning. Saturday classes. I would be ready to go and they would come in dragging. I told them I'm a hyperactive adult. If I were a child, they would put me on Ritalin."
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