The Harrelson Center, Wilmington’s campus of humanitarian nonprofits, has hired Nikki McLaurin as a full-time housing navigation manager, providing a point of contact for low-income individuals and families facing housing challenges. Ms. McLaurin, working one-on-one with clients, will provide case management services to include program referral, housing stabilization, and housing identification with housing sustainability as the program goal. Previously, she worked for Church World Service where she helped secure housing for refugee families in the Wilmington area. Ms. McLaurin earned her HUD Housing Counselor Certification in September 2024. She began her new role on April 28th.
To be eligible to receive Housing Navigation services, the requesting individual or household must:
- Reside in New Hanover County
- Currently have housing, either as a renter or homeowner
- Be referred through the Help Hub or an approved nonprofit or public agency
“We are delighted to have Nikki join our staff and provide a full-time contact for neighbors who need assistance in today’s challenging housing market,” said Harrelson Center Executive Director Meade Van Pelt. “Having added housing navigation, we are expanding the wrap-around resources available on our downtown campus to help and guide our neighbors to solutions beyond their own capacities.” The Harrelson Center is a centralized location for 40-plus humanitarian nonprofits providing crisis response, health and wellness, career development, childhood and family support, food security, equity and access to residents of the tri-county region.
The Harrelson Center’s Help Hub, founded in 2015, provides short-term emergency financial assistance and guidance to help neighbors with rent, utilities, transportation expenses, and unmet healthcare needs. In 2024, some 1400 households visited the Help Hub with urgent requests. Volunteers and staff invested more than $268,000 to meet neighbor’s needs, at an average of $183 per household. Ms. McLaurin provides a new point of contact for longer-term engagement focused specifically on stabilizing housing.
About The Harrelson Center
The Harrelson Center is Wilmington, North Carolina’s campus for non-profit organizations. Founded in 2008, its mission is to advance, connect, and empower an integrated humanitarian nonprofit community. The Harrelson Center provides administrative resources and below-market rates for office suites fostering greater operational stability for its partner non-profit organizations. By sharing common ground and common purpose, the organizations at The Harrelson Center enjoy certain synergy in service, networking, volunteer recruitment, marketing and educational opportunities. The Harrelson Center has 21 on-campus partners and 20 off-campus associate partners with which it closely collaborates. For more information visit http://harrelsoncenter.org/
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