A long-standing nonprofit may lose its a prominent property in downtown Carrboro.

CommunityWorx, a nonprofit known for its thrift shop that helps support local public school students, announced Monday it is facing foreclosure at its 117 and 125 West Main Street buildings. With the news, the nonprofit asked for significant donation help to try and avoid Fidelity Bank, who holds the mortgage for the organization, taking over the site.

In a release shared by the nonprofit, CommunityWorx says the foreclosure is a result of the “severe financial impacts of the COVID-19 global health crisis.”

“The global health crisis forced a six-month shutdown of retail operations in 2020, leading to a complete halt in revenue,” reads the community message. “Despite benefitting from various financial relief programs and the generous patience of Fidelity Bank, CommunityWorx has been unable to stay current in its mortgage payments, prompting the bank to begin foreclosure proceedings.”

A letter to the nine tenant nonprofits in YouthWorx on Main — a neighboring building operated by CommunityWorx — was shared on Sunday to alert them of the foreclosure and to establish a meeting time with President and CEO Barbara Jessie-Black to discuss the news. The co-working building, which opened in 2017, currently houses space for: Grow Your World; Youth Mentoring Collaborative; Musical Empowerment; Refugee Community Partnership; Reintegration Support Network; SKJAJA Fund; Triangle Bikeworks; Weaver Community Housing Association; and the Humane Society of the United States.

CommunityWorx’s origins date back to 1952, when a group of Chapel Hill Art Guild members founded a thrift shop to raise money for art education in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district. The effort found permanent space and morphed into the PTA Thrift Shop, with proceeds from thrift sales going to the district’s Parent Teacher Association.

The nonprofit moved into its current space in 2013 and continued to expand its operations and mission. With that, though, came tensions with the CHCCS PTA as the parents group said it saw less and less funding while the thrift shop’s sales went to its own initiatives. In 2018, the PTA Council sent a cease and desist letter the PTA Thrift Shop to remove “PTA” from its name. The result was the thrift shop rebranding to CommunityWorx in 2019 to “better reflect its work in the community and its commitment to strengthening local nonprofits that support under resourced youth and families in our community,” as described by the nonprofit in its Monday release.

Signs of the pandemic challenges and financial moves to establish the shop at 2013 West Main Street had been reflected by recent changes made by CommunityWorx. The nonprofit closed its Chapel Hill location of the store in November 2020 — although CommunityWorx said that change was in order to best pivot to an online store to sell its second-hand items. Additionally, both buildings on the West Main Street site are owned by the nonprofit, but were listed as for sale by Avison Young in June 2023. According to the property listing, the latest price for the property is $4.9 million.

In a statement sent to Chapelboro, Jessie-Black said the attempted sale of the building is a step to bring the nonprofit’s bank loan “back to good standing.”

“We have every intention of doing that,” she added, “and are asking the community to partner with us in this effort. Avoiding foreclosure is important to us. We are a hub of community gathering whether your engagement is as a shopper, donor, team member or community partner and it is vital to preserve that.”

In its announcement, CommunityWorx included a call to action, asking for major cash donations to help with such payments. The release said keeping the thrift shop and YouthWorx on Main space at their spots could “prevent commercial developers from taking over these properties, which would strip away a cornerstone of support from the community.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect a statement provided by Barbara Jessie-Black and to correctly change her title from “executive director” to “president and CEO.”

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