CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Chesapeake is filled with beautiful parks, lakes and rivers. It’s a major transportation hub and a place that nearly 250,000 people call home.
“It’s a melting pot of its own and has great people,” said Terrell Cuffee, the president of the Campostella Square Civic League.
“I grew up in a low-income area, but you kind of, growing up, you didn’t realize it,” he said of his childhood in Chesapeake. “There was so much love and so much help.”
Love and help: two things he and other civic league leaders hope to see more of in a once quaint historic part of town, South Norfolk. That’s where Cuffee says residents often feel left out.
“We are, I guess the bald-headed step child of Chesapeake, if you will,” he said.
First and foremost, he hopes to see the city improve education so that every child feels seen when they open a history book.
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“Long term, we would like to see the curriculum be geared, more diverse, where me as a Black child born into a Chesapeake school, I can not only see the history of the United States, but where I stand in that history outside of slavery,” he said.
Other civic league leaders agree that education is a hot button issue, among others.
“I’m keen on education. We have to do better in our schooling,” said Matika Sawyer, Vice President Campostella Square League of Advocates. “So childcare, education and families being there, being the resources making sure the families come together. That’s my passion. That’s my heart.”
Passion and heart, that’s what these community leaders bring in their quest to shape the city’s future.
“We need a lot,” said Willie Williams, President of Chesapeake League. “I want there to be better roadways, better schools.”
“I’d like to see even more growth in terms of small to medium businesses so that what we make here, will be more likely to stay here,” said Carl Poellnitz, President of Dunedin Civic League.
The city of Chesapeake, its people and the city’s schools made them the passionate leaders they are, and they know that passion will keep their city moving and improving.
It all starts with a trip to the ballot box.
“If we can start at the head, it’ll trickle down and it’ll manifest into our communities,” Sawyer said.
“I think optimism is needed going forward and I think November 3 will bring that, if everyone does their part,” Cuffee said.