Home of the Roanoke River, North Carolina’s Halifax County encompasses a vast, rural area spanning over 720 square miles. Despite being full of history and natural beauty, its size and geography exacerbate an unequal distribution of resources to the communities within the county, where 25 percent of residents live below the federal poverty level. One major gap is equitable access to recreational opportunities.
Addressing that gap became the focus for a motivated and persistent group of community members and organizations. They would lead the community on a decades-long planning and advocacy journey that culminated in the 2025 creation of a countywide recreation department.
County residents and community organizations, like A Better Chance, A Better Community (ABC2), pinpointed gaps in access to parks, pools, playgrounds, and other recreational facilities. As of 2022, only 51 percent of county residents lived within a few miles of a recreation center, and Halifax ranked 76 out of 100 counties in North Carolina for access to exercise opportunities.
“Recreation can be a driver of economic development and boosts educational opportunities and recreational tourism,” said Chester B. Williams, founder and chief empowerment officer of ABC2. “Parks and recreation are more than a playground; they’re more than a trail. It’s everyday living and hobbies like cooking, fishing, and gardening.”
In 2012, Halifax County became one of the first counties to join the Trust’s Healthy Places NC initiative, a 10-year effort to improve health in 10 of North Carolina’s most rural and underserved counties.
“Healthy Places NC was a new way of working for the Trust. We worked directly with community members to listen and learn from them about areas for health improvement in their counties,” said Omari Richins, program officer at the Trust. “Almost immediately, we heard from Halifax County that equitable access to recreation was a top priority.”
Organizations in underserved parts of Halifax had not previously advocated with a collective voice, which led to inequitable distribution of resources and ineffective partnerships with county commissioners.
The Trust invested nearly $6 million in Halifax County through Healthy Places NC to improve access to healthy food and recreation and solidified the foundation of community-driven recreation efforts. The initiative provided funding for physical projects like playground construction, technical support for efforts aimed at increasing recreation in underserved areas, and the creation of a countywide master recreation plan, completed in 2014.
Working for Rural Forward, a Healthy Places NC technical assistance provider, Brandy Bynum Dawson, had a front row seat for the journey.
“We weren’t coming in with our own agenda. We wanted to support the community in identifying what their needs were, and they were able to equally identify the solutions,” said Bynum Dawson, now the senior program director for Rural Prosperity and Investment at MDC Inc. “We knew this was going to be a long-term project that required a big investment in time and resources.”
The process involved surveys, community meetings with county commissioners, and power-building efforts with local residents to share resources and discuss solutions. These efforts led to the formation of the Halifax County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Created in 2014, the board includes community leaders like Williams to provide a direct line for conversation between county commissioners and local residents.
The Trust also connected the Halifax County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board with other NC counties and organizations solving similar issues and supported emerging leaders in the community. Funding allowed community organizations to strategically work together and improve their efforts.
“We all wanted change in our community, but we didn’t know how to do it together,” said Williams. “Having a third party like the Trust and their partners outside of the community helped facilitate conversations and opened our eyes that we weren’t alone and change was possible.”
The release of a North Carolina recreation plan prompted the advisory board to raise funds for recreation. The state plan served as a model for the county’s own plan, including leading the advisory board to advocate for a countywide recreation department.
Over time, due to community advocacy and a new recognition of the importance of recreation, county commissioners began prioritizing recreation and unanimously approved the countywide recreation department in April 2025. They also created a junior board of commissioners to invite young people to inform the decision-making process. ABC2 led the charge, using their youth development model dedicated to tackling local issues.
“Our hope for the recreation department is for all people, especially kids, to have opportunities to use the amenities and resources available to everyone in Halifax,” said Dia Denton, county manager. “As someone who cares deeply about this community and as a mom, it has been so fulfilling to get to this point.”
The county is in the process of hiring a recreation department director and establishing a formal office. The department will lead countywide recreation planning with an immediate focus on parks, exploring partnerships with local schools to allow the community to use their facilities, and creating outdoor recreational opportunities for small businesses.
Williams, Richins, Bynum Dawson, and Denton agree that long-term partners and community commitment are responsible for improved access to recreation, community-driven problem-solving, and momentum to inform and drive policies.
“It may take time, and it doesn’t happen overnight, but I think this is one clear-cut example of bringing diverse voices to a collective table to solve a major problem,” said Bynum Dawson. “I expect Halifax will continue to push for equitable access to recreation and apply their learnings to help address other systemic issues like transportation and access to healthcare.”