Savvy Citizen: A Gaston County Podcast

A brand-new independent bookstore is quickly becoming a place to build community in downtown Belmont. We take you on a tour of the Belmont Bookshop just in time for this month's Greater Charlotte Book Crawl. 

After a report in 2023 about the damage social media can cause to the mental health of teenagers, we sat down with Marissa and Autumn from the County's Teen Action Council to get their thoughts on how social media impacts their lives and the lives of their peers.

City of Gastonia Housing and Community Engagement Director Danette Dye talks to Savvy Citizen about the City's 3-day housing forum in April, and how they are fighting for greater equality and opportunity in the local market. 

The Gaston County Jail's educational programs and partnerships are helping those incarcerated place a focus on education to help them succeed when they return to society. Corporal Danielle Gibson talks about why she's so passionate about making the jail's education program top-notch. 

Wendy Cauthen and Fred Glenn talk about the work being done to preserve the Historic Baltimore Village School in Cramerton, and why the schoolhouse has such a critical place in the history of Gaston County. 

Juliann Lehmann with Keep Gastonia Beautiful and LaVerne Partlow with the Department of Health and Human Services talk about the grant-funded partnership to create the Storywalk experience at Rankin Lake Park. 

On this special bonus episode, we talk to some of the members of the Gaston County Rugby Football club about recruiting for their women's and men's teams (the Hellhounds and the Gargoyles), and why they're serious when they say "No Prior Experience Required."

Brandi Proffitt, founder of the nonprofit Buddy Break program, talks about how the organization helps provide a much-needed service to families of special needs children in our area. 

The Schiele Museum's Fossil Fair is set for this month. Learn about what makes this yearly event so special, and why you'll want to check it out -- regardless of whether you have kids in tow or not. 

Have a passion for food and helping your community? The Master Food Volunteer Program may be for you! Linda Minges from the Gaston County Cooperative Extension talks to us about why those who participate in this program can become such a valuable asset to their community.