About the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition

For nearly one hundred and fifty years, African-American families have lived in what is now known as the Rogers-Eubanks Community, in the northern part of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, North Carolina. In the late 1800's, Rogers Road was a wagon track through black-owned, family farmland that stretched from Homestead Road to Eubanks and Millhouse Roads. Following emancipation, community leader Morris Hogan founded a school for black children; it served the neighborhood for generations.

As decades passed, the land was handed down to children and grand-children. Some land was lost to debt or simply sold. However, African Americans continued migrating to the community; they continued to purchase land and establish homes. Today, a predominantly low-income neighborhood, the Rogers and Eubanks Community nevertheless remains socially cohesive and culturally rich.

The Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association (RENA) was begun in 1972, when residents were faced with the local governments’ decision to site a regional landfill in the community. RENA was registered as a 501(c)3 organization in 2007. Its goals were to reverse government decisions to expand solid waste operations and facilities in the community (including a solid waste transfer station), to redress the injustices that affect the health and safety of residents in the neighborhoods that abut the Orange County Landfill, and to ensure that Rogers-Eubanks Community residents and all North Carolinians have affordable access to safe drinking water, sanitary waste disposal, and safe communities. To expand its base of support and further its goal of advocating for environmental justice across North Carolina,
RENA created the Coalition to End Environmental Racism(CEER).

Today, RENA-CEER includes neighborhood residents, residents of greater Orange County, staff and students from UNC, community faith-based organizations, and other groups and individuals who want to work toward building healthy communities.