An organization that works with the existing cultural and historical strengths of Rocky Mount to revitalize the community’s economic health.
Harambee Square is a downtown revitalization, mixed-use, historic preservation, real estate development venture undertaken by Rocky Mount/Edgecombe Development Corporation (RMECDC). The project was organized by the African American community of Rocky Mount/Edgecombe, North Carolina to combat the rapid deterioration of their neighborhoods.
One of the first projects of RMECDC was a lease from the City of Rocky Mount to renovate a row of condemned buildings. Upon renovating the buildings, RMECDC developed a heritage tourism initiative, which includes historic preservation, cultural arts and downtown revitalization; small business development and job creation. All of these activities have served to promote economic development in downtown Rocky Mount. Particularly, the annual Harambee Festival features arts, dance, and music, food, crafts and a basketball tournament. The weekend long event brings together family and friends from across the city, county, and the United States for cultural heritage celebration. While arts and crafts vendors are brought in from different states along the east coast, only local food vendors are chosen to ensure that money is recycled back into the community.
Recently, an artist team was brought in to define and design a series of public spaces in downtown Rocky Mount, including pedestrian corridors, the courtyard, the public parking lot, the alleyway, and the public art/exhibition building. The Public Arts/Exhibition building will house memorabilia and a mural of Thelonious Monk and memorabilia of Negro League Baseball player Walter "Buck" Leonard, both naitves of Rocky Mount. In addition, RMECDC operates several housing initiatives which have resulted in new construction of affordable single-family housing, rental housing, and senior housing.
RMECDC continues to renovate area buildings in a mixed-use format where first floors of four adjoining buildings have become a mix of shops, restaurants, commercial offices, and public spaces enlivened by artworks expressing the history and culture of all of Rocky Mount’s citizens. The second and third stories of these buildings have been converted to twenty-four units of affordable housing for the elderly. A fifth building was demolished to provide much-needed parking for the project, though the facade of the building still remains. New trees and other pedestrian comforts were also added.