by TM Petaccia

Community Matters Café serves breakfast and lunch in Third Ward. Kristen Wile/UP

Community Matters Café was the recipient of one of the three “City Builder Awards” at last week’s Charlotte Center City Partners’ 2023 Vision Awards. The nonprofit restaurant was honored for “providing much-needed workforce and life skills to some of our most vulnerable neighbors.”

The awards ceremony was created to recognize people, projects, and places that make the Center City more vibrant, inclusive, and extraordinary.

Opened in 2019, Community Matters Café is an endeavor under the auspices of Charlotte Rescue Mission. The Third Ward coffee shop and restaurant provides life skill training to graduates of the Rescue Mission’s addiction programs, supplying real-world work experience which helps them reintegrate into society. It is open for breakfast and lunch, 7 a.m. – 2 p.m., Monday – Friday.

“The Charlotte community has continued to show amazing support for our students and mission,” says Community Matters café director Ashley Anna Tuttle. “Because of the Queen City’s support, our students are able to practice the tools taught in our life skills program, build courage through vulnerability, and find transformation in new practices.”

In addition to Community Matters Café, Charlotte FC and Atherton Mill also received City Builder Awards. Historic Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery and its caretakers received the Trailblazer Award for maintaining a “unique urban arboretum and a source of community history and pride”. Lincoln Harris Chairman / CEO Johnny Harris received the event’s namesake Vision Award for his lifetime of making “Center City more vibrant and extraordinary through his visionary leadership.”

“We are so proud of our team and their dedication,” Tuttle says.