Regina Hall, a candidate for the Northwest Ward seat on the Winston-Salem City Council, sat down with the Old Gold & Black to reflect on her campaign, professional background and the challenges facing Winston-Salem. Jimmy Hodson, the Republican candidate for the Northwest Ward, did not respond to multiple interview requests over the course of a month for a companion piece.
About Hall
Hall, a lifelong resident of Winston-Salem, described developing connections with the community since childhood. Growing up on the north side of Winston-Salem, she attended Forsyth County public schools, played basketball at the Polo Park Recreation Center and YMCA and was involved in the neighborhood and community. After a brief stint away from Winston-Salem while earning a Bachelor of Science in communication and media studies at Eastern Carolina University, she returned and met her husband, with whom she now has a young daughter.
“Winston has been good to us,” Hall said. “My parents still live here, and so it is home in every sense of the word — my church family, my real family. I stayed here, and I plan on staying here and trying to give back to a city that’s given me so much.”
Professional experience and the decision to run
While Hall has lived in five of the city’s eight city council wards, she reports having worked with residents of all eight during her professional career.
Hall is currently the executive director of the Boston-Thurmond Community Network, a nonprofit tackling intergenerational poverty in one of Winston-Salem’s oldest Black neighborhoods with a focus on increasing quality housing, high-quality educational opportunities and community wellness.
Hall’s professional background includes roles in both local government in Winston-Salem and the federal government. During her time on the city’s staff, she held various leadership positions, including chief of staff for the mayor’s Urban Food Policy Council, reintegration and youth development manager, senior recreation leader and program administrator for the Successful Outcomes After Release program.
Hall explains that her career has connected her with diverse groups in Winston-Salem, including seniors, youths, veterans, individuals in the reentry community, immigrants and the homeless — experiences she believes have prepared her to be a city council member.
She contended that working respectfully with residents of different socioeconomic, educational, and personal backgrounds is key to being an effective and fair council member.
“I’ve had to do that,” Hall said. “When I worked for Congressman Mel Watt, I started off the day working with a homeless veteran and ended it being in the same room with US congresspeople, a senator and the president of the United States,” Hall said. “When I shook their hands, it wasn’t with more respect than I showed to that homeless veteran, because he too had served our country. He was just in bad times.”
Still, the decision to run for city council wasn’t one she took lightly.
“I don’t know anyone who wants to throw themselves into the limelight and public sphere,” Hall said. “I was verbally assaulted at Harris Teeter just for wearing my campaign shirt […]. Public service can be a thankless job.”
Despite these challenges, Hall describes feeling compelled to run given her public service experience, knowledge of the Winston-Salem government, educational background and community engagement.
“I knew people in Winston knew me and the service that I’ve done,” Hall said. “I’ve built civic muscle, and I just felt like I had a responsibility to at least put my name in the hat.”
She continued: “I wanted somebody younger to try to do this and let other people know that you can be a mom, a wife, work full time, do all of these things and still be the change you want to see. You don’t have to wait.”
Hall’s vision
Hall identified housing as one of the primary issues the city council should address and emphasized the need for a mix of housing types to attract large businesses and residents of all backgrounds and life stages to Winston-Salem.
“Affordable housing is important, but we also need market-rate housing, workforce housing and options housing for students who are just graduating, if you want them to think about staying and not losing them to Charlotte or Atlanta,” Hall said. “I think that that’s going to be a major priority in the next city council, and one that I’m happy to champion.”
In addition to housing, Hall cites the importance of expanding the city’s support for small business owners to make business ownership more accessible to everyone. She also emphasized making Winston-Salem more attractive to children, teens and young adults by creating new gathering spaces and activities and revitalizing existing recreational facilities.
“We’re hopefully going to lower youth violence because we’ll be giving young people cool things to do and safe, interesting places to do them,” Hall said.
Why local government matters — even for out-of-state Wake Forest students
Hall believes that the importance of local government is often overlooked, particularly during high-profile state and national elections. She stressed that local officials play a direct role in shaping the quality of life for residents and addressing issues that impact them daily.
“If something happens in Winston-Salem, you’re not calling the president or governor,” Hall said. “You’re calling your city council member or country commissioner or local judge. We’re your first defense.”
She stressed that the impact of local government extends to Wake Forest students as well, who are affected by city council decisions on policies such as public parking, policing and city development, such as the Grounds Project, whose funding from the state is often allocated to the city.
She encourages students to engage with city council and local government to shape the city’s future, especially those that are considering staying in Winston-Salem after graduation.
“If there are certain things you want to see around the city, those things are normally enacted by city council members, including providing incentives and tax breaks to folks who are thinking about moving their businesses here,” Hall said. “It all matters.”
Most importantly, she urged students to vote, suggesting that they start with the back of the ballot so they don’t overlook voting in the local races.
“Get informed and get engaged,” Hall said. “And stay informed and engaged, even after the election.”
More information about Regina Hall can be found on her campaign website.
