We would like to thank Hashim and Alexandra Warren for their contributions to the CNNC.
Alexandra Warren is originally from the DC-Maryland area. In the early 2000s, she decided to move and attend the University of North Carolina-Greensboro where she earned her graduate degree in dance. After graduating from UNCG, she relocated to New York where she continued performing and eventually met Hashim.
Hashim Warren, initially from Manhattan, is the son of a Jamaican immigrant. Being from New York—a state with rich immigration history—and watching his father serve his fellow neighbors in New York and Jamaica, Hashim grew up valuing and helping immigrant and refugee communities. After Hashim and Alexandra met, the two decided to move back to Greensboro, North Carolina to raise their family. Hashim now works as a product marketer and web developer and Alexandra is an assistant professor of performing arts and the artistic director at Elon University.
The Warrens have been back in Greensboro for about a decade. Alexandra stated that Greensboro has always felt warm, welcoming, and like home. Hashim agreed, adding that he was impressed with Greensboro’s rich immigrant and refugee history and citing the Triad as one of the “New Ellis Islands.”
The Warrens have always been engaged with Greensboro’s community, but at the start of the pandemic, they recognized that they wanted to do more. Part of this realization stemmed from their daughter’s school project about how to be better neighbors. With Alexandra’s connections to UNCG and Hashim’s immigrant background, the Warren’s viewed the Center for New North Carolinians as a “natural and organic” way to continue their involvement in the community.
Alexandra and Hashim embody their philosophy of “neighbors helping neighbors.” They have generously donated resources to the CNNC to help support refugee and immigrant families. The Warrens have also raised donations and provided funding for a fence to be built around the community center so children can safely play. Additionally, Hashim and Alexandra have graciously sponsored 20-family memberships to the Greenhill Center for North Carolina Art, located in the Greensboro Cultural Center. The CNNC is forever grateful to Alexandra and Hashim Warren.
If you would like to support the CNNC through volunteering or by donating, please visit this link.
Ashley Loper-Nowak | Graduate Assistant