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5 FEB HER
HER Feature
   Story by Grace Brown, photography by Grace Brown, submitted
Returning to her hometown after a 10-year absence, Mountain Pine native Britney Howard found her community had dete-
riorated. In an effort to help turn the small town around, Howard created a nonprofit organiza- tion and got to work.
“The city seemed to have taken a turn kind of for the worst since I’ve been gone. When I came back, I just wanted to be able to give back to the community. I noticed we don’t have anything to do out here like we used to,” Howard said.
“Used to when I got out of school, we would go over to the Boys & Girls Club and have fun. Well, they don’t have stuff like that. So that’s what prompted the ‘Kids Give Back.’”
Howard’s family has lived in Mountain Pine for decades. Four generations in her family have walked the halls of Mountain Pine’s schools. It was where her mother raised her and now, where Howard plans to raise her two young sons.
“My brother got killed in 2013 and I was in Dallas. Then my mom turned around and her house burned down and she got hit by an eigh- teen-wheeler. Then my grandma got diagnosed with cancer. At that point, I was like, ‘I got to go home and be with my family.’”
Howard packed up all her possessions and two young children and moved back home. Soon after, she began working as a police officer for the city of Mountain Pine. During her time patrolling the city’s streets, Howard said her eyes opened to the needs of the people living in her community.
“When I came back, I became a police of- ficer. I didn’t realize really the need because I stay over on (another) side of town until I be- came a police officer. I was patrolling over here and would see kids from weekend to weekend in the same exact clothes or, you know, just not looking clean,” she said.
Seeing this sparked a fire of determination within, Howard noted. She began researching ways to help her community and eventually formed her nonprofit organization Mountain Pine Street Reach Program.
“Unfortunately, we’ve been segregated for many years by railroad tracks. Right after I go
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