CityView Magazine

Discover CityViewNC.com's fresh updated look! | 39 making futures brighter since 1954 www.boysandgirlshomes.org/Services/Community-Based Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/bghnc.cbs/ Community-Based Services Foster Care & Adoption Do you have room in your heart and home to become a foster parent? Call 910-703-8777 to sign up for one of our Fayetteville Area Open Houses! Molly Arnold's efforts to help downtown find its image haven't gone unnoticed. Last fall, Methodist University's School of Business named her its Outstanding Woman Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2013, she won the NAACP Nelson Mandela Award and, in 2011, the Fayetteville Organization for Women's Susan B. Anthony Award. Her efforts to revitalize downtown lie not only in the awards, but in her coffee shop's name. "Back then, Fayetteville was talked about so badly," she said. "To me, that we can have a fabulous coffee house downtown is a 'rude awakening.' I chose the name as an in- your-face to the naysayers about nothing good can come out of Fayetteville." Arnold wasn't alone or first in yearning to reshape downtown. Before Rude opened, she found inspiration in architect Eric Lindstrom's purchase and rehabilitation of a two-story downtown building; he made the first floor into retail space and the upper floor his apartment. en there's artist Greg Hathaway. "He's a huge part of why I'm downtown," Arnold said. Shops like his gave her hope that downtown Fayetteville would see growth. Hathaway opened Greg's Art Pottery & Gis on Maxwell Street, which he later sold to his daughter. He came up with Fourth Fridays, a monthly event celebrating art and downtown. e event grew from just four businesses to roughly four blocks of businesses. Arnold has had a hand in the event's growth. "Downtown is loaded with mom and pop shops, and we survive by helping each other survive," Hathaway said. "We cross-promote each other. She's promoted my artwork and had my business cards in her shop and vice versa." Arnold's downtown footprint is larger than that of her two shops. She's a board member of the City of Fayetteville Linear Park Corporation, which has been key in creating Linear Park, the downtown greenway. She's secretary for the Cool Spring Downtown District, which promotes downtown. And she is a former member of the city's chamber of commerce. Arnold is also a familiar face at Fayetteville City Council meetings. Hathaway said there's no one in downtown who hasn't heard Molly's voice through the years. He described Molly as a "worker" out of three types of people. "You have the tiniest group, those who do all the work; 'shirkers' that sit around and 'jerkers,' the ones that say they're going to do it and bail in the last minute and take the credit to make them look good," he said. "ere have been so many baby steps, and it's through people like Molly. She's a valuable asset to this community." Hathaway recalled nominating Arnold for the chamber of commerce's Athena Award in 2003. e prestigious honor recognizes someone who demonstrates the greatest support for the goals of professional women. Naturally, Arnold won the award – a surprise to her. She learned of Hathaway's involvement later. "When she won the award, she just said 'thank you' and didn't like the attention," Hathaway said while laughing during a phone interview. "She told me she would get me back." Arnold got her revenge in 2014. Hathaway earned the

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