![Brenda Howerton WIG](https://erepublic.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/eaaaeac/2147483647/strip/true/crop/770x513+0+0/resize/840x560!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ferepublic-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fa1%2F7d%2F193ffe026a90820f8f20028332e2%2Fbrenda-howerton-wig.jpg)
(David Kidd)
Now, after recently taking over as president of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners, she plans to tackle the issue statewide, launching a task force aimed at coordinating efforts across county governments and partner organizations.
Part of her passion for the issue stems from personal loss: Two of her sons were shot and killed in separate incidents in the 1990s. “It shaped my thinking about how we treat one another,” she says.
She represents a county experiencing a period of rapid growth, but with it have come growing pains around housing, schools and workforce development. That led Howerton, who also works as a career coach for private-sector executives, to push the county to establish its first long-term strategic plan. “What I do today is not about me,” she says. “It’s about people in this community and my children and grandchildren.”