NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) – It was a vote that devastated Austin Sandlin.

“It was a gut punch to find out it’s really over,” he said.

When New Hanover County Commissioners voted to slash funding for Port City United, Sandlin’s job as a community resource coordinator at New Hanover High School was slashed too.

“I’ve been there everyday with the kids. It was really disappointing to leave them.”

The controversial county department was meant to stop violence at a grassroots level, and Sandlin believes that’s what he and his colleagues were doing by becoming a mentor for students who struggled to stay in school or had a rocky home life.

“They go outside and it’s neighborhood police patrols and people on the corner and should I go to school or should I choose this and I think we were helping that battle,” he explained.

However, staying close to the source and providing guidance within the community also got PCU into trouble.

The arrests of several of the program’s workers ultimately led to it falling out of favor with some county leaders.

But, Sandlin believes the same standards placed on Port City United employees should be followed at all levels of county government.

“If people place you down here and you make a mistake, you’re supposed to be shunned away forever. But if you’re up here, and you make a mistake, all it was was just a mistake. It’s they would never do that, that would never happen again. But, right is right and wrong is wrong.”

Sandlin says a few bad headlines shouldn’t overshadow the entire project and his students are proof of that.

“It showed that the work was being done. I really felt like it was making a difference.”

And although his job is over, he still has plenty of work to do.

As for what’s next, a spokesperson for New Hanover County says PCU employees will be priority hires based on openings within the county.

PCU will officially close at the end of June.

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