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The word "Due" read from top-down and "South" left-right, with the U shared between them. Reminiscent of a compass.

Due South

'Swim for Charlie' helps NC kids learn to swim. And how Columbus County became a 'pool desert.'

By Leoneda Inge,

Stacia Brown, Rachel McCarthy

Published September 1, 2025 at 12:00 PM EDT

0:01:00

How Swim for Charlie aims to even the swim safety field

More children ages 1 to 4 die from drowning than from any other cause of death. And drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death for kids ages 5 through 14. Swim for Charlie is a local nonprofit organization helping second graders to learn how to swim. We're joined by the organization's president, who offers water safety tips for swimmers. This interview originally aired June 11, 2024.

Dr. Jonathan Klein, President and Board Chair of Swim for Charlie

0:13:00

Ruth Pointer (center) with daughter Issa Pointer (left) and granddaughter Sadako Pointer

Ruth Pointer reflects on her legendary career with The Pointer Sisters

Ruth Pointer is the eldest sister in the Pointer family and the only surviving member of the legendary Pointer sisters. She talks to Leoneda Inge about her long career and what it's been like to perform without her sisters (and with her daughter and granddaughter by her side). This interview originally aired July 11, 2024.

Ruth Pointer, founding member of the Pointer Sisters

Stagnant water accumulated in the now-defunct swimming pool on Elm Street in Fair Bluff, NC.

0:33:00

With no public swimming pools within a one-hour drive, Columbus County has become a pool desert.

Columbus County, NC doesn’t have a single public pool, and, says Border Belt Independent reporter Ben Rappaport, the nearest one is at least an hour away. He talks to co-host Leoneda Inge about a story he reported in partnership with The Assembly called “The Abandoned Pools of Columbus County.” It’s a story of economics and rural decay, and a story of racism. This interview originally aired September 3, 2024.

Ben Rappaport, reporter at the Border Belt Independent

Due South

Leoneda Inge

Leoneda Inge is the co-host of WUNC's "Due South." Leoneda has been a radio journalist for more than 30 years, spending most of her career at WUNC as the Race and Southern Culture reporter. Leoneda’s work includes stories of race, slavery, memory and monuments. She has won "Gracie" awards, an Alfred I. duPont Award and several awards from the Radio, Television, Digital News Association (RTDNA). In 2017, Leoneda was named "Journalist of Distinction" by the National Association of Black Journalists.

See stories by Leoneda Inge

Stacia Brown

Stacia L. Brown is a writer and audio storyteller who has worked in public media since 2016, when she partnered with the Association of Independents in Radio and Baltimore's WEAA 88.9 to create The Rise of Charm City, a narrative podcast that centered community oral histories. She has worked for WAMU’s daily news radio program, 1A, as well as WUNC’s The State of Things. Stacia was a producer for WUNC's award-winning series, Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon and a co-creator of the station's first children's literacy podcast, The Story Stables. She served as a senior producer for two Ten Percent Happier podcasts, Childproof and More Than a Feeling. In early 2023, she was interim executive producer for WNYC’s The Takeaway.

See stories by Stacia Brown

Rachel McCarthy

Rachel McCarthy is a producer for "Due South." She previously worked at WUNC as a producer for "The Story with Dick Gordon." More recently, Rachel was podcast managing editor at Capitol Broadcasting Company where she developed narrative series and edited a daily podcast. She also worked at "The Double Shift" podcast as supervising producer. Rachel learned about audio storytelling at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Prior to working in audio journalism, she was a research assistant at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC.

See stories by Rachel McCarthy