The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is helping to revitalize the economies of small communities across the state through its internship program, the Carolina Economic Revitalization Corps.
The program is sending Suzanne Julian, a rising second-year graduate student in the public administration program at the School of Government, to work for 10 weeks with the Bayboro Small Towns Economic Prosperity (STEP) Committee in Bayboro. Julian will offer assistance for community and economic development projects as well as participate in other administrative tasks.
“We are thrilled to have Suzanne intern with us for the summer,” said Beth Bucksot, chairperson for the Business Entrepreneur Committee of the Bayboro STEP initiative. “Our organization is extremely grateful to have her help us to grow and link our community assets and resources.”
Previously, Julian served as the project manager of Hands On Gulf Coast, where she coordinated a multitude of disaster-relief projects following Hurricane Katrina. This experience built skills that Julian will rely upon while working with committee members as they finalize plans to be presented at the Bayboro Town Council.
Julian also gained additional experience over the past year, when she served as a research assistant at the Public Intersection Project at the School of Government and facilitated local government strategic planning sessions.
Originally from Texas, where she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in sociology, Julian is looking forward to becoming more familiar with the eastern part of the state and becoming a helpful resource for the community.
“I am excited to be part of the CERC program this year,” Julian said. “There are a lot of great community and economic development projects already in the works, and I am excited to help advance them.”
Julian is one of six interns who will participate in the Revitalization Corps this summer. Started in 2009 as the Carolina Economic Recovery Corps to respond to communities that needed help applying for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, the university-wide program was created by the Office of Economic and Business Development and is administered by the School of Government. Funding comes from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development, the Graduate School and the N.C. Rural Center. The program continues this summer as a way to give graduate students considerable on-the-job experience while helping municipalities with community and economic development planning.
The interns come from the departments of city and regional planning in the College of Arts and Sciences, public administration in the School of Government and the Gillings School of Global Public Health. They trained at the School of Government before taking a full-time position at a regional organization located in North Carolina. When they return to UNC for the fall semester, the interns will spend 12 hours per week working remotely during the school year. Interns receive a paid stipend, tuition support and graduate student health insurance.
In addition to the Bayboro (STEP) Committee, interns this year have been assigned to work with the North Carolina’s Northeast Commission office in Edenton, Cape Fear Council of Governments in Wilmington, the Lumber River Council of Governments in Pembroke, the Land-of-Sky Council of Governments in Asheville, and the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments in Henderson.
Map showing corps member placements: http://bit.ly/aTTB9q
Photo: http://uncnews.unc.edu/images/stories/news/students/2010/cercjulian.jpg
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Carolina graduate student to help with revitalizing the town of Bayboro
