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 Matthew Dudek, a rising third-year dual-degree graduate student in the department of city and regional planning and the public administration program at the School of Government, to work for 10 weeks with the Cape Fear Council of Governments. Dudek will provide research and grant-writing support for the commission as well as offer assistance for community and economic development projects.
“We are extremely blessed to have Matthew Dudek assisting us this summer,” said Chris May, executive director of the Cape Fear Council of Governments. “He immediately latched on to our work list for Columbus County with the fresh enthusiasm we needed to jump start initiatives designed to relieve the county’s economic woes.”
With a bachelor’s degree in political science from Gordon College in Massachusetts, Dudek currently serves as a co-leader of the Cleveland-Holloway Neighborhood Association in Durham and is also a part of Durham’s Inter-Neighborhood Council.
Dudek has also previously served as a policy analyst with the transportation and municipalities committees of the Massachusetts State Legislature as well as with the Massachusetts Municipal Association in Boston. This experience will enhance his work at the Cape Fear Council of Government.
“I feel honored to be selected to work with the Cape Fear Council of Government in Columbus County,” Dudek said. “I am hoping to gain a better understanding of how regional governments work. I am also hoping to put the skills I have learned in the UNC planning program and the public administration program to practical use.”
Dudek 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 Cape Fear Council of Governments, interns this year have been assigned to work with North Carolina’s Northeast Commission office in Edenton, the Lumber River Council of Governments in Pembroke, the Land-of-Sky Council of Governments in Asheville, Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments in Henderson and the Bayboro Small Towns Economic Prosperity Committee in Bayboro.
Map showing corps member placements: http://bit.ly/aTTB9q
Photo: http://www.blogger.com/images/stories/news/students/2010/img_9815b.jpg
Office of Economic and Business Development contacts: Jesse White
