Carolina Community Corps

Please see the message and opportunity below from our friends at Innovate Carolina:

The Office of Social Innovation is launching the Carolina Community Corps to collaborate with the University’s strategic plan, Carolina Next, in advancing Strategic Initiative 6: Serve to Benefit Society. We are working to reimagine the university’s role in serving North Carolina and how students can participate in that goal, by funding a set of proposals that are generated by the Carolina Community Corps. As a member of this student team, you will discuss, design and build upon your collective ideas to help students participate in and solve issues that communities care about most. We know that many students seek to better the community they grew up in, or the community they are currently residing in, and as part of this initiative, we aim to bring students and communities closer together as partners in creating public good.

We feel it is of the utmost importance that students drive a conversation around new and innovative ways to meet the needs of the state and beyond. At no time in the 225-year history of the University of North Carolina has it had such a dramatic and concentrated role to play in implementing ideas and discoveries for public benefit. Students are at the core of this work, and this is why we are launching this new group.

Learn more and get started: https://unc.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0CxAfJWq7gNPmyF

Welcome to the Carolina Community Corps application. We are working to reimagine the university’s role in serving North Carolina and how students can participate in that goal, by funding a set of proposals. This team of students will work together to create a set of recommendations and action plans and will then work to implement them.

The Office of Social Innovation is working to advance Carolina Next Strategic Initiative 6: Serve to Benefit Society and wants to involve students in this manner, as we know students have a different connection to the communities in our state than faculty and staff. Carolina Next has two guiding principles: Of the Public, For the Public and Innovation Made Fundamental. Between these two principles and Carolina’s mission to serve the state, student involvement is imperative in achieving that goal. Our students are creating our social and economic futures and we want to give them an avenue to do so.

We hope this team forges deeply collaborative partnerships to understand and address local challenges, respecting and involving the community in ways that develop sustainable local solutions to complex problems. We will be meeting once every two weeks, but you will be expected to commit a few hours a week to brainstorming and developing ideas, and eventually working in smaller recommendation-focused teams. Our vision is that students from across disciplines and classes will create a wide variety of recommendations that extinguish the need for information silos. In doing so, we believe we can better address the needs of our communities and the state.

We hope that you will complete our simple application and that you come to the table with an open mind. We have intentionally left this project open ended, as the Corps will be driving it from the start. With your creativity and bias towards action, we know that we can create actionable change in the service landscape of our state.

Please reach out to Abby Boettcher at abbygb@live.unc.edu with any questions.

The application will close August 31 and we will reach out to you a few days after with next steps.
We know that this is a difficult and busy time for many students so please reach out if you have any concerns.