Confronting Poverty Globally and Locally

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Maureen Berner first joined UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Government in 1998. She teaches evaluation and analysis courses for MPA students and provides similar training and advising to state and local government officials throughout North Carolina. Her personal research focuses on the ability of local organizations to address food insecurity, poverty and income inequality. She has worked with nonprofits, food banks, local governments and state agencies. She was a 2014–2016 UNC Thorp Engaged Faculty Fellow, a Visiting Scholar with the University of Ghent in Belgium in the fall of 2017 and recipient of numerous academic rewards. She earned a Ph.D. in public policy from the LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin; an MPP from Georgetown University; and a B.A. in global studies from the University of Iowa.

Anita R. Brown-Graham rejoined UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Government in September 2016 to lead the public launch of ncIMPACT – a special initiative that seeks to expand the School’s capacity to work with public officials on complex policy issues like economic mobility, poverty, extending the labor pool and opioid misuse and abuse. Her first tour as a School faculty member was from 1994 to 2006, during which she specialized in governmental liability and community economic development aimed at revitalizing communities. In 2007, Brown-Graham became Director of the Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) at NC State University, where she led IEI’s efforts to build North Carolina’s capacity for economic development and prosperity. She began her career as a law clerk in the Eastern District of California. She is a William C. Friday Fellow, American Marshall Fellow and Eisenhower Fellow. In 2013, the White House named her a Champion of Change for her work at IEI, and the Triangle Business Journal named her a 2014 Woman in Business for her policy leadership in the state and a 2017 CEO of the year. She serves on the boards of several organizations. She earned an undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and a law degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Paul Cuadros is an award-winning investigative reporter and author whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Time magazine and other national and local publications. He joined UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism in 2007. For the past 20 years, Paul has focused his reporting on issues of race and poverty in America. In 1999, he won a fellowship with the Alicia Patterson Foundation. The culmination of his reporting was his book, A Home on the Field: How One Championship Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America, which tells the story of Siler City, NC, as it copes and struggles with Latino immigration through the lives of a predominantly Latino high school soccer team. He is a co-recipient of the 2006 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Award, Team Award, for his contribution to the radio series North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty broadcast on WUNC-FM. Paul serves as the chair and executive director of the UNC Scholars’ Latino Initiative and he is the co-founder of the Carolina Latina/o Collaborative.

Jonathan Oberlander is professor and chair of social medicine and professor of health policy and management at UNC-Chapel Hill. He also holds an adjunct appointment in the department of political science. His research and teaching interests include healthcare politics and policy, healthcare reform, Medicare and American politics and public policy. He speaks regularly to community groups, medical professionals and non-academic audiences on healthcare reform, the Affordable Care Act and Medicare, trying to translate the complexity and technical detail of health policy into something more understandable and accessible. He has commented on healthcare politics for a number of media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and more. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in political science from Yale University and a B.A. in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Luiz André Pimenta is the assistant dean for global initiatives at the School of Dentistry at UNC-Chapel Hill. In this position, he directs the Office of Global Initiatives and advises on the structure of the office, exploring how the school can utilize its resources more efficiently to impact oral health on a global level in addition to developing new and exciting programs that support the global mission of the University. He also oversees the School’s international service trips and acts as the dental director for the UNC Craniofacial Center.

Lisa M. Chapman is the president of Central Carolina Community College. Previously, she was senior vice president/chief academic officer at the North Carolina Community College System Office in Raleigh, NC. She previously served as executive vice president of instruction/chief academic officer and vice president of academic affairs/chief academic officer at Central Carolina Community College. She earned a Doctor of Curriculum and Instruction from UNC-Chapel Hill, a Master of Science in physiology from East Tennessee State University and a Bachelor of Science in zoology from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Walter Dalton is the president of Isothermal Community College. He previously served as NC’s lieutenant governor and in the November 2012 election, he was the state’s Democratic candidate for governor. He previously taught at Gardner-Webb University and served as special assistant to GWU’s president. Walter is an attorney who served in the North Carolina Senate from 1996 to 2007. He has served on the State Board of Education, the State Board of Community Colleges and the North Carolina Economic Development Board. He chaired the Senate Education and Appropriations committees. He is a former chair of the Isothermal Community College Board of Trustees. He earned his Juris Doctorate and a B.S. in business administration from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Lawrence L. Rouse is the president of Pitt Community College. He has more than 36 years of experience in administration and was named NCCCS President of the Year in 2016. He is a graduate of Voorhees College and holds a master’s in education from the University of South Carolina and an educational doctorate from NC State University.

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Becoming a small business owner from a position of poverty is a difficult journey, but it is possible. While the challenges faced by all prospective business owners are more acute for those dealing with poverty, there are free and low-cost tools and services that can help. This session will provide an overview of free and low-cost resources for starting a business in North Carolina. We will also discuss some of the planning that must occur in order to avoid unnecessary costs in developing a business. As a result of the session, we will provide the basis for making an informed decision on whether or not business ownership is a prudent and accessible endeavor.

Are you interested in starting a Global Distinction program on your campus? Global Distinction campuses commit to developing and offering globally intensive courses and activities through which students can earn a global distinction credential. Hear how this program started on two campuses, lessons learned along the way and how to globalize a course. Participants will make connections on how students, business and industry all benefit from more globally aware students and college campuses.

This session will provide an overview of the basic steps required to start a business in NC. We will explore all the state, federal and nonprofit resources that are available to help small businesses succeed! We will also review the resources available for existing businesses to find, train and develop talent which will further enhance the overall NC economy.

Are you interested in helping businesses and communities in your region grow? NCGrowth is a university center at UNC-Chapel Hill that works with businesses and communities to create good jobs and equitable opportunities. In this session we will discuss projects involving community college partners across North Carolina. We will also introduce Homegrown Tools as a classroom teaching tool. Homegrown Tools is a new website which compiles case studies that tell the story of small towns that have successfully stimulated private investment and job creation.

At a time of unprecedented humanitarian need, from the Syrian conflict, the refugee crisis in the Lake Chad basin, Rohingya crisis, to migration, climate change, natural disasters, and protracted crisis, how do humanitarian agencies and the wider international system respond to the challenges of pursuing principled humanitarian engagement? How do we address fundamental questions of ethics, access, security, and humanitarian principles? How do organizations structure themselves to sufficiently address the challenge?

This session will highlight Rise Against Hunger’s unique local-to-global humanitarian food and emergency aid provision efforts, as well as explore ways medium-sized NGOs prepare for a complex humanitarian space. An overview of the challenges organizations tackle in initiating, building and implementing humanitarian response strategies will be discussed and delve into the essentials of the humanitarian system aiming to create a common understanding of the operating context, key actors in the humanitarian relief system, and practices affecting current and future humanitarian interventions.

The goal of this session is to help community colleges consider ways to combat poverty and address equity on their campus. Specifically, the session will share the ways Pitt Community College is addressing poverty on campus, focusing on the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS). The presenters will discuss WHAT the simulation is, WHY the decision was made to bring CAPS to Pitt Community College, and HOW it makes an impact on our campus community.

From the perspective of students, this session will share how food insecurity affects individuals across the United States and globally. The presenters will focus on how the Carolina Cupboard, an on-campus food pantry at UNC-Chapel Hill that provides food at no cost to students who are facing food insecurity, combats food insecurity on the local level in the UNC community. Food insecurity awareness strategies will be revealed, as well as the stigmatization of food pantries. The session will also provide details about the origination of the program with hopes that community colleges educators will be inspired to start similar initiatives on their campus.

The workforce is changing! Both employers and job seekers must change in order to meet the challenges of the future. At the NCWorks Career Centers, staff are focused on building the workforce that is needed not only today, but years into the future. Career Center staff assist job seekers with addressing barriers to employment, developing and enhancing employability skills, and connecting businesses with available talent. This session will focus on the resources available through the NCWorks Career Centers and the NCWorks NextGen Centers.

Many residents of Weldon, North Carolina face health challenges. Specifically, the rate of diabetes in Halifax County is 13.7 percent, and 24 percent of the population in Halifax County reported poor or fair health, compared to 18 percent in North Carolina and 12 percent nationally (Healthy People for Healthy Places Report, 2019). This session will highlight Halifax Community College efforts through the Healthy Places for Healthy People program to develop an action plan for creating a more walkable, healthy, economically vibrant community, and for protecting the environment and human health by engaging with community health partners.

The impact and influence of study abroad to students have far-reaching effects, including personal, academic and professional development. In this session, participants will learn ways to develop partnerships and leverage government programming to provide study abroad opportunities to their campus. We will address how outside funding resources and consortia can help with campus internationalization without stretching the college’s bottom line.

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Exhibitors

Download your parking pass for the Friday Conference Center here.

Directions to the Friday Conference Center

100 Marriott Way, Chapel Hill, NC 27517

Rate – $129.00, guaranteed until October 14, 2019

Rooms can be booked by calling the hotel directly and mentioning the Community College Symposium room block or by following this link.

6119 Farrington Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27517

Rate – $104.00, guaranteed until October 13, 2019

Rooms can be booked by calling the hotel directly and mentioning the group code “CCS” or “UNC World View Community College Symposium.” Online reservations can be made using the following link.