News at the School of Government
Twelve communities have been selected to work with the Local Government Service Corps’ Golden LEAF Management Advisors.
Local Government Service Corps to Aid North Carolina Communities
Twelve towns have been selected to participate in the North Carolina Local Government Service Corps. The two-year initiative, a partnership between the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government and Appalachian State University, is designed to assist some of the most economically distressed communities in the state. The project is funded by a grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation. The NC Rural Economic Development Center and the NC League of Municipalities have been active in supporting the Service Corps and shaping its development.
Golden LEAF Administrators Trained to assist
The pilot phase of the Service Corps project will deploy four graduates from three of the state’s master of public administration (MPA) programs to work as Golden LEAF Management Advisors with the selected communities. The management advisors, who will earn their MPA degrees this spring, have received advanced training in economic development, local government management, and proposal writing and grant administration. They will provide hands-on economic development and capacity-building assistance to the selected communities for two years, beginning in August 2009. In addition, public officials in the host communities will receive scholarships to attend regional Essentials of Economic Development workshops offered by the School of Government in partnership with Appalachian State University and other universities as regionally appropriate.
Towns Partner to Address Priorities
The communities, selected in geographic clusters in order to facilitate one management advisor being able to work with several communities in an area, include Drexel, Hildebran, and Rutherford College; Dobson, Boonville, and Cooleemee; Star, Candor, and Ellerbe; and Bolton, Northwest, and Navassa. Each cluster of communities has agreed to share the services of a management advisor, and has defined specific projects or priorities to be addressed during the two-year period.
Emily Williamson, Hildebran town council member and vice president for student development at Western Piedmont Community College, said, “The impact of our participation in the Service Corps program should be transformative. The elected officials and residents of Hildebran have invested in planning and strategies to assist in our community’s economic recovery, and the skills that a professional manager can provide will enable our community to pursue and implement these strategies in ways we could not do otherwise.”
The Golden LEAF Management Advisors are John Gowan from UNC-Chapel Hill, Elton Daniels from UNC-Wilmington, and Amanda Reid and Tyler Beardsley from Appalachian State University. Will Lambe, associate director of the Community and Economic Development program at the School of Government, is project director for the Service Corps initiative.
For more information about the Local Government Service Corps, contact Will Lambe, associate director of the Community and Economic Development Program, at 919.966.4247 or whlambe@sog.unc.edu.