Community-Campus Partnership Provides $20,000 Grant for Education Program in Caswell County

Community and Economic Development – Blog by UNC School of Government

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Community-Campus Partnership Provides $20,000 Grant for Education Program in Caswell County

By CED Guest Author

Published September 16, 2010

Will Lambe is the Director of the Community & Economic Development Program and the Community-Campus Partnership.

The Community-Campus Partnership (CCP) has awarded a $20,000 grant to School of Education Professor Suzanne Gulledge and the Carolina ACES (Academic Curriculum Enrichment Students) project. The grant will help bring UNC-Chapel Hill student mentors and specialized education programming to N.L. Dillard Middle School in Yanceyville, N.C.

Professor Gulledge, ACES project director said, “I hope that that the presence of Carolina students will enhance the learning experience for Caswell County’s middle school students and that this will be an enriching experience for everyone involved.”The ACES project will train UNC-Chapel Hill students to serve as classroom mentors for Yanceyville students in grades 6-8 at the only middle school in Caswell County. Approximately 10 to 12 UNC-Chapel Hill students will make weekly visits to Yanceyville throughout the fall 2010 semester. The college students will work to reinforce academic skills and habits that can raise the younger students’ potential for future academic success.

School of Education faculty will provide UNC-Chapel Hill students and Dillard School teachers with training in AVID (Advancement Via Individual Development), a nationally acclaimed program designed to support the academic achievement of young adolescents through work with college students in the school setting. Working together, local teachers and UNC-Chapel Hill students and faculty will design and implement the program in a way that will be most helpful to the Caswell County students. Local teachers will also be able to receive additional support from teachers in Orange and Durham counties who are experienced with the AVID model.

Nicole McGhee, assistant principal at N.L. Dillard Middle School, said, “We are certain that this project’s one-on-one and small group instruction will provide a great opportunity for our students, and we hope this partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill will blossom into more opportunities.”

The Community-Campus Partnership offers small grants ranging from $500 to $20,000 to full-time faculty, staff, or students of UNC–Chapel Hill to support projects that align with local priorities in Caswell and/or Lenoir counties. Projects must build local capacity, skills, or knowledge to address current and future challenges in the areas of community and economic development, education, infrastructure, or public health; and/or improve the livability and viability of local communities.

Will Lambe authored the NC Rural Center report, Small Towns, Big Ideas, and he served as Director of the Community and Economic Development Program at the School of Government from 2009 to 2014.