Carolina Economic Recovery Corps to aid towns, counties in seeking recovery funds
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Office of Economic Development and Business Development, in an effort to help smaller cities, towns and counties to research, apply for and possibly acquire American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds, has announced the creation of the Carolina Economic Recovery Corps (CERC). The corps is made up of eight graduate students from UNC who will spend 10 weeks this summer working full time as interns with Councils of Governments (COGs), specifically focused on recovery funds.
The corps program was born out of “recognition of the need for technical assistance for some of the small towns and counties that may not have the resources on their own to pursue recovery funding,” said Charles Archer, the League's associate director for operations and federal relations and chief point person on the ARRA. Archer stated that these eight corps interns will help the communities with compliance, grant writing, reporting and more. He stated that the eight COGs that were chosen were picked because of their capacity to include interns and to provide mentors to them.
A majority of the ARRA deadlines have already passed; however, there are some programs that are still “in play.” Of the 43 programs of interest to municipalities that the League has tracked, seven remain open to application: Community Development Block Grant; Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing; State Energy Program; Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant; Assistance to Firefighters Grants; Broadband Technology Opportunities Program; and Rural Utility Service (RUS) Distance Learning, Telemedicine, and Broadband Program. Archer said that the best chance for many of these communities still hoping for federal recovery funding is maybe the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant.
More than 70 candidates from UNC applied for the positions, from which eight were chosen from the following disciplines: City and Regional Planning (DCRP), Law and Social Work. The interns will be expected to work full time at the location of the COGs. Not only will the interns work in their COGs, but they will also work with nearby COGs that don't have the capacity for interns.
A day of intensive training occurred at the School of Government on May 19 from the COGs, the League and faculty of the School of Government. All eight COGS had staff members present for the entire day and got to know their respective Corps members.
Funding for the CERC program comes from the UNC Office of Economic Development and Business Development. Each intern will receive $6,000 for the 10-week program.
In addition, the eight interns will collectively work on a project for the League and the Association of County Commissioners to inventory which local governments have applied for recovery funds or plan to do so.
Here is a list of the Corps members (and their disciplines) and their respective COGs:
Christian Brill (Law) Triangle J COG (RTP)
Alison Gillette (DCRP) Isothermal Planning and Development Commission (Rutherfordton)
Carynne Hardy (Social Work) Piedmont Triad COG (Greensboro)
Julie Lawhorn (DCRP) Land of Sky Regional Commission (Asheville)
Meredith Ritchie (Law) Cape Fear COG (Wilmington)
Charessa Sawyer (Social Work) Mid-East Commission (Washington)
Andrew Spiliotis (DCRP) Centralina COG (Charlotte)
Ashley Yingling (DCRP) Upper Coast Plain COG (Wilson)
