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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is offering its help in the economic recovery planning of the Piedmont Triad Council of Governments (COG) through its new internship program, the Carolina Economic Recovery Corps.

The program will send Carynne Hardy, a second-year student in the UNC School of Social Work, to Greensboro for 10 weeks to provide assistance to the Piedmont Triad COG. While in Greensboro, Hardy will be writing and developing grant projects, as well as collaborating with local governments and surrounding councils of governments to apply for grants. She is also working with the Piedmont Triad COG to update its reference material concerning the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, part of the national economic stimulus package passed in February.

Hardy’s grant projects will primarily focus on energy conservation. Her first project is the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, a grant that funds the development of projects to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy use and decrease fossil fuel emissions in communities. She is assisting six local governments in completing and submitting their applications for the grant, while looking into a possible partnership with another COG on portions of the grant’s energy strategy.

Hardy is eager to learn more about grant writing and how local governments can benefit the federal stimulus funding while working in Greensboro this summer.

“Although I believe that I do have a lot to contribute to the Piedmont Council of Governments, I hope that I can learn even more while there,” Hardy said.  “Grant-writing experience, learning more about state appropriation of funds to local government and non-government organizations and seeing the world of social work from a broader perspective will be on my agenda for the summer.”

Hardy is also analyzing and reviewing the Piedmont Triad COG’s reference material on projects conducted with funding from the Recovery Act. She can then recommend the areas of funding that the COG can assist the local governments in obtaining.

This project is in conjunction with an ongoing project that Hardy will participate in with the other interns. The project will involve inventorying each of the Council of Governments’ funds from the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The project will make it easier for the COGs to find out which grants they are eligible for and which municipalities they will compete against to get them.

Hardy is one of nine interns who will be participating in the Recovery Corps this summer. The program, funded by the Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development and directed by the Office of Economic and Business Development, was implemented by the UNC as one response to the Recovery Act.

Seven of the other participants in the program are taking on individual projects at each of their locations. The interns have been assigned to different councils of government, including those from the areas of Asheville, Charlotte, Research Triangle, Rutherfordton, Washington, Wilmington and Wilson. There they work with their assigned COGs to come up with economic plans unique to each area. The ninth intern is assigned to the North Carolina League of Municipalities in a coordinating role.

The interns, chosen from a pool of more than 60 well-qualified applicants, include students and graduates of the UNC School of Law, the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ department of city and regional planning and the UNC School of Social Work.

After the finalists were chosen, they were required to complete an intensive day of training before they could start their work June 1. The training, put on with the help of the N.C. League of Municipalities and the state Council of Governments Association, consisted of instruction on the state’s goals for the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act and presentations that focused on grants that were important to the state. Grant writing for environmentally efficient energy, green jobs and large-scale broadband access were some of the topics.

Office of Economic and Business Development contacts: Jesse White, (919)-843-5454, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Joshua Levy, (919)843-5453, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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