University’s Partnership with Wake County Shows Community Impact

The Wake Community-University Partnership (Wake CUP) is an initiative designed to use the intellectual capital of NC State University to respond to community-identified needs in Wake County. The University and the County works towards social and economic vitality in two regions: Southeast Raleigh and Eastern Wake County (including Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon). The broad focal areas include civic engagement, community wellness, and economic opportunity. The long-term goals are to build on the existing local engagement initiatives and with a more intentional focus on partnerships that have broader positive community impacts.

Over the next 3-5 years, the NC State University Office of Outreach and Engagement (O&E) will work directly with Wake County Social and Economic Vitality (Wake SEV) to connect faculty, students, and staff to government, nonprofit, and business organizations to address community-identified needs. This partnership will include community-based research studies, joint funding initiatives, program development and implementation, the provision of professional services or technical assistance, community-based learning projects, and service activities.

More immediately, the goals for the 2019-2020 academic year are to:

Initiate a minimum of three faculty research projects that directly respond to Wake SEV community-identified needs.
Initiate at least two programs in partnership with NC State faculty that directly respond to Wake SEV community-identified needs.
Submit at least two proposals for grant funding with organizational partners in the SEV engagement zones.
Increase by 50% the number of NC States students involved in SEV-related programs or volunteer opportunities.

Over the past two years, the following are some of the projects O&E has funded through the community-engaged incentive awards program:

The Grassroots Nonprofit Leadership Academy (GNLA) – Dr. Richard Clerkin (College of Humanities and Social Sciences), Enhancing Leadership Capacities for Social Innovation in Wake County. This partnership between the NC State Institute for Nonprofits, Wake County Cooperative Extension (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), and Wake County Human Services developed an innovative program to enhance the leadership skills of nonprofit organizations in Wake County.

Middle Class Express – Dr. Kimberly Allen (College of Agriculture and Life Sciences), Utilizing Coaching to Enhance Resiliency, Economic Self-Efficacy, and Social Wellbeing in Wake County’s Human Capital Development Program – This project will reimagine an existing human capital development program established by Wake County in 2008, to include new research and promising practices related to adverse child experiences and protective factors. The aims of the project are to train program staff in Family Life Coaching techniques and protective factors, provide recommendations for the program model to include emphasis on protective factors, create messaging to educate the public on family coaching, and collect qualitative data from community members for input on program development.

Day-to-Day Dad – Dr. Qiana Cryer-Coupet (College of Humanities and Social Sciences) and Dr. Angela Wiseman (College of Education), Trauma Informed Parenting Support for Recovery (TIPS 4 Recovery): Collaboration Across Pre-service Teachers and Social Workers – This project is a fatherhood initiative promoting child welfare with programs such as Love Notes and Child Care Partnerships. The goal is to increase communication, increase confidence, increase family values, and provide a support system through social worker development sessions, the design of a family room for fathers and children, and a webinar for social workers and teachers in Wake County.

The Imhotep Academy engages underrepresented middle school aged students in hands-on experiences with future technologies, including virtual reality and robotics.

Imhotep Academy – Dr. Pamela Gilchrist (College of Sciences) and Dr. Karen Chen (College of Engineering), Imhotep Academy: Virtual Reality and Robotics STEM Program Outreach – The Imhotep Academy is a longstanding virtual reality and STEM-focused outreach program offered through the Science House at NC State. This summer program engages underrepresented middle school aged students in hands-on experiences with future technologies, including virtual reality and robotics.

The Community Counseling and Education Research Center (CCERC) won an exemplary project award from Engagement Scholarship Consortium this past month. They have also began offering free and reduced priced counseling at the Crosby-Garfield Building (home of our WakeCUP partner, Wake SEV).

For more information contact Verna Best, SEV Program Manager, or Dr. Kwesi Brookins, or Kristin Feierabend, or follow us on Twitter at #WakeCUP or @NCState_oe.