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

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

The program is sending Christian Brill, a third-year student at the UNC School of Law, to the Research Triangle Park for 10 weeks to provide assistance to the Triangle J COG. While there, Brill will be identifying funding opportunities made possible by federal aid, ensuring that cities and counties are aware of those opportunities and providing additional resources for jurisdictions to apply for those funds.

More specifically, Brill’s job is to find and publicize grants and other funding opportunities that are financed by federal aid from the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, part of the national economic stimulus package passed in February. Brill’s work includes guiding the municipalities of the Triangle J COG through the stages of applying for these funding opportunities and answering any questions that may arise in the process. 

Brill is helping to tailor funding applications to fit the needs of each municipality and county of the Triangle J COG. His work will be extremely important given the variety of communities within the Triangle J region, which includes Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange and Wake counties.

One thing Brill is looking forward to is being able to see the role that UNC will play in North Carolina’s economic recovery.

“This initiative is a great example of UNC’s commitment to the state,” Brill said of the Recovery Corps program. “It will be exciting to help federal dollars have the maximum impact on North Carolinians who are outside the university community.”

Brill is one of nine interns who are 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, Greensboro, Rutherfordton, Washington, Wilson and Wilmington. 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 department of city and regional planning in the College of Arts and Sciences 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, jwhite@unc.edu; Joshua Levy, (919) 843-5453, jwlevy@email.unc.edu
News Services contact: Susan Houston, (919) 962-8415, susan_houston@unc.edu

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