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

The program sent Andrew Spiliotis, who received a Master’s degree in city and regional planning from the UNC department of city and regional planning in May, to Charlotte for 10 weeks to provide aid to the Centralina COG. While there, Spiliotis is assisting in the application process for grants funded by the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, part of the national economic stimulus package passed in February.

Spiliotis is currently assisting the Community and Economic Development Director, Laura Mundell, in the application process for a Community Development Block Grant. A CDBG is a type of grant that is used to fund community development projects that include rehabilitation and replacement for housing. The proposal, if the application is chosen, will create jobs and benefit low to moderate income residents of the municipalities of the Centralina COG.

In addition to grant applications, Spiliotis will also be working on projects in the planning department of the Centralina COG such as helping to update model ordinances used to provide technical assistance to member municipalities.

Spiliotis believes that this internship will provide excellent career experience for his future ambitions of working in regional governments.

“I am thankful for this opportunity,” Spiliotis said. “Having worked and lived in the Charlotte region, this internship is allowing me to provide assistance to communities in a region that I am familiar with and care about.”

Spiliotis will also participate in an ongoing project with the other interns that 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.
    
Spiliotis 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 Governments, including those from the areas of Asheville, Greensboro, 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 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 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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