On April 11, around 40 Chapel Hill and Carrboro community members gathered at Speakeasy Carrboro to witness and partake in the first Policy Slam "Lightning Talk" Competition, hosted by NEXT Chapel Hill-Carrboro and UNC’s Community, Equity and Sustainability workgroup.
The event provided the opportunity for seven contestants to share local urban planning policies that can help create a more equitable community.
Each contestant had five minutes to present their policy. Once the contestants had presented, the audience was given 10 minutes to vote for the proposal they thought was the most impactful.
Molly DeMarco, a founding board member of NEXT — a nonprofit that promotes accessible and inclusive local policy — said the event was hosted to encourage community members to consider policies that would advance equity and to start a dialogue about taking collective action.
The Policy Slam was a good example of civic action, contestant and UNC sophomore Sawyer Husain said. His presentation focused on gender-based discrimination and harassment on public transit.
“What I’m really interested and fascinated in is urban life and how cities work,” Husain said. “This was the perfect opportunity to do something about increasing equity, but also with my personal passion for urban life and transit.”
Whitney Hall, a first-year UNC student studying city and regional planning, placed first in the competition. Hall heard about the event through Build U.P. UNC, an urban planning organization for undergraduate students, and she presented about the inequities perpetuated by historic districts in Chapel Hill.
Hall said it is important for the community to know that students are active and involved stakeholders, and that students should share their feelings and opinions because there are people willing to listen.
“I think that sometimes the student body as a whole is pushed aside as this one entity,” she said. “When in fact, many of them have unique stories and unique opinions to tell.”
