UNC holds Carolina Engagement Week, connecting University with local community

This week marks UNC's fourth annual Carolina Engagement Week.

“Students will have a chance to engage in conversation and dialogue, and then they can build their own network of connections, and maybe learn about opportunities to get involved and build some skills,” Associate Director at the Carolina Center for Public Service Margaret Barrett said.  

The week consists of 48 events which Barrett said focus on Carolina’s engagement with communities outside the University.

Events, including a variety of virtual, hybrid and in-person options and opportunities to volunteer off-campus, will be held Feb. 24-28. Most of the events count toward Campus Life Experience credit, accessible on the Carolina Engagement Week website. 

The week was organized by multiple partners, including the Carolina Center for Public Service, Carolina Across 100, Innovate Carolina, UNC Rural, Carolina Engagement Council, the Center for Health Equity Research and ncIMPACT Initiative.

During the 2024 fall semester, UNC faculty, staff and students submitted proposals to apply to host events. Barrett said the week’s goal is to showcase projects that highlight collaboration, meaningful relationships and conversation between UNC and community partners.

Excluding in-person opportunities where capacity is limited, UNC community members may register up to the time of the event. Most events are free, but a select few have an associated registration cost.

The program kicked off Monday with a workshop hosted by the Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center. The workshop focused on the value of listening, rather than responding, in order to foster safe spaces and understanding.

Attendees sat in small group circles where they shared stories, memories and experiences based on prompts. Dried purple flowers were passed around one circle to indicate who would be speaking. As the hour passed, individuals of different ages, races, genders and nationalities sat and listened to what they described as one another’s shared humanity and belonging. 

The event was one of many planned that encompass diverse topics, including the Feb. 28 conversation with the North Carolina Inclusive Disaster Recovery Network or the Feb. 25 event, Carolina Community Garden: Growing for Good.

Some events, such as the Feb. 27 Growing Together: Tackling Food Insecurity through Effective Community Engagement presentation, are led by UNC undergraduate students. 

At Growing Together, UNC junior and recipient of the MacDonald Community Fellowship, a program allowing students to implement service projects, Taanvii Verma will speak about Providing Food for Families, Pantries, and Schools (PORCH), a grassroots organization focused on reducing food insecurity. 

Through Verma’s fellowship, she said she is working with PORCH Fresh, a subchapter of the organization focused on hosting monthly food drives at different locations and enabling people to get fresh food that is not readily available at food pantries. 

“Raising awareness on how exactly prevalent nutrition insecurity is and what we can do about it, and how we can form a community through doing something about it or through taking action is my primary reason for speaking at this event,” she said. 

Another event being led by UNC students is the Feb. 28 Ideas to Action: Effective Local Governance presentation featuring Chapel Hill Town Council member Theodore Nollert. The presentation will focus on how current issues at UNC relate to local government.

UNC sophomore and employee of the Office of Student Life and Leadership Tiffany Jones is a presenter at the event. She said it is important for students to understand how local government works so individuals can know how their voices could be heard. 

“We felt that doing this event and tying it to Carolina Engagement Week would hopefully interest other students in engaging in other activities,” Jones said. “And I also think we're one of the last events, so we feel that it was kind of a good closing to bring the organization back to home.”

Specific and further details regarding events can be found here.

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