LLETE Global Equity Corps

NC CENTRAL UNIVERSITY BIG IDEA: HBCU LLETE GLOBAL EQUITY CORPS

Addressing Equity and Power Dynamics in Civil Society by Developing Diverse Young Leaders with Advanced Skills in Innovation, Civic Engagement, and Social Entrepreneurship

Timeline for Project:
January to August 2021

Project Summary:

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) has undertaken a planning process to design immersive civil society leadership programs for undergraduates at Historically Black Colleges (HBCUs) across North Carolina and other states in the American South and to explore the potential for adaptation to partner institutions in the Open Society University Network (OSUN). In the US we will recruit students from diverse, lower-income backgrounds, many first generation to attend college, who will receive scholarship stipends via Federal Work-Study to help them combat the escalating cost of higher education while they work to address important social and environmental problems in their local communities. In addition they will engage in research related to entrepreneurship and economic development.

The project follows a four-year student development model, preparing undergraduates for a lifetime of leadership in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Programs combine curricular, co-curricular and experiential components, requiring students to work approximately 10 hours a week with community-based organizations. Students also participate in accelerated leadership training that develops their skills in public policy analysis, social entrepreneurship, economic development, and non-profit management. The program draws on local staff, faculty, government, nonprofit organizations, and local social entrepreneurs and experts for coaching and mentoring – networking these leaders together into a collaborative learning community.

The planning and design phase of the project will lay the groundwork to launch leadership programs at four HBCUs in North Carolina by the fall of 2021, while exploring possibilities at HBCUs in other states. A landscape analysis of select OSUN partners will be undertaken to explore its potential for adaptation to local conditions overseas. Our long-term goal is to prepare a generation of racially and socio-economically diverse leaders with the skills to drive durable social change, while facilitating a two-way exchange of best practices between institutions of higher education where requested.

Background on the Fiscal Sponsor:

NCCU will serve as the fiscal sponsor. NCCU is the nation’s first public liberal arts institution for African American students and is one of the 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina system. It was honored as 2016 HBCU of the Year by HBCU Digest and ranked No. 10 HBCU in America (out of 111 HBCUs) in 2019 by US News & World Report. It offers bachelor’s degrees in 100 fields, graduate degrees in more than 40 and an annual local economic impact of over $304M.

A Hybrid Learning Model:

The model utilizes community-engaged scholarship and public service infrastructure that already exists at universities, piggybacking on Offices of Community Service and Centers for Civic Engagement and Social Entrepreneurship initiatives to improve cost efficiency and sustainability. It blends academic and co-curricular training, research and applied experiential learning, including work with social enterprise startups. Research elements will be undertaken in partnership with local social entrepreneurs, government agencies, and community-based participatory research networks. Civic engagement projects will be linked to local nonprofits. The model challenges students to pursue multi-disciplinary and inter-sector approaches to social change.

Strategic University Partners:

  • US: The primary focus of the project will be on engaging four HBCUs in North Carolina, however we will explore opportunities for collaboration beyond the state as well. We will map campus and community resources, including offices of civic engagement, scholarships and financial aid, academic partners (public policy, business, social work and education, etc.).
  • OSUN: Overseas the focus will be on engaging strategic partners in the Open Society University Network (OSUN), mapping out local conditions and priorities at each one, sharing course materials, program guidelines and best practices and developing program exchanges where opportunities exist.

Influences on Program Design:

The leadership model incorporates service, advocacy, and social entrepreneurship, drawing on existing models such as the following:

  1. Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Research Clinic and Lab. This new initiative at NC Central University is designed to diversify the field of research into community economic development and social entrepreneurship, helping create a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem across the US, one rooted in the principles of social justice and equity. It supports Faculty Fellows, who will be trained to guide 25 undergraduate researchers per year, and 10 more in the summers, who will be paid to work with local government and social entrepreneurs. The program is funded by the Ewing Kauffman Foundation, whose $400,000 investment will serve as a match for this project.
  2. Bonner Leaders Program. Founded in 1990, Bonner supports students from lower-income backgrounds at 65 colleges around the US (approximately 2,500 leaders a year), who earn their scholarships by working with local nonprofits (1,000 hours over four years of college). Students also participate in 250 hours of leadership workshops on race, equity, social justice, systems thinking, design thinking, strategic planning, fundraising per year. Bonner includes senior capstone projects and links to academic courses on social change. Students across the network are part of a regularly convened leadership body, as are faculty and administrators. It is a dynamic learning network with an impressive 30-year track record.
  3. Social Innovation Initiative and CUBE. This program has been operating for a decade at the University of North Carolina and combines a social innovation lab, a Bonner Scholars program and a student volunteer center. It offers a blend of formal, non-formal and informal learning approaches, including courses for credit through the Department of Public Policy, regular workshops on civic engagement and social entrepreneurship, professional mentoring and coaching, and seed funding for project and venture development. We believe that providing an incubator space supported by mentoring, coaching, seed funding, and workshops is a natural complement to an academic program.

The Challenge:

The time is ripe to invest boldly in Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the American South in order to elevate a rising generation of diverse leaders who can revitalize American democracy. This project is designed to redress power and equity gaps in civil society that have marginalized diverse voices. It does this by engaging students from lower-income backgrounds and minorities from communities of color, helping them finance higher education, and linking these programs to powerful grassroots social movements such as Reverend Dr. Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign and entrepreneurial economic development strategies.

We believe that each generation must learn how to make democracy work, and that universities have a critical role to play in that process. Universities are not just elite centers of research and knowledge creation; they are also powerful platforms that shape future leaders. They teach them not just to research and analyze complex social and environmental problems but also how to apply design and systems thinking; how to take multi-disciplinary and inter-sector approaches; how to utilize data analytics and GIS mapping; and how to think like a social entrepreneur and scale social impact. Because Universities recruit youth from diverse racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, they are well-positioned to develop broad-radius social capital.

Unfortunately, higher education is increasingly unaffordable for many. Our solution is to pay students to develop and practice these civil society skills while they are in college. It is a cost-effective strategy that builds upon existing university infrastructure (both on campus and in the community) and challenges young leaders to combine theory, practice, and professional development. (A recent study of AmeriCorps programs found the return on investment in that program to be on average $17 for every $1 invested).

COVID-19 has put in stark relief systemic inequities related to public health, economic mobility, and education in many countries. In the US it comes as social trust is at an all-time low, political polarization at an all-time high, and the wealth gap at obscene levels. In response we are witnessing a spark of activism across the country not seen since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. This is being led by young people drawn into the fight for racial equity, fairness, women’s equality, immigrant rights, gun control, etc. It is beginning to seep into formal political processes through the election of local, state and federal representatives. And it is leading a rising generation of young leaders to pursue careers that blend private, public and nonprofit approaches to solving complex problems.

Intermediate Goals (January to August 2021)

  • Conduct stakeholder and landscape analysis and customize strategic plans for the launch of civil society leadership programs for students from low-income backgrounds at four HBCUs in North Carolina and potentially others beyond the state.
  • Develop a toolkit of best practices, syllabi, learning rubrics, program evaluation and management tools from the Bonner network to share with HBCUs in North Carolina and across OSUN.
  • Design a leadership program model that combines elements of Bonner, EERCL and CUBE,

including curricular and co-curricular materials, learning rubrics, marketing, recruitment, evaluation and assessment materials, academic courses and research models.

  • Launch programs at four HBCUs in fall of 2021 (10-15 students per campus) with an eye to expand across the Carolinas should the results of the pilot merit the investment.
  • Simultaneously conduct stakeholder and landscape analysis of universities in the OSUN network, exploring potential for similar civil society leadership program models. Help these institutions adapt toolkits of best practices to local conditions and priorities.

Longer-term goals (five years)

  • Increase number of US students of color and from lower-income backgrounds engaged in civic engagement, equity and social entrepreneurship, creating a network across North Carolina for approximately 400 undergraduate students a year (40 students at ten HBCUs) to pay their way through college by immersing themselves in the work of civil society organizations. Build the staffing and academic infrastructure to sustain these efforts.
  • Increase number of leaders of color pursuing full-time national and community service opportunities such as Peace Corps, AmeriCorps/VISTA after college.
  • Develop a civil society leadership model that is adaptable internationally to local conditions and priorities across OSUN, one that can bring greater social and economic and racial diversity as a leadership strategy for strengthening and renewing civil society and democracy.
  • Facilitate joint project development, sharing of syllabi, program materials, best practices between HBCUs and OSUN partners.

Deliverables

  • “Toolkits:” Organize essential material about civic engagement, equity and social entrepreneurship best practices pulled from EERCL, UNC, CUBE, and Bonner. They will include curriculum, co-curriculum, marketing, communications and recruitment strategies, application and selection materials and process, fundraising strategies, community learning agreements, community partner relationship management, assessment frameworks, learning outcomes rubrics, student development models, first year seminars and capstone projects, and course(s) on social change.
  • Landscape and Stakeholder Analysis: Conduct interviews with key stakeholders within partner institutions at HBCUs in North Carolina and priority institutions across OSUN to map out potential for program replication and partnership development. Conduct interviews with student affairs, provost office, centers for civic/community engagement, offices of scholarships and financial aid, etc. Produce an evaluation of all ten HBCUs in North Carolina and three to five OSUN partners by the end of spring 2021.
  • Strategic Plans for Program Launch: Customize strategies to launch leadership programs at HBCUs, including funding models staffing, program design for launch. If there is interest by OSUN partners, prepare plans for them as well. Foster linkages and relationships between HBCUs and OSUN where synergy seems ripe for development, exploring possibilities for student and faculty exchanges, jointly organized civic engagement projects.

Principal Leaders and Advisors:

  • Dr. Henry McKoy is the Director of Entrepreneurship at NC Central University with a background in finance, entrepreneurship, urban planning and economic development.
  • Richard Harrill teaches Political Studies and is a CCE Fellow at Bard College, where he used to direct its Globalization and International Affairs Program. He also teaches Public Policy at the University North Carolina   and has worked on national and international youth service for more than three decades, with extensive   experience in Central and Eastern Europe.
  • James Shields, former Director of the Bonner Center for Community Learning at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.
  • Additional Advisors:
    • Robert Hackett: President, The Bonner Foundation.
    • Susan Stroud: Retired President, Innovation in Civic Participation; Founder of Campus Compact and the Talloires Network.

The goal is to create a service year type program (i.e. peace corps, teach for America, Americorps) that would create a corps of LLETE (life and leadership education through entrepreneurship) graduates from across a network of global universities serving Bipoc populations – especially American based historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that would work on racial equity issues in health, education, and economic development based on their unique LLETE training in innovative approaches to racial equity impact and evaluation.  These students will get access to the DGEP campus(es) for experiential learning.  There are over 100 HBCUs in the united states.  Following 2-year placements as part of the LLETE corps, the young people would be encouraged to return and gain higher educational credentials to prepare them for careers in active research and practice in racial equity around the world.