Community and Economic Engagement Summit, Theme: Pathways to Economic Recovery
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University — Goal 2 Initiative Community and Economic Engagement Summit, Theme: Pathways to Economic Recovery
COVID impacts on communities of color have been disparate. Disproportionately negative impacts have exacerbated disparities in healthcare, financial equity, employment and access to services. Services such as food aid, vaccines, business loans, and other emergency support have also been made available to communities of color more slowly or not at all. North Carolina A&T's initiative focuses on inclusive recovery by using our newly developed model of Innovation and Economic Engagement (Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities). The summit is an event and a partnership process to support engagement opportunities and strengthen existing partnerships for economic development.
Faculty, staff, students, community members who own businesses in need of recovery support will benefit from this program, along with community members who aspire to own businesses to generate workforce opportunities and economic growth, policy makers.
Initiative Differentiators
This initiative revives an economic development summit North Carolina A&T hosted annually up to about 10 years ago. This new summit engages an inclusive perspective as the framework the school developed as part of its APLU self-study to engage minoritized communities to facilitate COVID recovery. The most exciting aspect of this project is the use of a more organized framework for economic engagement.
Key Interventions and Milestones
The summit focuses on small, minoritized businesses as vehicles for economic recovery and utilizes sessions, networks, and enabling partnerships. North Carolina A&T will share its framework and invite the Community Engagement Executive Director and Community and Economic Engagement Fellows to present the framework and initiative. It is a hybrid summit, allowing attendance virtually and in person. North Carolina A&T will continue using a long-term engagement plan to continue to collaborate and extend synergistic opportunities to support economic recovery. The impact is expected to span five years.
Expected Impact
The program aims to increase engagement of small businesses; increase capital recovery of small businesses; increase partnerships between minoritized business owners and local and state government; increase economic impact of minoritized businesses; advance in quality of life and workforce development.
