Access to Justice
The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity is currently focusing some of its research efforts on issues of access to justice. It is widely estimated that 80% of poor people in the U.S. cannot afford an attorney and cannot obtain representation by a publicly funded lawyer or one willing to work pro bono.
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The Moral Challenges of Poverty and Inequality
This three-year project is a collaboration between the Kenan Center for Ethics at Duke University and the UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. The project seeks to raise awareness of North Carolina's poverty issues, to examine the ethical considerations of policy and to educate future leaders.
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Community Empowerment Fund
The Community Empowerment Fund (CEF) is a student-run nonprofit that offers savings opportunities, small loans, financial education and a supportive network to qualified low income individuals in Chapel Hill and Durham.
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Poverty Center Seed Funding Grants
The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity's Seed Funding Grants are a reflection of its commitment to public engagement. Intended to encourage interdisciplinary poverty-related research at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, these grants offer short-term funding for researchers to develop innovative and applied research projects with community partners that lead to larger, sustained efforts.
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Student Research
The center works closely with students interested in poverty issues. Law students conduct legal and empirical research and help with the Center's activities.
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The New Orleans Recovery Initiative
The New Orleans Recovery Initiative (NORI) connected the university's expertise with efforts to rebuild the city after Katrina. Begun in spring 2007, NORI spanned over a year, involved numerous UNC faculty, staff and students, developed community and institutional partners in New Orleans, worked with neighborhood associations to assist in their regrowth, produced reports and maps, and has become an integral and ongoing part of the Center on Urban and Regional Studies at UNC.
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