GIVING NEWS
Foundation commits $3.6 million to create Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network in Research TriangleTwo gifts benefit student-athletes, Kenan Stadium renovation
Class of 1938 awards five UNC students travel fellowships
National College Advising Corps receives $1.5 million social innovation fund grant
Local governments to benefit from $1.6 million grant to fund UNC initiatives
Foundation commits $3.6 million to create Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network in Research Triangle
N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue speaks at the April event that announced the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network.
Dan Sears
Partner universities include Duke University, North Carolina Central University, North Carolina State University and UNC. The Durham-based Council for Entrepreneurial Development also will be part of the effort.
A $3.63 million gift from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation will support the formation of a dense network of entrepreneurial support in the region, similar to networks that exist in Silicon Valley and the Boston Corridor. The goal of the program is to identify and mentor 30 start-up teams each year, for a total of 150 over the program’s five-year span. By linking talented serial entrepreneurs to local start-ups, the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network has the potential over 10 years to create more than 17,000 jobs, attract more than $800 million in seed, start-up and expansion capital, and generate more than $4 billion in revenue.
At UNC, the gift supports the Innovate@Carolina Campaign, a $125 million drive to help make Carolina a world leader in launching university-born ideas for the good of society. To learn more about the campaign, visit innovate.unc.edu.
More: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4492/68/
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Loudermilk, Pope Foundation gifts benefit student-athletes, Kenan Stadium renovation
Alumnus R. Charles “Charlie” Loudermilk Sr. has made a $7.5 million commitment to fund facilities supporting UNC student-athletes as part of the Kenan Stadium renovation.The commitment will create The Loudermilk Center for Excellence, a 150,000 square-foot facility being built on the stadium’s east side. The center will serve all of Carolina’s nearly 800 student-athletes across 28 sports.
“We have a long tradition of academic and athletic excellence at Carolina,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp. “We aim to advance that tradition in everything we do. The Loudermilk Center for Excellence attests to that commitment. We’re extremely grateful to Charlie, whose support will help ensure that our student-athletes succeed in their studies as well as their sports.”
As part of the Kenan Stadium renovation project, the Loudermilk Center is scheduled for completion in September 2011. The $70 million project is being funded by private gifts and premium seating sales.
The Loudermilk Center’s largest feature will be the John W. Pope Student-Athlete Academic Support Center. This 29,000 square-foot facility will provide classrooms for teaching and tutoring, advanced computer technology, a writing lab, reading rooms and office space. It also will be home to the Carolina Leadership Academy, which offers leadership training to Carolina student-athletes, coaches and staff.
In addition, the John William Pope Foundation of Raleigh gave $3 million to upgrade facilities providing academic support to Carolina’s student-athletes.
The gift will fund a new home for the John W. Pope Student-Athlete Academic Support Center. The original center, which was located in the stadium’s previous field house, opened in 1986 and also was funded by the Pope Foundation. The center is named for John W. Pope Sr., a 1947 UNC graduate who started Henderson-based Variety Wholesalers and founded the Pope Foundation. He died in 2006.
“We’re committed to giving our student-athletes the support they need to succeed in the classroom as well as in their sport,” said Chancellor Holden Thorp. “This new center will epitomize that commitment. We’re extremely grateful to the Pope Foundation for its continued generosity.”
The center will serve all of Carolina’s nearly 800 student-athletes across 28 sports. Features will include classrooms for teaching and tutoring, advanced computer technology, a writing lab, reading rooms and office space.
For more on the Loudermilk gift, visit http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4446/68/
For more on the Pope Foundation gift, visit http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4439/107/
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Class of 1938 awards five UNC students travel fellowships
Five Carolina juniors have received UNC Class of 1938 travel fellowships for research abroad this summer.The students were chosen from 37 applicants who submitted proposals for projects outside the United States. Selection is based on the quality of applicants’ proposals, financial need and academic purpose. Each will receive $5,000.
Every year since 1975, an endowment created by UNC’s Class of 1938 has funded independent projects abroad by UNC students. Class members, who lived through and lost friends to World War II, created the endowment to help foster international understanding and promote world peace.
More: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4499/107/
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National College Advising Corps receives $1.5 million social innovation fund grant
Nicole Hurd
With the award, the Advising Corps will place 50 additional recent college graduates from several of its partner institutions of higher education into underrepresented communities to work with low-income, first-generation-college, high school students to help them to navigate the complex college selection and admissions processes and secure financial aid. The advisers will be placed into existing programs in North Carolina, Missouri, Rhode Island, Illinois and California, and additional funds will support the creation of two new programs in California and New York, N.Y., communities the Advising Corps has identified as having a high need for the services it provides.
“We are thrilled to be selected and included with the other social innovators. The organizations they lead are dedicated to making a difference in the lives of those we serve,” said Nicole F. Hurd, advising corps founder and executive director. “With the Pathways grant, our new advisers will assist more than 15,000 additional students to college access and success.”
More: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4336/68/
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Local governments to benefit from $1.6 million grant to fund UNC initiatives
Economically distressed communities in the state will find it easier to get new projects off the ground and to give public officials the executive training they need, thanks to two initiatives by the UNC School of Government. These initiatives will be funded by a $1.625 million grant from the Local Government Federal Credit Union (LGFU).The Community Development Finance initiative will receive $1 million to increase the capacity of local governments and development nonprofits to leverage private investment through tax credit programs, self-financing bonds, special assessment districts and loan programs.
“Many communities work hard to determine strategic priorities for development, but then have difficulty determining how to finance new projects,” said Mike Smith, dean of the School of Government. “This new initiative will help them tackle that challenge.”
The remaining funds will support creation of the LGFCU Fellows Program. This program will provide mid-level public executives, many of whom have risen through the ranks of local government service departments without executive training, with the skills to develop and manage programs and people.
More: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4321/70/
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