Every community has deficits that deserve attention. They also have assets that deserve recognition.
MAPSCorps stands for Meaningful, Active, Productive Science in Service to Community. MAPSCorps is an asset-based youth development program that engages youth (high school to early college ages) in mapping resources, challenges, and solutions within their community and develops their capacity as researchers and community change agents. Our program happens in Rocky Mount, NC, a rural community with a sizeable Black population that straddles Nash and Edgecombe counties. MAPSCorps: Nash/Edgecombe is the only southern and rural translation of the program and has been implemented in for eight summers by Project GRACE, a longstanding community-academic research partnership between local stakeholders and the Center for Health Equity Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (CHER). Opportunities Industrialization Center (OIC) of Rocky Mount is a critical community partner in this work who supports youth recruitment, funds youth stipends, and provides space for program activities. MAPSCorps: Nash/Edgecombe provides up to 15 youth from these counties a 6-week paid summer internship that includes research training, professional development, and experiential learning activities. MAPSCorps 2.0 is a post-COVID-19 reinvention of MAPSCorps: Nash/Edgecombe that will adapt program elements to drive sustainability and prioritize on-the-ground wisdom.
This project will be led by the following Edgecombe community members and UNC members:
School Meals For All NC (SMFA) Ambassadors Attention NC Youth and Young Leaders (High School) We are working to secure funding for school meals for all so that every child in every public school in North Carolina has access to … Read more
Join us for Carolina Engagement Week! February 29, 2023 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Zoom Whole Community Connection was established in 2022 to support a healthy, thriving North Carolina through community-academic partnerships. This webinar describes Whole Community Connection, … Read more
Join us for Mental Health First Aid! September 13, 2023 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Partnership for Children Are you a provider working within Robeson County and looking for ways to enhance your skills to help support families … Read more
Events are subject to change. Please check back prior to the event or contact the event coordinator for additional details.
