COLLABORATION LEADS TO ACTION

Collaboration is at the center of everything the newly established UNCW Center for Social Impact does. Housed in the Office of Community Engagement and Applied Learning, CSI combines the best of what UNCW has to offer to better serve the community. “CSI is a vehicle for faculty and students to thoughtfully and productively engage the community and contribute to the collective pursuit of a healthier and more equitable region,” said Chris Prentice, CSI founding director and associate professor of nonprofit management. “The complex issues that our communities face require multifaceted solutions built through the integration of diverse expertise,” said Prentice. The CSI fosters interdisciplinary research with faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Health and Human Services and Cameron School of Business, with the common goal of producing actionable intelligence. A few of the collaborations CSI has facilitated since its January 2021 launch include:

• Establishing the Rural Health Research and

Innovation Lab, under the direction of Stephanie

Duea, CSI Faculty Fellow and assistant professor of nursing. The lab facilitates communityacademic partnership in rural health research and evidence-based practice, innovation and workforce development to address current and future regional system performance and population health goals. • In partnership with Cape Fear Collective,

StepUp Wilmington, LINC, Wilmington

Housing Authority, Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, YWCA and the Kairos Center,

Sabrina Cherry, CSI Faculty Fellow and assistant professor of public health, led a team of faculty and students on a project to explore the effects of personal factors, previous employment experiences, education and training on economic security and upward mobility among residents in the Cape Fear region. • Partnering with Cape Fear Collective, chair of the UNCW Department of Economics and

Finance Adam Jones and fellow economists performed a regional analysis of demographic shifts, workforce changes and economic indicators in the Cape Fear region to understand whether current and projected economic growth is equitable across groups.

As it nears its one-year anniversary, the CSI will house UNCW’s Quality Enhancement for Nonprofit Organizations. Together CSI and QENO will better assist area nonprofits build capacity, enhance collaboration to increase access to resources and improve service delivery. CSI will also provide data analytic support to other campus units that engage the community such as the Center for Healthy Communities’ Equity Institute.

Learn more about the CSI at uncw.edu/ engagement/socialimpact.

– C.C.