A $750,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation will help get to the root of food-system inequities influenced by structural racism, in a project being led by The Cooperative Extension Program at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in conjunction with the Center for Environmental Farming Systems.

A racially diverse team of experts will work with grassroots groups in Nash, Edgecombe and Scotland counties throughout the two-year span of the grant to assess how racial barriers can influence access to food. The project will also address ways to remove those barriers.

Leading the team is Shorlette Ammons, N.C. A&T-based community food-systems outreach coordinator at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems. CEFS is a partnership of A&T and N.C. State University—the state’s two land-grant institutions—and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It has a statewide focus on research, Cooperative Extension and education in sustainable agriculture and community-based food systems, and operates a 2,000-acre research program at Cherry Research Farm in Goldsboro.

Ammons has a background in food-justice issues and the work she administers through the Kellogg Foundation-funded initiative is to help create a national model that other communities can apply to their problems with food access.

“It’s a very complex problem and it will take a variety of different approaches,” Ammons says of the initiative. “We chose to work with community organizations that live these conditions every day and to let them be experts in their own realities and experiences.”

Among the most limited-resource challenged areas in the state, Nash, Edgecombe and Scotland counties have high incidences of food insecurity, unemployment and poor health. North Carolina is the fifth most food insecure state in the nation according to USDA reports. One of every four children is food insecure, and eating nutritiously is particularly burdensome for low-income residents in food deserts, who can have limited transportation access to areas to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

We’re looking at how we can support communities in developing more equitable sustainable, local-food systems that create access to opportunity for all people,” Ammons says. “Creating a better food system involves creating better access to opportunities for underserved farmers, building career ladders in the food system for youth, increasing wages for farmworkers, decreasing chronic health conditions in low-income communities and communities of color. So this effort should involve a wide range of our community.”

For more information about the project, contact Ammons at sammonss@ncat.edu

For the 41st consecutive year, North Carolina A&T State University will open its campus and give access to undergraduate and graduate students, and career seekers, during the annual Career Awareness Fair that will be held in Corbett Sports Center 9 a.m.–3 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 16.

The Office of Career Services, the event sponsor, has secured 176 employers to offer opportunities to network with representatives to discuss industry trends, employment opportunities, gather information and build relationships.

“(Attendees) will be able to speak one-on-one with employers to obtain career guidance and advice as well as distribute or upload resumes for potential full-time, co-op or summer internship positions,” said Joyce Edwards, executive director of career services.

Professional dress is required; students and job seekers should bring résumés as a hard copy and on a flash drive. Click here for a complete listing of participating employers.

To help students prepare, the OCS will offer in-person and online opportunities for résumé help and critiques as well as tips on professional attire and how to research employers. Click here for student information.

Prior to the fair, the Office of Career Services will host the Career Awareness Program Banquet with the theme, “Laying a Foundation for Success,” at 6:45 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 15, at Koury Convention Center, Imperial Ballroom, 3121 High Point Road, Greensboro. Attendance for the banquet is by invitation only.

The speaker for the banquet is Ron J. Edwards, associate chief counsel at John Deere Financial in Des Moines, Iowa. In that position, he provides legal advice on U.S. lease transactions, global trade finance transactions in Latin America and structured finance deals.

Edwards joined Deer & Company as an intern in 2006 and began his full-time career in 2007 as an attorney in the securities and finance practice group

This fall North Carolina A&T State University will debut “Triad Perspectives,” a new 30-minute weekly television program that will highlight the good news that’s taking place in the community and on campus.

The show will be recorded in the university’s high-definition television studio and hosted by veteran news anchor, Dr. Sandra Hughes. 

“This program will engage members of the campus and Triad communities, while enhancing our student’s practical learning experience in a highly professional, organized and consistent manner,” said Dr. Yahya Kamalipour, who conceived the idea for the show and is chairman of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication (JOMC) at N.C. A&T.

“Triad Perspectives” will be distributed and viewed widely via Time Warner Cable, channel 69, 5:30–6 p.m. each Monday, as well as on UNC-TV, the university’s closed-circuit system, YouTube and the JOMC website. In addition, the audio portion of the show will be aired on the university’s radio station, WNAA 90.1 FM. 

The first show will be recorded Wednesday, Sept. 9, and will air on Time Warner Cable the following Monday.

For more information, contact Kenneth DeVanney at kpdevann@ncat.edu or 336-285-2066.

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution that designated Aug. 30, 2015, as “1890 Land-Grant Institutions Quasquicentennial Recognition Day,” in honor of the nation’s 19 historically black land-grant institutions that include North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.

Collectively known as “the 1890s,” these institutions also designated Aug. 30 as a Day of Prayer to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the signing of the legislation that created them.

The Second Morrill Act, the bill signed on Aug. 30, 1890, created universities and colleges for African Americans in primarily Southern states who, because of their race, were denied admission to the public universities that had been created under the Morrill Act of 1862. Faith communities and individuals were encouraged to observe the date of the signing with a moment of silence.

Aug. 30 also officially concluded the commemoration of the quasquicentennial, which included a 1.890 mile run/walk on each of the 1890 campuses in April; a fund-raiser to establish a new scholarship for 1890 students, and a three-day event in the nation’s capital in mid-July where A&T Chancellor Harold L. Martin Sr. and presidents from five other institutions testified before the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture on the value and impact of the 1890s. This event also included an exhibit of the universities’ work, and concluded with a convocation at the Library of Congress.

“The 1890 land-grant universities are a major education resource for the nation and continue to be a key source of African American leaders who render valuable service to their communities, the nation and the world,” said Dr. Shirley Hymon-Parker, interim dean of the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and co-chair of the national committee for the 125th Anniversary of the Second Morrill Act.

The 1890s have spent 125 years providing access and enhancing opportunities to all. The institutions have in common a three-fold mission: to advance students’ earning potential and upward mobility; to research solutions to the problems, faced by individuals, families and communities; and to extend university research and knowledge beyond the campus walls through Cooperative Extension and other community engagement programs.