When challenged to put theory into practice for his professional work experience requirement at MPA@UNC, Joseph Pierce knew exactly what he wanted to do. Committed to transparency in government, the Holly Ridge, North Carolina, town manager wanted to help citizens understand how their local government worked so they could make it work for them.
To advance this goal, Joseph created Citizen’s Academy, a six-week program aimed at educating citizens about the functions of their local government.
The program offers a high-level view of what administrators and the legislative body do to make the town continue to run, and allows citizens to meet with government leaders and department heads to ask questions about how spending priorities are set and decisions made.
“They can’t say enough about how much they appreciate it,” Joseph said of citizens and local leaders who use it. “I think that it has been the biggest tangible thing that I’ve been able to produce for the town.”
The academy may be one of the most tangible outcomes that came out of his experience with MPA@UNC, but Joseph says it’s not the only one.
“The typical online student is a practitioner,” he said. “They’re already in the field. They’re working. They’re doing something good with a nonprofit or for the public. So they have that practical experience that really adds a specific dynamic to the program.”
With 14 years in the military, 10 years in law enforcement, and an MS in Management Science behind him, Joseph brings a lot to that dynamic himself. Those years in law enforcement—including a stint as assistant police chief—taught him how to navigate the political environment while interacting with the public and elected officials.
“I was able to direct, guide, and manage a group of people in a sometimes very volatile environment,” he said.
As he looks forward to graduating in May 2018, Joseph says his family and MPA@UNC’s online format made it possible for him to continue working while pursuing his degree.
The father of four boys—ages 6 months to 7 years—says, “I didn’t do it alone. I can tell you that. I’ve got terrific in-laws who helped out with the baby. And my wife’s been a terrific supporter, juggling her work, finding babysitters, and covering when I was busy with work or school. We’re both UNC grads, so she understands the quality of the education here.”
After graduation, Joseph will take those lessons and the Citizen’s Academy concept with him to serve as the town manager of Burgaw, North Carolina.
Something about Chanitta Deloatch is infectious: you catch the public service bug just from listening when she speaks. When I met her during the MPA student orientation, I knew right away I wanted to talk with her.
Chanitta is from Murfreesboro, a small town in northeastern North Carolina with a population of just over 2,000. She describes the town as a place where “everyone knows everyone or they know someone in your family.” This small town upbringing gave Chanitta a strong sense of community, which has shaped her public service ideals. “I know how much was put into me by my community,” she says. “I want to give back.”
Chanitta loves to travel, and she has especially fond memories of her trip to Europe as a high school student. “As I look back, the trip was wonderful,” she says, “but the experience of getting there is what I remember most.” Her family could not finance her travels. Determined to go, Chanitta raised money by washing cars and writing letters to businesses and people in the community asking for their support. “My community gave me that opportunity,” she says.
Chanitta was raised by her grandparents. Her mother, with whom she had daily contact as a child, was a senior in high school when Chanitta was born. Chanitta has never met her father. She credits her family and church youth leaders for her own commitment to education and public service. “They always told me my options were endless,” she says.
Chanitta’s church community encouraged her to get involved in public speaking, and she was often asked to speak at
church events. “Those experiences gave me the opportunity to verbalize to other young people that they should always reach for the sky,” she says.
The first person in her family to go to college, Chanitta graduated from East Carolina University with a degree in criminal justice. In her studies, she was particularly moved by a juvenile justice course, especially when she learned about the high rate of incarceration among African-American males. “I chose a career in public service because I believe change needs to happen,” Chanitta says. “I believe the only way to do that is through the public sector.”
As an undergraduate, she interned with the court services branch of the NC Department of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention in Pitt County, and she was hired as a juvenile court counselor upon graduation. Although she loved being a court counselor, Chanitta wanted more interaction with the clients she served. “With a case load of 32 children, one visit per child was about all one could do each month,” she says. “That just True Carolina Blue: Chanitta Deloatch wasn’t enough interaction to create the impact that I wanted to have.”
Chanitta found the MPA program’s dual-degree option with the School of Social Work especially appealing. It was a large part of her motivation in applying to UNC-Chapel Hill. “It meant a lot to me to be accepted at the University of North Carolina,” she says. “I believe the prestige of a UNC degree will go a long way in my career.”
Chanitta received a Nanette V. Mengel Scholarship from the MPA program. She is also a North Carolina Child Welfare Education Collaborative Scholar through the School of Social Work and is obligated to work in a local Department of Social Services for two years upon graduation. “Those scholarships made all the difference
to me,” she explains. “I could not have come to graduate school without financial aid. I really appreciate the support
I have received from the Mengel family and MPA alumni.”
Chanitta is looking forward to serving children and families, but she ultimately hopes to create and manage public policy. “The MPA degree is going to make that possible. I believe my options are endless after graduation. I don’t want to settle or restrict myself. At the end of the day, it’s not about the money, but the change I will be able to effect. For me, that is true happiness.”
This profile was first published in the Fall 2008 issue of Impact newsletter.
Tyler Thomas grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina, but calls Pembroke home. “Robeson County is where all of my family is from,” he says. “I have a large family with lots of aunts and uncles, three brothers—one is my twin—and two sisters. Most of our summers were spent in Pembroke.” Tyler explains that his family is part of the Lumbee tribe. “My mother took an active role in ensuring we maintained a connection to our roots,” he explains. “I appreciate that connection and really enjoy attending family gatherings and helping my grandmother in the garden. That’s when I hear great stories about our family’s past.”
Tyler has always had a passion for helping people, an example he learned from his mother, who is a retired elementary school music teacher, and his father, who works for Goodwill. “I have always had a desire to give back, especially in the American Indian community. The connection I feel to my Lumbee heritage is very deep.”
In his application for the MPA program, Tyler wrote, “Every time I visit down home, I pass a tall white-columned landmark, the heartbeat of the first state-supported university for Indians, UNC-Pembroke. There, in that moment of recognition, I feel a deep connection to my surroundings—Robeson County, the land of the Lumbees, and my beloved homeland. I have a commitment and desire to serve America’s ‘First People,’ and I believe the nation’s first public institution [UNC-Chapel Hill] can facilitate my accomplishing this goal.”
Tyler believes that the ethics training he is receiving in the MPA program will also help and guide him in his career. “Growing up, I witnessed and read about a lot of corruption, especially misuse of public resources,” he says. “I think I have the people’s best interest at heart, and I hope to one day be making ethical decisions to better the communities where I work and live.”
Tyler received a degree in exercise and sports science from UNC-Chapel Hill. While an undergraduate, he was president of the Carolina Indian Circle and a member of the American Indian Center’s Internal Advisory Committee. As part of his work at the University’s Office for Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, he encouraged high school students to attend college. At UNC’s Graduate School recruitment fair, he was drawn to the MPA program. “The values stated in the recruitment material really spoke to me,” he says, “and I find the MPA alumni network and small student cohort to be of real value. Also, I was interested in having a generalist degree. The skill set I acquire will be useful, regardless of where I go in my career.”
Tyler is part of a first-year team evaluating the Work Mentor Program for Builders of Hope, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing and job training. He is preparing for a summer internship with Robeson County local government and looking forward to helping his home county.
Tyler is a 2009–2010 recipient of a Hayman-Howard-Wright Scholarship.
This profile was first published in the Spring 2010 issue of Impact newsletter.
Casselle Smith’s passion for public service began in her hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina. She remembers accompanying her mother and brother to Yum Yum, a family-owned hot dog store on the UNC-Greensboro campus. Her mother, who worked at Cone Mills and was a union shop steward, would pass out union leaflets as they enjoyed the summer evenings.
Casselle draws a great deal of inspiration from her mother. “She was college-educated but forwent becoming a professor to be a labor movement activist,” says Casselle. Though union organizing kept the family in what some would call “disadvantaged” circumstances, Casselle and her brother—School of Government Assistant Professor Karl Smith—always believed that they could do anything and be anything they wanted. It is that feeling of empowerment and promise that Casselle wants for “every poor kid growing up in a low-income neighborhood.”
While standing by her mother’s side on union blitzes in Salisbury, North Carolina, Casselle learned firsthand that “the most powerful way to organize workers was from within.” That insight would prove to be useful in her future.
At Howard University, she double-majored in sociology and administration of justice and was an intern with the Public Defender Service (PDS) for the District of Columbia. As a Fellow for PDS after graduation, she found that she could make real change in the lives of individuals who had been pushed to the margins of society. “We were not just fighting for their freedom from incarceration; we were trying to help them see beyond their distrust in a system that had failed them, and to break them out of their own entrenched disillusionment,” says Casselle.
She went on to Harvard Law School because she believed that a legal education would “help me effect systemic change in the structural inequality that has plagued so many communities for generations.” At the end of her first year of law school, Casselle was granted membership in the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, the nation’s oldest student-run legal services center and one of three historic honor societies at Harvard Law School. After serving as a student attorney who practiced housing law and represented indigent tenants in the Boston Housing Court, she became the organization’s president.
So what drew Casselle to the MPA program? Though law school provided her with opportunities to broaden her worldview and with many useful skills, she says the MPA marries critical thinking and analysis with the skills of public management. Additionally, she says, “It is wonderful to be involved in a school that plays such an integral part in supporting my home state. I am able to learn the hard skills of public management through the North Carolina lens.”
In her spare time, Casselle likes to lift weights, an activity she describes as pushing through the weakness to find strength. “If poverty were eradicated tomorrow,” she says, “I might might leave public service and become a personal trainer.”
Casselle Smith received the 2010–2011 Diversity in Public Service Scholarship.
On October 12, 2017, the University’s Distinguished Alumni Award was bestowed on triple Tar Heel and Carolina MPA grad Richard Stevens. The award is presented annually to alumni of UNC-Chapel Hill who “have made an outstanding contribution to humanity in any walk of life.” We congratulate Stevens ’70, JD ’74, MPA ’78, who has dedicated his life to the improvement of his home state and his alma mater, on receiving this prestigious award.
From UNC’s website on University Day:
RICHARD Y. STEVENS UNC-CHAPEL HILL DEGREE: B.A. 1970, M.P.A, J.D. 1974
Richard Stevens is an Attorney with the Smith Anderson Law Firm in Raleigh. He received his BA degree in Political Science in 1970, his Juris Doctor degree in 1974, and his Master of Public Administration degree in 1978, all from UNC. He served on the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees from 1995-2003, and the Board of Visitors from 1991-1995. He was Chair of the Board of Trustees from 1997-1999. He served five terms in the North Carolina Senate from 2003 to 2012. In the Senate he co-chaired the Education/Higher Education Committee and the Appropriations Committee. Prior to his service in the Senate he was the County Manager of Wake County, North Carolina from 1984-2000. In addition he has worked as a management consultant providing assistance with strategic planning, business objectives, marketing and organizational development for private sector clients.
At UNC, Stevens chaired the UNC-Chapel Hill Endowment Fund and the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation, Inc. from 1997-1999 and chaired the Chancellor Search Committee in 1999-2000. He was Chair of the UNC General Alumni Association from 2000-2001, Chair of the Board of Visitors for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Hospital from 2014-2016, and Chair of The Carolina Club from 1994-1997 and 2002-2011. Nationally, he was Chair of the Council of Board Chairs of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges from 1999-2000.
Stevens received the Distinguished Service Medal from the UNC General Alumni Association in 1994, the Distinguished Public Service Award from the UNC MPA Alumni Association in 1997, the National Public Service Award from the American Society for Public Administration and the National Academy of Public Administration in 2000, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in 2000, the Public Leader in Technology Award from the North Carolina Technology Association in 2004 and again in 2012, the John L. Sanders Student Advocate Award from the UNC Association of Student Governments in 2005, the William Richardson Davie Award from UNC in 2010, and the Award for Distinguished Public Service from the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce in 2017. Both the UNC School of Law and the UNC School of Government have scholarships named for Stevens.
He is a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Order of the Grail-Valkyries, the Order of the Old Well, the Society of Janus, and the Bell Tower Society as well as Chi Psi Fraternity.
He is married to Jere Gilmore Stevens and they have two adult children.
In May of this year, four Carolina MPA students presented their research at a national conference hosted by Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL), a national organization founded by Carolina MPA alumni Kirsten and Kent Wyatt. The students’ presentation was a unique example of exciting research being done in the classroom and being presented on a larger stage, due in part to a strong relationship between the program and alumni.
Kirsten Wyatt ’02 shared some of her thoughts about how these students both excelled in their presentation and set the example for similar research in other states to support ELGL’s Diversity Dashboard.
Q: Why did you choose Detroit for the ELGL Conference this year?
A: For the previous four years, we’ve always had our conference in Portland, which is where ELGL is based, and we started the organization while living out here. But as we grew and truly became a nationwide organization, we realized that moving the conference around the country was important to make sure that we were able to reach all of our members. What we also realized is that celebrating cities and celebrating local government is core to what we do. And so picking a city based on its character was our top priority. We looked for a city with story and Detroit’s story is something that is so important and so memorable. Especially as we head into this century as cities start to look at how to adjust and adapt and become 21st century cities, we knew we would get a lot of great stories and lessons out of Detroit.
Q: Why did you invite Carolina MPA students to present?
A: Each year, student teams want projects from real world partners to work on. So ELGL submitted a project proposal and four students selected the ELGL project for their semester-long work experience. The project is called the Diversity Dashboard and it’s our effort to collect real data across all forms of local government on the race and gender of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and the Assistant Chief Administrator Officer. We submitted this project idea to the students and it had a component related to data collection, manipulation, and management; but it also had a component related to research and background and perspective. So we were really pleased the students picked our project and we had four students who back in January signed on and starting leading with ELGL to put this project together.
Over the course of the semester, to say that I was impressed would be an understatement. These students knocked this project out of the park. Not only did they immediately grasp the importance in the local government community of gathering this data, but they approached it with such strong understanding of data analysis and keeping the integrity of the data and that the process could be something that could be replicated throughout the entire nation. On top of that, they were just completely poised, they were so polished, and they were so passionate about their work. Not only did they have a great story to tell, but they told it really well. They had a final product that is something anyone in the country could pick up and use similar data in their states.
Q: How was their presentation received at the conference?
A: They walked in there and just nailed it. You would think they were sitting in the School of Government, presenting to their cohort. They absolutely walked onto the stage and presented with such poise that could have easily not been there, but demonstrated the caliber of students that the [Carolina] MPA program is attracting.
Q: How does your Carolina MPA inform your work at ELGL?
A: At the start, I think the cohort approach of the MPA program was a huge driving factor in Kent and I deciding to start an organization where people freely shared information and ideas about local government service. For us, really understanding the power of a close network helped us when we were working in local government. It helped us be better at our jobs, it helped us get information faster, it helped us cut through bureaucracy, and it helped us with information sharing.
We realized we have this great network made possible through our MPA cohort, and so we started thinking when we moved to Oregon, “How do we build a similar network where people feel that support, that camaraderie, and that information sharing?” I feel like that at every step of the way, that principle of building a network of people that you can depend on has really driven what we’ve tried to create in every state that we’re in for ELGL. I think too, Kent and I were both bit with the local government bug, we were really passionate and really excited about the work that happens at the local level and I think that was really fostered by the School of Government. For us, it’s about building that strong network, and always having really good resources, information, and training available to our network. I think we can tie that directly back to everything we learned in the School of Government in the MPA program.
***
UNC MPA alumni and other local government leaders interested in the students’ research can see the students present again at the #ELGLPopup in Charlotte, NC on September 22. For more information or to register, visit elgl.org/elglpopups.
Additionally, learn more about ELGL’s Diversity Dashboard and Carolina MPA students research at ELGL’s blog:
Nearly 200 are enrolled in MPA@UNC, the online format of the Master of Public Administration program housed at the UNC School of Government. One of those students, Lorrie Fair Allen, is returning to UNC more than a decade after her undergraduate tenure at Carolina, which included three NCAA women’s soccer championships.
Allen, an olympic silver medalist and FIFA World Cup champion, works for the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project and volunteers as a sports envoy for the U.S. State Department. She expects to complete her master of public administration degree in the summer of 2019.
“This MPA will prepare me for life,” Allen said. “It’s preparing me for how to attack the advocacy side, the policy side. I know it’s going to help me be better at my job.”
The online format of the MPA program gives Allen flexibility to complete her degree while juggling a full-time job and a family. Allen had an opportunity to interact with students from both the online and on-campus formats at a special weekend of instruction in November 2017.
Learn more about Allen’s story at UNC’s YouTube channel.
To learn more about MPA@UNC, visit onlinempa.unc.edu.
On February 3, 2018, UNC Master of Public Administration alumna and current City of Rocky Mount Manager Rochelle Small-Toney was recognized and honored as a “Tar Heel Trailblazer” at the halftime of the UNC men’s basketball game.
Small-Toney was the first African-American women’s varsity basketball player at UNC-Chapel Hill, playing on the 1977–78 team. The award, given by Carolina Athletics during Black History Month, “recognizes individuals who paved the way for success in all aspects of the student-athlete experience, shining a spotlight on pioneers who have made memorable and lasting contributions at UNC and beyond.”
A 1978 graduate of the of the UNC MPA program, Small-Toney’s career in public service spans more than three decades. She was the first female and first African-American city manager of Savannah, Georga. She became manager of the City of Rocky Mount in July 2017 and is the first woman ever to serve in the manager role.
“For such a great university as UNC to look back on my past and to select me as a Trailblazer, it’s just one of the greatest highlights of my life at this point,” Small-Toney said. “I’m extremely proud, as I’ve always been, to say that I’m a Tar Heel and that I wear my blue very proudly. But to be recognized by the University is just beyond my wildest dreams or imagination.”
Read Carolina Athletics’ story on Rochelle Small-Toney at goheels.com.
This is a regular feature in our print newsletter, IMPACT. We often have more good news to report than we have room for in print, however, so we’re posting the full list of alumni updates here. These items appeared in the Fall 2019 issue.
Rebecca Baas ‘17 is a senior operations analyst at the Center for Child Health and Policy, Rainbow Babies, and Children’s Hospital, in Cleveland, OH.
Samantha Bauer ’18 is community education coordinator for the Town of Chapel Hill’s Public Works Stormwater Management Division.
Elizabeth Self Biser ’17 is vice president for public affairs at The Recycling Partnership in Raleigh, NC.
Ann Bowen ’08 is assistant director of donor relations at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA.
Patricia Bradley ‘16 is assistant vice president at the Office of Inclusion and Institutional Equity of Towson University in MD.
Jane Brasier ‘80 is vice president for Business Development at Clark Nexsen in Raleigh.
Kevin Bryant ‘09 is principal at Edgility Consulting in New York City.
Cheryl Bryant-Shanks ‘82 is chief human resources officer at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, NC.
Maria Chiochios ‘16 is assistant librarian at the University of Texas at Austin.
Brittany Clark ‘15 works for Dude Solutions in Cary, NC.
Philip Cordero ‘15 is administrator for the Town of Youngsville, NC.
Carla Davis-Castro ‘14 is research librarian for the Congressional Research Service in Washington, DC.
Alison Rae Dean ‘02 is volunteer coordinator at Audio-Reader at the University of Kansas.
Max Dickson ‘19 is assistant professor of military science at the University of Kentucky’s U.S. Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in Lexington.
Lawrence DiRe ‘99 is the manager of the Town of Cape Charles, VA.
Nicholas Dula ‘06 is a program development administrator for the City of Raleigh’s Housing and Neighborhoods Department.
Benjamin Durant ‘88 is senior policy advisor for the Office of the President at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.
Sabrina Willard Ferguson ’17 is a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Los Angeles Division.
Joshua Fernandez ‘19 is a budget analyst in the Alamance County Finance Department in Graham, NC.
Lena Geraghty ‘15 is director for innovation and performance management for the City of Portland, ME.
Matthew Gladdek ’12 is executive director of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership.
Deborah Goldberg ’02 is a management analyst for the Office of Management and Budget of Mecklenburg County, NC.
William Hagerty ‘17 is an airport operations specialist at Paine Field- Snohomish County Airport in Everett, WA.
Anna Hawksworth ’18 is a budget analyst for the Town of Chapel Hill.
Laura Hogshead ‘00 is chief operating officer at the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency in Raleigh.
Katherine Hughes ’16 is emergency management coordinator for Guilford County Emergency Services.
Matthew Hughes ‘18 is accounting and human resources manager with Forward Cities in Durham, NC.
Allison Hutchins ’13 is an organizational development manager for the Town of Cary.
Jason Hyatt ‘18 is director of York County Library in NC.
Jennifer Jones ‘02 is a business support specialist for customer experience at Colorado Springs Utilities in CO.
Ashley Kazouh ’19 is a policy analyst at Public School Forum of North Carolina in Raleigh.
Minal Khan ’12 is PFAS program assistant at the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Public Health Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering.
Kelly Kleinkort ’15 is director of corporate engagement at Catalyst Inc., in Houston, TX.
Mira Kline ‘07 is a consular affairs associate for the U.S. Department of State in Tel Aviv, Israel.
James Klingler ‘19 is finance chief at the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency in Raleigh.
Erin Schwie Langston ‘03 is executive director of strategic initiatives at Academic Benchmarking Consortium in Chapel Hill.
Lee Anne Lawrence ‘18 is an attorney at the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency in Raleigh.
Henrietta Locklear ‘02 is vice president at Raftelis Financial Consultants in Memphis, TN.
Claire Long ’12 is an employee/labor relations specialist at National Institutes of Health in Research Triangle Park, NC; she also married Nick Haynes.
Gregory Mavraganis ‘07 is a solution strategist at Cerner Corporation in Malvern, PA.
Peggy Merriss ‘82 is principal at Merriss Management and Leadership Consulting in Decatur, GA.
Barron Monroe ‘09 is manager of Anson County, NC.
Tara Nattress ’18 is an associate at Fountain Works in Raleigh.
Caley Trujillo Patten ‘16 is a business analyst for the Gwinnett County Office of Strategy and Performance in GA.
Ebony Perkins ’13 is manager of investor and community relations at Self-Help in Durham.
Corey Petersohn ‘16 is a budget and management analyst for the Town of Holly Springs, NC.
Joseph Pierce ‘18 is assistant manager of Iredell County, NC.
Camilla Posthill ’18 is grant and administrative and communications coordinator for the National Farmers Union in Washington, DC.
Justin Powell ‘01 is deputy secretary for finance and administration with the South Carolina Department of Transportation.
Timothy Reavis ‘13 is assistant planning director for the City of Little Rock, AK.
Ryan Regan ’14 is director of business and economic development for the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce in NC.
Catherine Renbarger ‘08 is manager at Withers Ravenel in Cary.
Timothy Shober ‘19 is community engagement and outreach coordinator at Latino Community Credit Union in Durham.
Audrey Shore ’16 is membership manager at the Carolina Theatre in Durham.
Jessie Springer ‘04 is Medicaid technology and business operations unit manager at the Wyoming Department of Health.
Fagan Stackhouse ‘71 is director of human resources for the City of Raleigh.
Emily Stallings ’19 is development associate at Carolina Small Business Development Fund in Raleigh.
Charles Stevens ‘16 is program manager of Amazon’s Global Pathways Program in Seattle, WA.
Ivette Tapia ‘17 is a data analyst and consultant at Arkatecture in Portland, ME.
Katherine Thompson ‘15 is executive director at South Enotah Child Advocacy Center in Cleveland, GA.
Dustin Tripp ’15 is assistant manager for the Town of Knightdale, NC.
Brian Underhill ‘01 is chief legislative analyst for the Florida Senate’s Appropriations Subcommittee on Education.
Tanya Walton ‘05 is access and success initiatives manager for the UNC System Office’s Division of Strategy and Policy in NC.
Paige Waltz ’16 is digital director for the Office of Senator Mitt Romney in Washington, DC.
Kent Wyatt ‘02 is communications manager for the City of Tigard, OR.
This story was written by Kathryn Paquet and appeared in the Summer 2020 edition of the iMPAct Alumni Newsletter
For Carolina MPA students, the professional work experience (PWE) offers an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the government or nonprofit sectors. Since enrolling in the program, MPA online student Adrienne Augustus ’20 knew she wanted to intern with a nonprofit—she just didn’t realize it would be her own.
In the fall of 2019, Augustus fulfilled her PWE requirement by founding A Beautiful Mind Foundation, a 501(c)(3) grantmaking organization based in Hyattsville, Maryland, that aims to fund mental healthcare initiatives in communities of color.
She came up with the idea for the organization early on in her graduate school career, when she interviewed a few individuals who had started their own private foundation.
“I wanted to create my own organization because I didn’t want to be constrained by pre-established operating structures that didn’t wholly align with my beliefs and goals,” Augustus said. Originally, however, she aimed to achieve this goal after obtaining her MPA.
“I thought I would be working full-time for another organization and be able to set up this nonprofit and run it on the side,” she said. But a time crunch to find a PWE led her to a pivotal conversation with Susan Austin, former Carolina MPA associate director of alumni relations and professional work experience.
“Susan talked with me about my career goals,” Augustus said. “She really listened to my personal and professional needs. I told her I planned to start the foundation after I graduated, but she looked at my situation and thought way outside of the box. She said, ‘Well, why don’t you use your PWE to start the foundation?’”
“At first I thought, ‘What is she talking about?’” Augustus continued. “Now I say, thank God for Susan and her thoughtful wisdom. She could have tried to force me into a role that didn’t fit my years of work experience and long-term goals, but instead she created a wonderful opportunity for me.”
The mission of A Beautiful Mind Foundation is twofold: first, to affect positive change in mental health treatment in racially diverse communities; and second, to narrow the prison pipeline by helping people of color identify the early symptoms of mental illness before they lead to a crisis
The organization’s work is close to Augustus. Around age 11, she began dealing with depression, despite not receiving the diagnosis until a decade later.
“I had to get myself help in my early 20s, because my family didn’t understand,” she explained. As she sought treatment for herself, Augustus began to realize how deep the stigma surrounding mental illness ran in her community.
During her young adult years, Augustus lost two close friends, both young African American men, to struggles with mental illness. These losses, coupled with her own experiences, underscored to her that while mental illness affects individuals across demographic lines, it presents unique struggles for people of color. If they successfully navigate past the stigma to receive the help they need, Augustus said, they often face a second challenge: finding practitioners who understand their experiences.
“It was not easy finding a therapist who looked like me,” she explained. “And it’s not because I have to go to a black female, but because my experience with depression includes living as a black female.”
For these reasons, improving cultural competency in mental healthcare is a central tenet of the foundation.
“African Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with a severe mental illness than their white counterparts with similar symptoms, and part of it is because of how we express ourselves,” Augustus said. “There are distinct cultural differences in the ways people talk about how they’re feeling.”
By disbursing grants to qualifying groups and organizations, A Beautiful Mind Foundation hopes to help fund mental health initiatives within communities of color that will both encourage open conversation about mental health and steer individuals in need toward effective treatment options.
The organization launched its inaugural grant-making cycle in late April. By the end of June 2020, A Beautiful Mind awarded 20 organizations across the country grants totaling $22,300. In July 2020, the organization will receive its first corporate grant of $10,000.
The organization is currently offering four grants, two of which are especially meaningful to Augustus: Friends of Jelani and Ruth’s House.
Friends of Jelani is named for Augustus’ childhood friend Jelani, who died at age 24 during a struggle with police in the midst of a manic episode. The grant is designed to fund programming for men of color aged 25 and younger battling mental illness. Ruth’s House was created in honor of Augustus’ late grandmother and will provide funding for religious groups to implement mental health programming for people of color.
Although Augustus believes that no one should deliberately plan to start a nonprofit while completing a master’s degree—“Why would you do that on purpose?,” she exclaimed—she acknowledged that, without founding it to fulfill her PWE requirement, A Beautiful Mind Foundation may not exist today.
Augustus hopes that the organization will be able to help individuals like herself, her friend Jelani, and her grandmother Ruth, who have the power to fight but need support to do it.
“When we have certain segments that are impacted by mental illness and they’re not being adequately treated, we lose a huge part of our population that could be positively engaged in their communities,” Augustus explained. “There could be fewer people in prison, fewer people out on the street. We could have a better and happier society.”