By Megan Dale, on May 15, 2013

On Monday, I started my internship with the Carolina Women’s Center (CWC) at UNC-Chapel Hill. CWC promotes gender equity for students, faculty, and staff at UNC. CWC is a really interesting organization in that it is similar to a nonprofit but operates within a public university. Past programs and events have addressed issues like family advocacy, violence against women, sex trafficking, work-life balance, and closing the gender gap. Although CWC has offered several workshops and brownbags to staff this year, most of its programs are oriented toward students.

With that in mind, one of my main projects this summer is going to be conducting a needs assessment with staff across the university to learn what services they want to see from the CWC. This means I get to organize focus groups and interviews to talk to UNC employees about gaps and barriers in services for staff. The information from this needs assessment will be incorporated into next year’s programs.

Along with the staff needs assessment, the CWC’s main project this summer is the Moxie Project, which is a combined academic and community engagement project that places UNC students who have completed a summer course on women’s activism in internships with community organizations that advocate on a wide range of gender equity issues.  I will be providing program support, especially by attending and helping out with seminars related to feminism and advocacy at the internship sites. I will also be writing some grant proposals to find funding so Moxie can happen again next year.

More to come on these projects as I learn more about them! Look for another post next Wednesday about my first full week at CWC!