Emory's Kenneth Cole Fellowship in Community Building and Social Change--the competitive 12-month undergraduate program that combines research, classroom teaching and community service--just finished its first year and we now have results that show the program has affected change in the community and with the students.

Working with five different Atlanta community service organizations this summer, 17 Cole Fellows helped to: prepare new policy for affordable housing in the city of Atlanta; inform the way $5 million in funds are programmed for alleviating traffic congestion and reducing pollution; assist residents of a public housing community define the health issues preventing them from achieving self sufficiency; broker the organization of intown neighborhoods to address issues related to gentrification; and define an effective approach to addressing the needs of women of color affected by and infected with HIV/AIDS. Their work wasn't a one-shot volunteer opportunity either; future Cole fellows will pursue similar issues to affect ongoing change.

What sets the Kenneth Cole Fellowship apart is this:

• Only undergraduate program of its kind in U.S., being looked at as a model by other major universities, including Duke and Vanderbilt.
  
• Curriculum meets the real world needs of communities. 25 community stakeholders help shape curriculum (including selecting summer work projects) to ensure students are learning what the real world work of community building demands, not just what researchers and scholars think is interesting.
  
• The fellowship changes students' lives. More than 75% of the first 17 Kenneth Cole Fellows have reported either changing their career and education plans to focus on doing community building work or have clarified their previously vague notions of a career in service to the community. For example, one pre-med student has decided to pursue an MD/PhD instead of just an MD and another student who had "resigned myself to a life of corporate law, but now this is not the case. Although I still plan on pursuing a law degree (after two years with Teach for America), I hope to use my J.D. in conjunction with non-profit work."

The students presented their study results Jan. 29-30, 2003 at the Kenneth Cole Leadership Forum, the annual capstone event for the fellowship program, which took place at Emory. Cole was joined by activist and Academy Award-winning actor and director Robert Redford, as well as other top business leaders, community builders and scholars to discuss "The Public Trust: Community Building in the Age of Uncertainty." The Cole Fellowship is a partnership between Emory and fashion industry executive and Emory alumnus Kenneth Cole, who has long used his advertising to raise consciousness for social justice issues. Details of the leadership forum are on-line at: http://thrashersville.ps.emory.edu/kclf/index.html

Any of the students, faculty, administrators, community stakeholders or panelists will be happy to talk about the program and/or the forum.