Kenneth Cole Fellowship Program in Community Building and Social Change

 

Emory University announces its second class for the Kenneth Cole Fellowship in Community Building and Social Change, a comprehensive, 12-month program that combines teaching, research and community service to prepare Emory undergraduates to be the next generation of community builders. For a summary of the Kenneth Cole Fellowship program, click here, and for the list of the 2003 class of Kenneth Cole Fellows, click here.

What sets the Kenneth Cole Fellowship apart? It's the only undergraduate program of its kind in U.S., and is being looked at as a model by other major universities, including Duke and Vanderbilt. Its curriculum meets the real world needs of communities and 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. To read more about the uniqueness and success of the Kenneth Cole Fellowship, click here.

In one brief summer, the Kenneth Cole Fellows helped prepare a new policy for affordable housing in the city of Atlanta; helped inform the way $5 million in funds are programmed for alleviating traffic congestion and reducing pollution; helped residents of a public housing community define the health issues preventing them from achieving self sufficiency; brokered the organization of intown neighborhoods to address issues related to gentrification; and helped define an effective approach to addressing the needs of women of color affected by and infected with HIV/AIDS. To read about the community projects in greater detail, click here.

At a time when world-wide political unrest, economic upheaval and domestic scandals continue to shake the nation's confidence, leaders in business, philanthropy and community building gathered at Emory on Jan. 29-30, 2003 to discuss "The Public Trust: Building Community in an Age of Uncertainty" during the second annual Kenneth Cole Leadership Forum. For the media advisory announcing and describing the 2003 Kenneth Cole Leadership Forum, click here.