University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Metric Area 5

UNC to launch unprecedented collaboration to improve services for young children with autism and their families

For Immediate Use: Monday, Jan. 13, 2014

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have received a State Implementation Grant of $900,000 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to improve services for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their families.

This three-year project has the primary purpose of linking both university and state partners to lower the ages by which young children receive appropriate developmental screening, ASD-specific screening, diagnostic assessments, and early intervention. North Carolina was one of only four states to be awarded funding by the Bureau during this cycle, and this initiative is one of the first to involve nearly all of the major ASD programs on UNC’s campus.

The grant is under the directorship of Stephen Hooper, PhD, Associate Dean and Chair of the UNC School of Medicine’s Department of Allied Health Sciences (DAHS), and in collaborative leadership with Rebecca Edmondson Pretzel, PhD, Associate Director of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (CIDD). In addition to its primary goals, this grant will allow researchers to examine strategies to increase access of families to family-centered medical homes that coordinate care with pediatric subspecialities, increase public and provider awareness of the signs and symptoms of ASD, and complete a statewide needs assessment addressing family needs and barriers to coordinated care.

To accomplish the grant’s objectives, DAHS and CIDD collaborators have enlisted the expertise of key UNC programs with a major focus on ASD, including the AHEC TEACCH Program, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, the Gillings School of Global Public Health, the School of Social Work, and the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

“While this is certainly not the first project where various programs have collaborated on issues of ASD, it is the first project where programs have collaborated around improving the coordination of state services to children suspected of having ASD and their families,” Dr. Hooper said. “We are fortunate to receive these additional resources from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and excited about this opportunity to enlist the expertise of our UNC partners and key state agencies, such as the Autism Society of North Carolina, the state of North Carolina Early Intervention Program, and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction pre-kindergarten programs, in addressing these ASD-related needs across the state.”

A key component of this program will be assessing the needs of families from across the state, particularly with respect to their experiences with early screening, diagnostic assessments, and early intervention. Increasing public awareness of the early signs and symptoms of ASD also will be an annual objective, with significant efforts being devoted to rural and underserved regions of the state and examining the pathways by which families have access to the necessary services to address their child’s medical and developmental needs.

“The state of North Carolina is fortunate to have a number of service systems in place to address the needs of young children with developmental disabilities and their families,” said Dr. Edmondson Pretzel. “We are confident that this new funding will enhance current efforts and facilitate additional improvements for young children with ASD and their families.”

For additional information pertaining to the newly awarded ASD State Implementation Grant, please contact Dr. Stephen Hooper, Associate Dean and Chair of the Department of Allied Health Sciences () or Dr. Rebecca Edmonson Pretzel, Associate Director of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities ().

UNC Media Contact: Jennifer James, 919-966-7622,

Through service, Palestine Small changes her own life

Working with local community organizations, December graduate Palestine Small, who graduated from the Carolina Center for Public Service’s Buckley Public Service Scholars program, spent her time at Carolina in service to others. Like many Carolina students, Small has a deep desire to serve, but her motivation comes from a need to help those walking a path she is all too familiar with. Small, a 47-year-old sociology major, worked with a specific purpose to fulfill a commitment to change her life and make something of herself.

“I went through 31 years of hate, “said Small. “I was raised in foster care, introduced to drugs and alcohol through a family member, suffered from family abuse, incest and rape and spent time in prison. Then one day I went into rehab and someone said to me ‘I want you to change your life. You don’t have to come back to this.’”

That day was September 12, 2006. Since then, Small has completed the drug rehabilitation program at TROSA in Durham and taken classes at Durham Technical Community College. After coming to UNC as a transfer student through the Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program (C-STEP), Small found the Buckley Public Service Scholars program where she could learn about various types of service as a framework for how she hoped to connect with organizations to help those struggling with the same issues she faced.

“Throughout the path of rediscovering myself, I found that I have a yearning to help people,” Small said. “I am supposed to help by sharing my lifestyle and letting people know they can help themselves, too.

“I chose the Buckley Public Service Scholars program as a way to give back to the community and as a way to connect to self-help organizations and help those in need. I have been where they are and I know the way out.”

Now that she has graduated, Small plans to continue on her path in service to others. She intends to apply to divinity school, then go to law school with a goal of bringing together the two disciplines to impact the juvenile justice system.

Reflecting on where she was and how far she has come, Small said, “I had two people in my life who saw something in me, who believed in me. I wanted to be that person they saw. I could not let them down.”

“I am grateful for what the BPSS program has done for me – it helped me make connections in the community to help people and let them know change is possible.”

Watch this short video of Palestine Small telling her story and talking about her experience as a Buckley Scholar.

Palestine Small, December 2013

School of Government receives $7.1 million pledge from local government credit union

For immediate use: Thursday, May 22, 2014

The School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has received a pledge of $7.1 million from Local Government Federal Credit Union (LGFCU) for initiatives to support North Carolina local governments.

UNC Chancellor Carol L. Folt announced the news on May 22 at a meeting of the UNC Board of Trustees.

“We’re tremendously grateful for this pledge, which builds on the past generosity of Local Government Federal Credit Union,” Folt said. “A core part of our mission is to help our state build stronger communities to serve North Carolina citizens, and these funds will greatly advance that commitment.”

The School of Government’s Development Finance Initiative (DFI) will receive $2.84 million over 10 years to expand opportunities for economically distressed communities in North Carolina by increasing their access to and use of cutting-edge development finance instruments.

In 2011, LGFCU granted the School of Government $1 million to partner with local governments to attract private investment for transformative projects by providing specialized finance and development expertise. Since that time, DFI has worked on more than 50 projects in nearly 40 communities across North Carolina. Projects range from analysis of a historic downtown building to an assessment of district-wide financial tools to attract private investment to distressed neighborhoods. DFI has expanded staffing in response to requests from local governments and has engaged graduate students as community revitalization fellows to provide research on real estate development, draft financing models, create GIS maps and analyze demographic and economic trends.

With the new grant, DFI will continue to work with existing local partners to move their projects from pre-development to development, while exploring new partnership opportunities for development in additional communities.

LGFCU, a not-for-profit, member-owned financial cooperative established to serve the financial needs of North Carolina local government employees, elected officials, volunteers and their families, has also granted $2.22 million over 10 years to support the LGFCU Fellows program. This program provides mid-level public executives with the skills needed to build the pool of local government talent prepared for leadership succession.

As in many other states, local governments in North Carolina are facing a significant number of retirements in their leadership ranks over the next several years. In 2011, LGFCU granted the School of Government $625,000 to create the fellows program. Since that time, 74 emerging leaders have participated in an intensive training program, “Leading for Results,” as LGFCU Fellows. The program includes the development of leadership and communication skills and includes one-on-one professional coaching. Since completing the program, more than 10 percent of LGFCU Fellows have been promoted to new roles, and a large percentage report taking on new responsibilities. Across the board, Fellows express a renewed commitment to public service.

With the new LGFCU grant, the Fellows program will help to ensure that communities across the state have high-performing individuals prepared to take on critical leadership roles.

LGFCU also committed $2.04 million in undesignated funds to the School of Government over 10 years. The school will use this grant to create an Innovation Fund to support new and existing projects that maximize the school’s impact and support its mission of improving the lives of North Carolinians.

“The initial investment that LGFCU made in the Development Finance Initiative and the LGFCU Fellows program continues to deliver on its intended purpose of enhancing North Carolina communities at the local level,” said Maurice Smith, LGFCU president and chief executive officer. “It is no surprise that given the resources made available through DFI and the LGFCU Fellows program, local governments have been able to leverage their connections to the School of Government to move forward in preparing the next generation of leaders and in planning and implementing transformative development projects. We believe continued support of these initiatives is a wise and fitting investment in the North Carolina communities where our members live and work.”

School of Government Dean Mike Smith added, “I am grateful to LGFCU, and especially to Maurice Smith and the members of the LGFCU Board, for their trust in the school and their commitment to North Carolina. These funds will allow us to develop and expand the innovative ways we assist local governments as they face continuing economic and workforce challenges. This gift will have a major impact.”

School of Government website: http://www.sog.unc.edu/

Development Finance Initiative contact: Michael Lemanski, (919) 962-0942,

LGFCU Fellows program contact: Willow Jacobson, (919) 966-4760,

School of Government contact: Sonja Matanovic, (919) 966-4178,

Health startup from first Launch class secures funding, stays in Chapel Hill

For immediate use: Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Keona Health is a spin-out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and initially gained traction with a $450,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Keona Health, a recent graduate of the Launch Chapel Hill Business Accelerator, has secured Series A funding with a $2.5 million investment round and negotiated a multiyear lease to remain in town.

Keona Health is a spin-out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and initially gained traction with a $450,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health. With this Series A funding – the first round of significant investment into a start-up venture by either venture capitalists or corporate investors — Keona will focus on scaling the product and growing the business.

Co-founded by a veteran software developer Oakkar Oakkar and Javed Mostafa, a professor in the School of Information and Library Science, Keona Health was one of seven teams first selected to participate in the Launch program when it opened in 2013.

Launch Chapel Hill is a unique cooperative investment of UNC-Chapel Hill, the Town of Chapel Hill, Orange County, the Downtown Chapel Hill Partnership and a private donor, the Becker family, who provided initial funding in memory of their daughter, Cara Becker. They all work together to fund this initiative to help develop Chapel Hill’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

During its 22-week session at Launch, Keona Health worked to improve its technology to aid healthcare providers in filtering customer calls using a cloud-delivered “Online Health Advice” solution.

Dina Mills, program manager at Launch, worked closely with the town and team to identify available lease space for the company post-graduation. Keona Health occupied temporary annex space for several months until securing a spot at Europa Center in Chapel Hill, signing a multiyear lease. This fulfills several goals of the Launch program: to help companies coming out of UNC to get connected to funding, get on their feet and stay local if they want to.

“From my interview at UNC and every step along the way, UNC, the Chapel Hill community and particularly Launch Chapel Hill were there to nourish my idea and help me secure the resources to keep moving forward – whether that be mentors, introductions to potential clients or help in negotiating the seed and later Series A funding for Keona Health,” said Oakkar, the company’s chief executive officer. “We are thrilled to be staying in Chapel Hill as we continue to grow our business.”

“We are so excited by Keona’s success,” Mills said. “Launch provided mentorship, resources and access to Entrepreneurs in Residence; Oakkar and the team took it from there. It’s great to see how our program can benefit a company like Keona who can really take advantage of the resources we offer.”

In addition, Keona Health worked with other UNC programs like Launching the Venture in the Kenan-Flagler Business School and the Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network.

Steve Brantley, Orange County economic development director, and Dwight Bassett, Chapel Hill economic development officer, are pleased with Keona’s success and how it’s translating to the surrounding communities.