Impacting Communities through Strategic Partnerships: East Carolina University and Third Street Community Center

North Carolina Campus Compact sponsors 20 AmeriCorps VISTA projects throughout the state of to develop sustainable partnerships and programs between higher education institutions and community partners.

East Carolina University acts as host to one such partnership between its Volunteer and Service Learning Center (VSLC) and the newly established Third Street Community Center (TSCC), located in Greenville, North Carolina.

TSCC created this video to highlight its partnership with ECU. The piece includes interviews with TSCC's Executive Director, Walter Strathy; the VSLC's Associate Director, Nichelle Shuck; and the NC Campus Compact VISTA, Shifra Sered, who supported the partnership during the 2013-14 project year!

This partnership is now in its second year, and the current AmeriCorps VISTA member, Hannah Paek, is working to develop a neighborhood-wide collaborative of agencies that provide educational after-school programming, including TSCC. 

To learn more about our other VISTA projects, and about NC Campus Compact, follow our VISTA View blog, and subscribe to our Email Digest by entering your email on the bottom left side of the page!

Let’s Talk Taboo: My experiences with race and poverty as a NC Campus Compact VISTA

In June and July, North Carolina Campus Compact will be publishing articles written by our VISTA members. These pieces give readers access to first-hand experiences and reflections of VISTAs serving throughout the state. We are excited for them to share their perspectives on community and service with us! 

Please note: Any opinions expressed on the VISTA VIEW blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views, opinions, or policies of North Carolina Campus Compact, the AmeriCorps VISTA program or the Corporation for National and Community Service.

By Shifra Sered
NC Campus Compact VISTA at East Carolina University and the Third Street Community Center

Shifra (Left) with ECU student volunteers.

The AmeriCorps VISTA program was founded in 1965 as “a national service program designed specifically to fight poverty in America.” Throughout our VISTA Pre-service Orientation (PSO) we discussed theories of poverty and were asked to think critically about how to alleviate poverty in our communities. As VISTAs we are asked to build the capacity of organizations to alleviate poverty and are assessed on our ability to do so. Both VISTA and North Carolina Campus Compact have provided us with online and in-person trainings on topics ranging from utilizing social media in our work to creating asset maps for our community.

Throughout PSO and my year of service, I have been struck by the lack of intentional conversation about race in trainings provided by VISTA and NC Campus Compact. As shown by a study completed in 2012, a staggering 34 percent of African-Americans in North Carolina were living in poverty compared to 13 percent of the white population. As race and class are deeply intertwined, I believe that it is counterproductive to talk about poverty in North Carolina without evaluating the role of race. Focusing on one while ignoring the other can, at best, make VISTA's service less effective and can, at worst, run the risk of perpetuating systemically racist power structures.


I currently work at East Carolina University as the VISTA in the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center, as well as the Third Street Community Center (TSCC), a local faith-based community center. ECU and Third Street are both located in Greenville (Pitt County), a city still reconciling a past of deeply entrenched and often racist social norms. As recently as 2013, a court case was brought against Pitt County for school assignments that effectively re-segregated certain school districts. There are 12 members on the board of the Pitt County school system, but only 3 are African-American despite the fact that almost half of Pitt County school children are African-American. This unequal racial distribution, perhaps itself an effect of long standing racist attitudes, is a possible reason why governing Boards such as the Pitt County School Board allows current segregationist policies to stand and in fact continue to pass such policies.

The Third Street Community Center is located in “West Greenville,” an area more defined by its population than its physical boundaries. In fact, it seems to me like no one can decide the physical boundaries of West Greenville, but we can all agree it refers to the black and poor neighborhoods on the west side of the city. When I first moved to Greenville, I was warned to stay away from West Greenville as it was “the bad side of town.” Others refer to it euphemistically as the “inner-city,” despite the fact that Greenville is not a particularly large city. The area of West Greenville, as we try to vaguely demarcate it, is almost exclusively African-American. Poverty rates are as high as 100% in some neighborhoods. Third Street Community Center is very much dedicated to working within West Greenville. That said, the staff (including myself), the original board and the building owners of the Center, are all white. I believe it is important to openly recognize and discuss the potentially problematic implications of an all-white community center staff serving a black community. I fear that we, as a center, are stripping away the agency of the local community by insinuating that outsiders are the only ones capable of making profound, positive change. I fear we are continuing the widespread cultural narrative of the “white savior” who has the ability to “save” a community (see Teju Cole for more on the “White Savior Complex”). I believe this discussion about the ways that race informs our work at TSCC could be fostered with more intent. I do not mean this as an indictment of the community center and I believe that the center has the potential and the desire to do a lot of good in West Greenville. However, if we, as a community center, ignore the role that race plays in the perpetuation of poverty in West Greenville, then we run the risk of preserving the inequality that we are committed to fighting.

From my observations during my year of service, I believe that VISTA and NC Campus Compact need to intentionally include topics of race as part of our training and on-going dialogues around poverty as race heavily informs my work in the community. I believe that it is not enough to attempt to alleviate the effects of poverty; we must also target the root causes of poverty, which include racism. VISTAs do great work by building the capacity of organizations, strengthening tutoring programs, building responsible homeownership programs and creating nutrition programs. However, when schools in African-American neighborhoods are underfunded, racist housing practices lead to segregated neighborhoods, and places like West Greenville continue to be “food deserts,” providing communities with VISTAs is not enough. Our service needs to be evaluated as part of a larger system in which racism, both direct and indirect, is a contributing factor. Without acknowledging the way that racism shapes the experience of the communities we serve and the ability of the VISTA to effect positive change, we cannot create truly sustainable solutions to systematic and complicated issues.

I want to end by saying that I have learned tremendously from my year of service as an AmeriCorps VISTA. I believe that AmeriCorps does important and necessary work that, on an individual level, can make all the difference in someone’s life. I believe it should continue to provide volunteers to strengthen non-profits and engage with communities. However, I also believe that the work of AmeriCorps is not done in a vacuum and must take into consideration the ways structural inequalities work in our communities, in our organizations and within AmeriCorps itself.

VISTA-led alternative break trips and “service staycations” expand student learning, service

NC Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTAs helped lead Alternative Spring Break trips near and far this past month, engaging students both in service and in meaningful reflections of the experience to connect with their day-to-day lives. Each ASB trip built on the VISTA's primary project focus: k-12 education, economic opportunity, or food security.

VISTA Dalton Hoffer co-led a trip to the national historic city of Philadelphia for packed week of activities and service opportunities. The group served four different community organizations in the area: Philabundance Food Bank, Jewish Relief Agency, Philadelphia Reads, and Cradles to Crayons. These agencies allowed them to learn how Philadelphia is working on improving its literacy rate and interacting with volunteers. The students then took that knowledge back to Robeson County which also holds a low literacy statistic. Six of the 9 participating students are mentors in the Brave Impact Mentoring Program Dalton helped create. Focusing on leadership and citizenship, Dalton said the trip "allowed [the mentors] to work with and see how other partners utilize volunteers and interact with students" and led to conversations about how to bring that work back to Robeson county and inspire a sense of pride in that work throughout the community. Check out Dalton's video recap of UNCP's trip.

VISTA Anna Donze at Wake Forest University focused her trip in the community by hosting a Staycation at her community partner site, El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services. Typically the site struggles during WFU's Spring Break as it loses the majority of its volunteer tutors for a week. The 7 WFU students on the trip served as tutors for the duration of the week, played with and supervised the elementary students during their free time and volunteered in the garden. One WFU student said of the experience, "We are helping nurture, mentor, and guide our next generation of youth. We are putting our heads together to care for the young people that will impact this world in years to come." They also designed and led a "Vocab Bowl" for the students to practice some vocabulary words that they may not use in the classroom, as the majority of the students speak only Spanish at home. Anna not only helped coordinate the trip, but also took note of the week's highlights to incorporate them next year for Staycation round two.

VISTA Takira Dale with the Duke Community Service Center also stayed close to home to host her Dive into Durham ASB trip. During this 5 day service experience, Takira and her supervisor, Assistant Director of CSC Programs Dominique Redmond, led 10 students working with various community agencies including Duke Gardens, Urban Ministries of Durham, the Durham Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Genesis Home, Lakewood Community Garden, and the West End Mobile Market. These agencies are committed to fighting hunger and homelessness in Durham, and align with Takira's primary food security project through the Community Service Center. After the service events, Takira led reflection discussions and panels, and created a contact list for these student volunteers to stay engaged in the community throughout their undergraduate career and into their futures. She said of the week, “One interesting aspect of this ASB was experiencing the wide variety of people working on solving issues of homelessness, hunger and poverty. All these organizations may have different methods but most are surprisingly interconnected.”

WCU students conducting food
assessment surveys for the Lower
Nine Ward Food Coalition

VISTA Willie Jones also focused on food security and homelessness for his ASB, a complement to his primary project at Western Carolina University where he is establishing a volunteer gleaning program and reinvigorating the campus garden. Willie and his supervisor Dr. Lane Perry, Director of the Center for Service Learning, led a group of 17 students to New Orleans to work with Green Light, The Green Project, and Lower Nine, all organizations who's focuses are to alleviate hunger and homelessness. Willie says, "This was the first time WCU has traveled to NOLA and the first time [WCU] has worked with any of these partners." The Center for Service Learning is currently developing a system that will allow the university to have multiple alternative break locations that can be rotated out on a yearly or bi-yearly basis. "This way," Willie says, "the university will be able to maintain the relationship they built with these communities." Willie served as the food insecurity and gardening expert for the group.

ECU students maintaining a rain
garden at a local elementary school

VISTA Shifra Sered co-chaperoned a group of 9 East Carolina University students on their ASB trip to Carteret County, North Carolina, where they stayed at Camp Albemarle; ECU's long-time ASB host. The group served primarily at NC Coastal Federation, but also served with Habitat for Humanity and the Hope Mission soup kitchen. "By living in an intentional community and learning to rely on one another for support," Shifra said, "we were able to delve into service and educational experiences that challenged us to evaluate and articulate our values surrounding community, inequality, social responsibility and environmental justice." The group immersed themselves in the experience in part by limiting their food budget to the current food stamp allocation, and by adopting the sustainable lifestyle practices they learned through their service. Shifra designed and facilitated educational and reflection activities for the students as well. She says that after the trip, "We charged all of the student participants...to design and implement a sustainability project back at ECU...[which will hopefully] lead to a student-run sustainability club on campus."

VISTA Bevelyn Ukah and her supervisor James Shields, led a group of Guilford College Bonner Leaders to Charleston, South Carolina and St. Helena Island to learn about the history and contemporary realities of the Gulla Geechie nation, specifically as they relate to race and class relations in the area. The goal of this trip was to give the students the practice working in teams to analyze poverty and diversity using place-based critical thinking. 

NC Campus Compact's very own Office Manager, Rene Summers, also co-led a group of 9 Elon University students on a mission trip all the way to St. James Jamaica to serve with an organization called Mustard Seed Communities, which serves children with special needs. The group spent part of their trip with the children and the other part completing projects ranging from light construction work, painting, farming and landscaping alongside the community and MSC staff. Rene and the group arrived safely back in Elon this week, but they will continue to hold meetings to reflect on their experiences.

All of these VISTAs have been planning their trips for months. Though each of project may seem different, the goal of all is to engage students in a deeper conversation with and understanding of their communities. Whether the groups went North to Philly, South to NOLA, stayed in the state, or stayed right in their neighborhood, NC Campus Compact VISTAs are shifting the conversation these students are having and preparing the next generation of leaders and community organizers.   

More information about organizing and implementing alternative break programs can be found on the NC Campus Compact website on our Alternative Break Resource page.   

One student from from Takira Dale's Dive into Durham aptly sums up the ASB mindset: “Volunteering is so easy and refreshing, we should do it more often…I have no good reason to not be doing more.”

VISTA Profile: Elizabeth Corney

Elizabeth Corney, a native North Carolinian and graduate of Campbell University, is serving at East Carolina University. At ECU, Elizabeth supports various food security projects in the Greenville area, including the Campus Kitchen at ECU (CKECU) project.


SP: What previous work or volunteer experience led you to becoming a VISTA?
EC: While in undergrad, I participated in many one day service events and short term service projects. I also worked as an intern at a church where I was able to coordinate service activities for a youth group. I'm looking forward to my AmeriCorps year as a chance to grow, personally and professionally.

SP: What is the primary focus of your project? What community partner(s) or populations will you serve?
EC: The primary focus is food security. ECU is a member of Campus Kitchen, a national organization that helps colleges set up food rescue programs. We recover food from campus dining halls, prepare meals, and deliver to three community partners in Greenville: Ronald McDonald House (houses families of hospitalized children), The Little Willie Center (after-school program for at-risk children), and Operation Sunshine (after school program for at-risk girls).

CKECU student volunteers serving food at a community partner site.

SP: You’ve been on the job now for over a month. Any successes so far that you’d like to share? Exciting things coming up?

EC: I am really impressed with the CKECU student leadership team and shift leaders. We have about 16 students who take on these roles. I am also looking forward to “double shift Fridays” in October.  We will be delivering meals to two community partners every Friday.  Previously, we were delivering to each one on alternating weeks. I am also excited about attending a Campus Kitchen Project conference at Lee University in Tennessee.  I will get to meet other Campus Kitchen coordinators, learn some best practices, and show off CKECU.

SP: Tell us something unique about yourself. 
EC: I love being outside-camping, hiking, kayaking, etc. I am 22, but I still enjoy climbing trees.



SP:  Since you love the outdoors, I expect you’ve cooked over a campfire. How does camping cooking compare to campus (kitchen) cooking?
EC: Cooking over a fire is less precise, not as consistent, and you can’t cook as much as fast.  The upside is that you can see the stars, and you can’t beat the smell of a good campfire.