Community Partnerships

$300K Teagle Foundation grant launches Freedom Scholars

The first group of 15 Elon University Freedom Scholars — a college access and civic engagement program for area rising high school seniors — completed a two-week residential program on Elon’s campus this summer.

Programming will continue throughout 2022-23, with each scholar completing civic projects in their home community. They will be supported in those projects and the college application process by a network of mentors including Elon undergraduates and local leaders. Before they graduate from the Alamance-Burlington School System, they will present their work at the Freedom Scholars Symposium.

The Teagle Foundation awarded the Freedom Scholars a $300,000 Knowledge for Freedom Grant to implement the program in fall 2021. The foundation promotes liberal arts education, effective citizenship, and greater access to study and engage with civic leadership.

The Freedom Scholars program is directed by Associate Professor of English Prudence Layne, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Policy Studies Joel Shelton and Assistant Professor of Philosophy Lauren Guilmette. Ashley Tatum ’22 assisted the leadership team in planning for and recruiting the first cohort of scholars.

Power & Place Collaborative tells ‘Stories of Alamance County’

The Power and Place Collaborative’s second collection of digital stories documenting narratives from Alamance County’s Black community were compiled in fall 2021. Short films of those stories premiered at a community event hosted on Elon’s campus in December.

The stories were collected by students in Associate Professor of Human Service Studies Vanessa Drew-Branch’s senior capstone and in the Race, Place and Memory course co-taught by Assistant Professor of Geography Sandy Marshall and Associate Professor and Director of Design Thinking Danielle Lake. They documented generations of love, leadership and activism.

The Power & Place Collaborative is an ongoing project by Elon University, the African American Cultural Arts and History Center in Burlington and the City of Burlington’s Mayco Bigelow Center.

Community garden, land trust grow in partnership with Burlington neighborhood

The establishment of the Morrowtown Community Garden and the Burlington Community Land Trust were among the first outcomes of a partnership between Burlington’s Morrowtown community and Elon’s Poverty and Social Justice (PSJ) Program.

The acre at 642 S. Mebane St. includes large raised beds, a cleared area for row crops, a playground with swings and a gathering area with a fire pit. It was built by residents and students in assistant professors of philosophy Robert Leib and Lauren Guilmette’s classes. It officially opened April 30.

Residents of the historically underserved area organized to improve the neighborhood and reduce crime and poverty in 2018. Toddie Peters, professor of religious studies and coordinator of the PSJ program, attended their meetings to listen and offer potential solutions. In spring 2022, Peters’ PSJ capstone class supported the newly emerging Burlington Community Land Trust — which gives communities better control of land-use decisions as properties change hands — through studies, surveys, marketing and grant research. PSJ program intern Imonni Withers ’22 also worked with a free afterschool program, Mondays in Morrowtown, at the community garden site this spring.

Department of Performing Arts helps found Amplify Black Voices theater festival

Elon’s Department of Performing Arts is part of the Greater Greensboro Theater Consortium, which inaugurated the Amplify Black Voices theater festival in spring 2022.

The festival’s four plays were performed at nearby universities and a downtown Greensboro theater and focused on Black stories, including three plays by local Black playwrights. Elon’s arts administration program senior seminar class developed promotional materials, created a website and managed social media campaigns for the festival.

The Greater Greensboro Theater Consortium is a collaboration among performing arts programs at eight colleges and universities: N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University, Bennett College, Greensboro College, Guilford College, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Guilford Technical Community College, High Point University and Elon University. The consortium was founded in response to the Black Lives Matter movement and a desire to share resources across campuses. Leaders from those schools, led by Anne Hayes of Bennett College and including Elon faculty members Professor of Dance Lauren Kearns and Assistant Professor of Arts Administration David McGraw, received a $20,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant to launch the festival.

Department of Performing Arts hosts dance workshop for high school students

The Department of Performing Arts hosted the Discover Dance with Elon workshop in fall 2021 for high school students from across the state.

The workshop included dance lessons in West African dance, Brazilian Capoeira, ballet and modern dance led by Elon faculty and undergraduates, exposing them to avenues of study available on college campuses. The workshop integrated a series of workshops on dance career development and dance auditions. Students then attended the Fall Dance Concert.

Senior arts administration majors planned and coordinated the event as part of their capstone experience.

The inaugural Discover Dance workshop sprang from an Elon Innovates grant awarded to performing arts faculty members Assistant Professor of Arts Administration David McGraw, Assistant Professor of Arts Administration Wen Guo, Chair of the Department of Performing Arts Lauren Kearns, Associate Professors of Dance Jen Guy Metcalf and Renay Aumiller, and Assistant Professors of Dance Casey Avaunt and Keshia Wall.