The Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SIE) Lab of the Jordan Institute for Families hosted a town hall gathering on Monday, Jan. 29, to highlight School of Social Work alumni innovating and making big impacts in their communities. Nora Spencer, MSW’17, shared an overview of her start-up project, Hope Renovations. This social enterprise will increase job training skills for women in construction and enable aging adults to maintain their independence with needed home renovations or adaptive additions such as wheelchair ramps.
Joining Spencer in a panel discussion was Veronica Creech, MSW ’98, whose work at EveryoneOn is providing economic and educational opportunities to under-resourced families by democratizing the Internet and leveraging corporations to provide free or low-cost high-speed Internet access to all.
Other town hall participants included MSW students, School of Social Work administrators and faculty, other campus innovation programs including The Cube and Innovate Carolina, as well as local community members interested in social innovation and entrepreneurship. Professor Gary Nelson, the Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy and the visionary behind the SIE Lab, gathered input from those attending on the design and implementation of the lab as it continues to grow. Be on the lookout for announcements about other upcoming events planned by the SIE Lab or contact Christina Hill-Coillot at Coillot@email.unc.edu to learn more about innovation and entrepreneurship at the UNC School of Social Work.