Through the 2009 MLK Collegiate Challenge grant, NC Campus Compact will provide $80,000 in mini-grants to Campus Compacts in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Vermont, as well as to individual institutions in the 17 states without a Compact. Those grants are intended to assist Compacts and campuses in mobilizing volunteers on the January 19, 2009, the national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for higher education institutions to make an impact in their communities, deepening and expanding partnerships. We feel privileged to be able to provide funds that can further volunteering efforts that honor Dr. King and connect campus and community,” said Lisa Keyne, Executive Director of NC Campus Compact.

Recipients of the grants also receive a Toolkit which provides resources related to the MLK Collegiate Challenge model. This model, created by Jenny Koehn at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, involves an element of surprise while promoting team-building, campus-community partnerships and group problem-solving to complete a meaningful service project.

The Corporation for National and Community Service also announced the selection of five national expansion sites where they will concentrate resources to engage a broad and diverse constituency of organizations and individuals within one identified community. NC Campus Compact is spearheading the expansion site effort in the Triad Region of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. “We enthusiastically welcome the prospect of building a regional coalition of businesses, higher education institutions, non-profits, schools, churches and community agencies to mobilize 10,000 volunteers committed to making the King Holiday a ‘Day On, Not a Day Off!'” commented Leslie Garvin, associate director of NC Campus Compact and program manager for the Compact’s grant.