UNC-Chapel Hill's Center on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity: Another Contribution to the South

The Raleigh News & Observer features an article detailing the development and impact of the Center for Poverty, Work, and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The center was established with the help of former senator of North Carolina and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards.

The article addresses doubts among some that the center was merely a springboard for Edwards' presidential campaign and praise among others--including some conservatives like Walker Blakely of the UNC School of Law:

"I have heard nothing negative," Blakey said. "We have good people working with the center. I've read the annual reports. It appears to me they are doing a good job. You're talking about a huge problem. No one is going to reverse poverty in a few years."

The center at UNC aims to focus on solutions to poverty and lack of opportunity in addition to academic research.

The South has a disproportionately large rate of poverty relative to the rest of the country. Thus, centers like the one at UNC and the Center for a Better South will continue to address such a problem that is especially prevalent in the South.