Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
<br />3241 <br />24. a. Have your <br />collaborators/partners <br />completed projects of this <br />type in the past? <br />b. If so, what funds were <br />used? <br />X Yes ☐ No <br /> <br />The funds used for our two signature projects in Carrboro’s <br />Weaver Community and Raleigh’s Braxton Court came from <br />EPA, OCCCA, Burt’s Bees, and TCF. <br />25. Please describe any other <br />relevant expertise or <br />capacity to carry out the <br />project in your application. <br />Our program was piloted as BETC (Bionomic Education and Training <br />Center) at the Southern School of Sustainability and Engineering <br />(https://www.dpsnc.net/site/Default.aspx?PageType=3&DomainID=4&Pa <br />geID=1&ViewID=6446ee88-d30c-497e-9316- <br />3f8874b3e108&FlexDataID=1712). We extended it to Northern High <br />School, Lowe’s Grove Middle School, and others in Durham, NC, <br />utilizing Durham public school teachers of occupational course of study <br />(OCS) or exceptional children (EC) students, the majority of whom were <br />from low-income or marginalized communities. The demographics of <br />Southern and Northern high schools and Lowe’s Grove Middle School <br />(LGMS) are 95% minority, including 53% Black, 35% Hispanic, and 6% <br />White; LGMS enrolls 56% economically disadvantaged children <br />(https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/north-carolina/lowe-s-grove- <br />middle-265336). Students, teachers, and the low-income property <br />owners who participated in BETC all helped shape the program that USS <br />employs today. <br /> <br />USS Chairman Michael Dupree and former board member Linda <br />Schmalbeck have combined 40+ years of experience teaching in public <br />schools, including Title-1 schools like Lowe’s Grove Middle School (95% <br />minority, majority Black), where Dupree established a student-run <br />agribusiness & 2 academic clubs. Schmalbeck taught AP Environmental <br />Science, Climate Change Biology, and Research Experience courses for <br />nearly 20 years at the North Carolina School of Science and Math in <br />Durham, NC. In 2013, Dupree and Schmalbeck collaborated to develop <br />the Energy and Sustainability curricula used for the BETC program, <br />which now pays students & teachers to design and install stormwater <br />control measures throughout Durham County. Since 2013 and while <br />working for Durham County, Dupree obtained and implemented <br />hundreds of thousands of dollars for the BETC program: <br />https://www.dconc.gov/county-departments/departments-f-z/soil-water- <br />conservation-district/ag-economic/betc-bionomic-educational-training- <br />center). Dupree also helped create Durham’s Impaired Stream <br />Improvement (ISIP) program (https://www.dconc.gov/county - <br />departments/departments-f-z/soil-water-conservation-district/community- <br />conservation-assistance-program), which expanded the use of available <br />state and federal funds for stormwater BMP installations to low-income <br />homeowners by providing the matching funding (25-40%) required by <br />these grant entities <br />(https://www.durhamcommunityengagement.org/durham_county_s_impa <br />ired_stream_improvement_program_isip_and_community_conservation <br />_assistance_program). Education Chair Suzy Schmalbeck is an Asian <br />woman with a Masters degree in education who spent 6.5 years teaching <br />socially and emotionally disadvantaged children; and Vice Chair Robboy <br />has served as visiting pathologist at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical <br />Centre in Moshi, Tanzania, and continues 55-year professorial roles at <br />Harvard, New Jersey and Duke University with extensive managerial <br />responsibilities (https://www.urbanss.org/about). <br />Docusign Envelope ID: 7E7D300B-F83F-4917-A8A3-638B79C7D566