News Release

$2 million gift supports endowment
for Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Michael Cucchiara and Marty Hayes of Chapel Hill have pledged a $2 million gift to support the goal of permanently endowing the operations and expenses of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, directed by former Sen. John Edwards, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.

Cucchiara and Hayes and the School of Law view the $2 million pledge as the lead gift for an ongoing endowment campaign that will help solidify the UNC center as a nationally renowned, nonpartisan academic center that examines ways to combat poverty, particularly as it relates to the working poor.

"This wonderful example of generosity and philanthropy will allow the center to continue exploring the many facets of poverty and keep these important issues in the public eye for the decades to come," said Edwards, a 1977 graduate from the School of Law. "Because of this extraordinary gift, the center will continue to serve as a beacon to experts around the country and be a proud part of UNC's longstanding tradition of academic excellence."

Jack Boger, dean of the UNC School of Law, said the gift will bolster the center's ability to carry out its mission to investigate the causes, consequences and solutions of poverty.

"We are deeply grateful for this generous gift in support of the center's work and objectives," Boger said. "The endowment will give the center crucial resources and flexibility to carry out its important work."

Cucchiara and Hayes have shown a keen interest in all of the center's programs examining the issues related to the working poor over the past year. As regular attendees of center conferences and seminars, they have been intimately involved with the center's work since its inception last year.

"For too long, the issues facing the working poor have not received the attention they deserve," said Cucchiara. "That is why we are proud to join Senator Edwards, the leadership of UNC and the law school to ensure that there will always be a permanent academic forum for the best minds in the state and the nation to address the issues of poverty, work and opportunity."

Further evidence of the couple's interest and commitment to socially responsible projects is their involvement with the Greenbridge development, a condominium and retail high-rise building slated for downtown Chapel Hill touted for its environmentally friendly features - solar power, landscaped roofs and energy-efficient building materials. The building's developers have also pledged to make 15 of the units affordable for people who make less than 80 percent of the area's median income.

The pledge counts toward the Carolina First Campaign. The comprehensive, multi-year private fund-raising campaign has a goal of $2 billion to support Carolina's vision of becoming the nation's leading public university.

The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity brings together scholars, policymakers, lawyers, community leaders and students to further research and policymaking on issues relating to poverty, work and opportunity. Established in February 2005, the center supports monthly panels of experts, hosts discussions and conferences and recently published the proceedings from its Summit on Poverty, "New Frontiers in Poverty Research and Policy," in a special edition of the Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal.

The center is also filming a short documentary on the working poor, expected to be released this fall, and is sponsoring a series of policy briefs from prominent UNC faculty on various topics related to poverty. The center's first program of the 2006-2007 academic year will be a panel, entitled "Katrina Revisited: What We Can Learn from the One Year Anniversary," on Sept. 8 at noon in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union's Great Hall.

Besides Edwards, center staff are Marion Crain, deputy director and the Paul Eaton professor of law; Laura Hogshead, assistant director; and Tracy Brown, administrative assistant.

More information on the center is available at www.law.unc.edu/povertycenter

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Center for Poverty, Work and Opportunity contact: Laura Hogshead, (919) 843-9032, laurah@email.unc.edu
School of Law contact: Matt Marvin, (919) 962-4125, mmarvin@email.unc.edu