News Release

Note: See details below for a media availability
with Edwards on Sept. 7.

CHAPEL HILL — John Edwards, now director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, will help the new center launch a lecture series Wednesday (Sept. 7).

Edwards, the former U.S. senator and vice presidential candidate, is the first speaker in a monthly speaker series scheduled at the center. The nonpartisan initiative brings together UNC faculty and other national public policy experts to move more Americans out of poverty.

The following fall events, free and open to the public, are:

• Sept. 7, noon, law school rotunda. Edwards will speak on the mission and programs for the center. He will introduce staff and field questions.
• Oct. 31, noon, law school rotunda. UNC Assistant Professor of Public Policy Dan Gitterman will moderate a discussion on poverty between Edwards and Jack Kemp, founder and a co-director of Empower America and former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
• Nov. 3, all day, Carolina Inn. A summit conference on "The Shifting Landscape of Poverty: Bridging the Gaps in Poverty Research and Policy."
• Nov. 22. 4, 4 p.m.-6 p.m, site to be announced later. UNC Kenan Professor of Sociology Arne Kalleberg will monitor a panel discussion on "The New Poverty: Low-Income Work."

The center also plans other programs next spring. Details will be announced later.

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Media Availability: Edwards will be available to speak with media representatives after completing the question-answer session with lecture attendees on Sept. 7 in the law school board room. The time is expected to be about 1 p.m.

Center contact: Laura Hogshead, (919) 843-9032 or laurah@email.unc.edu.
News Services contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093 or lisa_katz@unc.edu