Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

The Robeson County Strategic Initiative for Economic Development created a task force on Education, Literacy, and Workforce Preparedness. The project of the task force, which was seen as one way to alleviate the school system's problems, was the Communities in Schools Program. It was to be based on the Cities in Schools concept and would unite the schools with businesses, civic groups, and nonprofit organizations to help at risk students. Adrienne Oxendine, wife of UNC-Pembroke Chancellor Joseph Oxendine, became the program's executive director in 1993. At the time this article was written, Communities in Schools volunteers were assisting students in thirteen schools and represented companies such as Southern National Bank, Converse, CP&L, and Campbell Soup. The article also discusses UNC-Pembroke Chancellor Joseph Oxendine, his belief that minority students should “celebrate their ethnicity” but also interact with member of other groups for their own growth and for the growth of others and his dream of a regional conference center for UNC-Pembroke.