Associate Professor Elena Kennedy鈥檚 鈥淓ntrepreneurship for the Greater Good鈥 class capped the spring semester with a Community Showcase that paired 23 seniors and juniors with five local nonprofits.
As the spring semester drew to a close, students in the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business course 鈥淓ntrepreneurship for the Greater Good鈥 showcased 15-week consulting projects completed for five local nonprofits.
Associate Professor Elena Kennedy opened the event with eye-catching stats:
- 1,000+ consulting hours
- 100 stakeholder interviews
- 20 partner meetings
Each team also delivered a physical product engineered in 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Maker Hub, from laser-engraved keychains to a pop-up retail display, ensuring partners left with deliverables they can put to work right away.
The Projects
Allied Churches of Alamance County
The mission of ACAC聽is to prevent and end homelessness and food insecurity through providing direct service and leadership in collaborative community efforts.
- Student team: Adam Kanowitz, Sam Kinter, Nathaniel Mills, Cole Rychel
- Project: Mapped affordable-housing options and hosted a breakfast that connected shelter staff with new landlords.
- Impact: Within two weeks, a shelter resident signed a lease from a connection made in planning the event.
Benevolence Farm
Benevolence Farm seeks to cultivate leadership, promote sustainable livelihoods, and reap structural change with individuals impacted by the criminal legal system in North Carolina.
- Student team: Courtney Lee, Caroline Renshaw, Kaia Brown, Taylor Classen, Alex Scheinler
- Project: Built a realtor-facing sales kit and social-media plan to boost sales of 鈥淚鈥檓 Home鈥 candles made by formerly incarcerated women.
- Impact: A real-estate firm placed its first wholesale order, funding additional transitional-housing stipends.
Barnabas Furniture Bank
The Barnabas Furniture Bank, a nonprofit organization, through a collaborative effort of diverse faith communities and social agencies, offers systemic encouragement, including basic home furnishings for families and individuals who are moving from homelessness, recovering from a major setback, fleeing domestic violence, or living with incomes that cannot cover basic needs.
- Student team: Abi O鈥橳oole, Corinne Pavel, Grayson Artzt, Ethan Green, Brien Suchanek
- Project: Expanded the end-of-semester 鈥淒on鈥檛 Trash It鈥 campaign to five off-campus apartment complexes.
- Impact: Two truckloads of furniture, 130 pieces, were diverted from dumpsters to families setting up first homes.
Habitat for Humanity of Alamance County
Seeking to put God鈥檚 love into action, Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build houses, communities, and hope.
- Student team: Bryan Floyd, Brody Hender, Kate Carrera, Maggie Rolfe, Emelia Woolman
- Project: Analyzed donor trends, drafted a three-month social-media calendar and designed 鈥淜eys to Hope鈥 laser-engraved thank-you gifts.
- Impact: Newly onboarded staff members have analyses and recommendations to build upon as they build out their work.
Hope Renovations
Hope Renovations offers a聽pre-apprenticeship training program for underemployed women and gender-expansive folks聽designed to give them the skills to confidently enter the trades or enroll in apprenticeships and continuing education. They complete small to mid-sized home repairs and modifications聽for adults 55+ and those living with a disability, so they can stay safe and independent in their homes. These jobs allow trainees to apply and practice their skills in a real-world setting.
- Student team: Jack Halpern, Amelia McCarthy, Thomas Case, Morgan Kennedy
- Project: Replaced manual data entry with an automated Google Looker Studio dashboard that tracks training outcomes and project costs in real time.
- Impact: Staff estimate a six-hour-per-week time savings and stronger grant reports. Board members now receive at-a-glance graphics for fundraising decisions, saving staff roughly a day of spreadsheet work each quarter
鈥淲hen students see their classwork become a working tool for partners, they realize the power they already have to strengthen our community,鈥 Kennedy said. 鈥淭he true measure of success will be what these projects are doing a year from now.鈥
Kennedy has been teaching at 黑料不打烊 since 2016. Her research was recently awarded 鈥淏est Empirical Paper鈥 and 鈥淏est Overall Paper鈥 at the USASBE conference in January 2024. Kennedy will be teaching Entrepreneurship for the Greater Good again in the fall as well as the graduate-level course Business for the Greater Good.