Campus Y

Advocates for Human Rights (AHR) focuses on civil rights issues around the world and at home. We promote awareness and encourage discussion of social justice and injustice, using both as a launch board for activism. We work with the hope that by encouraging our peers and empowering others we can make a change.

Our mission is to enhance the lives of people with intellectual disabilities through one-to-one friendships, fostering relationships between college students and those with disabilities. We do fun things like talent shows, dance, movies, etc!

An affiliate of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Big Buddy pairs UNC students with "at risk" children ages 6-14 in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community to form one-on-one mentor relationships . Each mentor acts as a friend and role model to a child in need of one, with the hope that the experience has positive and lasting impact on the lives of both the "big" and "little" alike.

Carolina Kickoff aims to introduce UNC first year students to all--from professors to student leaders to extracurricular opportunities to the inside scoop on being a true-blue Tar Heel. Through Carolina Kickoff, 39 of Carolina's finest upperclassmen students lead 175 new Tar Heels on a three-day crash course and show them a Carolina they can't help but love. It's the best way to start out the Carolina experience!

Visit carolinakickoff.unc.edu for more details and registration information!

Carolina Microfinance Initiative (CMI)is devoted to poverty alleviation worldwide through microfinance. We exist as a center to catalyze interest and facilitate action in microfinance on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. We are a seedbed for the growth of industry knowledge and we are a call for the informed engagement of our community in the world at large.

Website: www.carolinamicrofinance.org

The annual Catalyst Conference brings a selected group of 80 high school students from across North Carolina to UNC-CH for a weekend-long exploration of social issues affecting American youth.

Students, teachers, or counselors interested in the Catalyst Conference 2010, please contact the co-chairs at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or click Catalyst Conf 2010 Student Application  for an application!  Catalyst Conference has a $30 registration fee upon acceptance to the conference. Do not send the fee with the application.Also, we do offer financial aid if this registration fee presents a problem. Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to apply for financial aid.

For more information and a look at this year's counselor line-up, visit: http://sites.google.com/site/catalystconference/.

Through direct volunteer projects and activist efforts both on campus and in the community, Criminal Justice Awareness and Action (CJAA) works to enhance student awareness of the problems plaguing the criminal justice system. Recognizing that criminal justice is not simply limited to the confines of the prison system, CJAA focuses on issues of race, politics and economic status that affect juvenile justice, the death penalty and sentencing policies.

Extended Disaster Relief (EDR) is a student organization that formed immediately after Hurricane Katrina to provide long-term, sustainable relief and support for communities affected by natural disasters. Extended Disaster Relief works to raise awareness on campus about the issues still facing Katrina victims and participates in short-term disaster relief aid trips to natural disaster sites across the U.S.

Health Focus is a group that tries to raise awareness of health issues, volunteers in health related areas in our community, and helps to close the gaps in health disparities. We offer an incredibly wide range of health topics to work on (AIDS, nutrition, health policy, minority health care, pediatric health care, tobacco cessation, etc.), and we are continually looking for ways we could work towards a healthier world. 

Helping Paws focuses on bettering the lives of local animals through volunteering at local animal shelters. Our group also works to raise awareness concerning animal rights and animal mistreatment.  

Helping Paws website, click here: www.unc.edu/~aalow/HelpingPaws 

Helping Youth by Providing Enrichment (HYPE) provides social, cultural and educational experiences for children living in Chapel Hill-Carrboro low-income, public housing communities. In addition to serving as tutors, playmates, and mentors, members engage in education advocacy.

Dedicated to serving those in poverty in the local community, Homeless Outreach Poverty Eradication (HOPE) members participate in direct service projects and coordinate awareness raising events. Members focus on implementing new and innovative ways to serve the homeless community and better aid those in need, including projects such as documentaries, literary magazines, a community garden, the Box Out, and the Community Fund. 

HOPE website: click here

Linking Immigrants to New Communities (LINC) helps ease the transition of recent immigrants to the United States through student interaction and raising awareness in the community.

Nourish International is a student movement to end global poverty.  Nourish, a non-profit organization that works on a social entrepreneurship model, raises funds through business ventures during the semester that are then invested in community-based sustainable development projects implemented in a partnership with a community-based non-profit organization abroad during the summer.  Apart from developing ventures and researching, selecting, and building teams to implement projects, students involved in NI also seek to advance a dialogue concerning development, social entrepreneurship, and poverty, challenging students to think critically through various activities, whether these include experiential learning by working with Nourish or providing students access to people working in the non-profit and development fields through talks and conversations.

Check out the Nourish International - NC website at nourishinternational.unc.edu http://nourishinternational.unc.edu  or the Nourish International National website at nourishinternational.org <http://nourishinternational.org .

Project Literacy is based on the idea that literacy skills are the foundation of education, opportunity, and social participation. The group coordinates with community organizations to fight local illiteracy, while simultaneously fighting illiteracy across the nation and around the world. 

Students for the Advancement of Race Relations (SARR)is one of the oldest committees within the Campus Y. We encourage controversial and sometimes uncomfortable conversations about the role an individual's race plays in society and how an individual's race/ethnicity affects their other identities.

Students United for Darfur Awareness Now (S.U.D.A.N.)focuses on confronting the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan through raising awareness, encouraging advocacy and fundraising for direct humanitarian relief.  S.U.D.A.N. works to end the profound social injustice and human rights violations in Darfur through pluralist efforts, and new members and their ideas are always welcome! 

Students Working in the Environment for Active Transformation (SWEAT) is committed to defending social justice through environmental initiatives. We raise awareness on campus and off with different campaigns and initiatives as well as participating in local and international service-learning trips.

Table Talkis a committee in the Campus Y whose goal is to unite the campus through discussion. We strive to bring individuals from different backgrounds, mindsets, political affiliations, what have you (or etc.), together in order to share experiences and thoughts in hopes of creating a unified, open-minded campus community.

In a society that has been consumed by a digital revolution, Technology Without Borders is dedicated to serving those who have been left behind.  We aim to bridge the digital divide by providing affordable personal computers and internet connections to members of lower-income communities and by offering computer literacy courses to those who wish to develop greater comfort with computers.

Youth for Elderly Service (YES) has a mission to improve the lives of the elderly by providing companionship. Through volunteering at retirement homes, daytime elder-care centers, and other locales, YES volunteers are able to build meaningful relationships with elderly members of the community and broaden their own understanding of various elder-related issues.