We are pleased to invite you to the fourth and last version of FLIP IT for this year which will be held on April 23rd from 5:30 PM to 7 PM in Davis meeting room in The Fuqua School of Business at Duke.
We have the pleasure of having Threads of Hope, a community project here in NC in which trained community facilitators run support groups enabling women to help each other make health and lifestyle changes. The women—who are African American, American Indian (Coharie Tribe), Latina, or white—live in Sampson and Duplin Counties in eastern North Carolina, where unemployment has been high since the mid-1990s when tobacco and textile production left the area. In 2000, the poverty rate was close to 20 percent of households. Fifteen years of researcher-community collaboration in the area made it clear that income, education, occupation, and community factors are playing a greater role in health than individual health behaviors or access to health care. The economic depression contributed to a sense of hopelessness that made some women less motivated than before to address health behaviors.
Today, they have created a strong and thriving community and through the sale of hand made bags of organic cotton, they are financing their programs. However, they depend on sporadic clients like conference organizers that value the message behind their bags. To expand their impact and increase the revenues that help them finance all their community oriented programs, they need to improve their social marketing. How can they better communicate the underlying value of their products? How can they include their community programs and mission in the message so that products are appreciated as a means to a bigger end? In which ways can they enhance their marketing to reach a customer that values products with a cause and is willing to pay a premium for that?
Through FLIP IT we can help them answer those questions and more. It is a joint effort between The Foundation for a Sustainable Community (FSC) and the Duke Microfinance Leadership Initiative (DMLI) to partner students with a local business to solve an issue it is currently trying to improve within its business. Working together face-to-face, students and local businesses will develop creative business solutions that revolve around sustainability, micro credit, community development, and other related topics.
Through this opportunity, you will be able to:
• Help a local business directly with your skills and creativity to solve an actual issue it
• Gain experience developing sustainable and social-minded business models and practices
• Learn about a local business that may have an interesting business model worth studying
• Expand your network of contacts in the area
• Start a conversation with a company that can end up in a practical hands on experience further in the academic year
• Start to explore internship opportunities and ways to get involved with local sustainable businesses
If you are interested in learning more about FLIP IT and letting us learn more about you, follow the link below and fill this short survey for us.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=sfZQhWrwBvJdljMG5o7p_2bg_3d_3d
DMLI is committed to building bridges between students, the community and local businesses around sustainability and community development. Our final goal is to bring practical experiences that lead to collaboration and sustainable growth of all.
Hope to hear from you soon,
