A man with many hats

While former senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards might not be working in the White House, his position at UNC could give him the opportunity to make a nationwide difference.

He has been juggling his time between directing the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC and pursuing his personal goals to end poverty and raise awareness about the issue.

Laura Hogshead, assistant director of the center, said Edwards is on campus about once a week.

His two-year part time appointment provides him with $40,000 annually.

Hogshead said Edwards is working on his own programs and political commitments when he's not at UNC.

Last week Edwards was in Russia for meetings as the co-chairman of an independent task force on U.S.-Russia relations for the Council on Foreign Relations.

"We're in Russia meeting with government officials, members of the press, leaders of (nongovernmental organizations) there to find out what's happening in Russia and prepare," he said.

The task force, which first formed May 31 and for which Jack Kemp is the other co-chairman, reviews U.S. policy toward Russia.

Edwards also is initiating programs at home to combat poverty in the United States.

"We're going to be having an event here as sort of a kickoff to something that I'm doing - a national college tour to raise awareness of poverty and to get students on campuses around the country engaged in their own state in fighting poverty," he said. "We've got people on campuses all over the country whose job it will be to find projects for people to do after we come and have the event there."

While campaigning last election year, Edwards talked about making college accessible for everyone. He is working on a program in North Carolina to make that a reality.

"We're working to put a model program in place here in North Carolina so kids who are willing to work during college can go their first year tuition free," he said. "These are all ideas to try to give kids from families that have been in the cycle of poverty a real chance - a chance to do better."

During the election season Edwards often spoke of two Americas - the haves and the have-nots - and has since continued to work at closing the gap.

He met with victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana on Sept. 12 to get a sense of who was hit the hardest by the storm and to assess the situation, he said.

"In the centers where the evacuees were located, it was almost all black," he said. "I think it's just a typical example of what I did talk about with the two Americas."

Edwards said that his efforts to end and raise awareness of poverty across the country such as his trip to the Gulf Coast and the college tour are separate from his work at UNC.

He said he will be working with everyone at the center to find out what is causing poverty in the country and to develop creative ideas about how to end it. "Our job here is to focus on the causes of poverty and to come up with serious solutions about how to eliminate poverty in this country," he said.

He stressed the importance of having community members and students as well as faculty and staff at the University involved in the center and its activities.

He and his family are moving to Chapel Hill when their house is finished this spring, he said. His children already are in school in Chapel Hill at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School.

At 52 years old, Edwards still has time to return to his career as a politician. But he said he does not plan to run for office at this time.

"I have a campaign now - it's to do something about poverty in the country," he said. "And that's where I'm going to stay focused right now."

 

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.