CYC at NC State and the Importance of Agriculture in NC

Check out the newest episode of Oak City Move where Sophs chats with one of the student leaders of CYC at NC State. Listen to here how Consult Your Community helps small businesses around Raleigh as well as prepare students for careers! There is also a BONUS CLIPPP of EV interviewing the Assistant Commissioner for Western North Carolina Kaleb Rathbone as he tells us about the importance of agriculture in a developing Raleigh and North Carolina and NC State's fair in this support of agriculture, education and accessibility.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Sophs Magnanini

What is Oak City Move?

A radio program and podcast from WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 celebrating those who enact positive changes in the Raleigh community.

00:00
Sophia Magnanini
Oak City Move is a podcast on WKNC's 88.1 FM HD 1 Raleigh where we highlight people and organizations creating positive change in the Triangle and beyond. Oak City Move can be heard on air every Other Monday on 88.1 FM HD1 Raleigh or online at WKNC Listen for episodes and more information, go to our blog at blog.wknc.org or follow us on SoundCloud at wknc8081. Welcome back to Oak City Move. I am your host, Sophia Magnanini. The song you just heard was Sweaty linen by Surf Ninja 3. I am here today with Tia Burmi, one of the leaders, student leaders of Create your own community CYC at NC State. So you. Yeah. If you wanted to just kind of tell us about how tell us for those who may not know what CYC is all about.

01:02
Tia Burmi
Yeah, totally. So consult your community. We offer pro bono consulting services for primarily women and minority owned businesses in the greater Raleigh area. So we help not just with business problems, but any type of problem that they might have. Especially because we have a very wide variety of majors represented at CYC. So we've expanded to more technical engagements as well. But yeah, that's just a little brief overview.

01:28
Sophia Magnanini
No, I love that. What kind of like local business and nonprofits have you guys been like working with recently? Or like can you kind of give us a overview of like what you guys do with a business once you.

01:45
Tia Burmi
Yeah, definitely. So our bread and butter at CYC are semester long engagements. So we start out by scoping the break before the engagement or the semester starts. And then throughout the course of semester the client or the team re scopes with the client and then they work to create deliverables that the client can use beyond the course of the engagement as well. But we've worked with clients and industries all across the board. Just off top of my head, I think we have a clothing store. We've done a vendor management platform, a cocktail company and a hair salon. But one I'm thinking about in specific is last semester we worked with SHE Thrifty, which was a vintage clothing store in downtown Raleigh. So our team did a social media guidebook, a website redesign, inventory management system, and a pitch deck for them.

02:34
Sophia Magnanini
That's awesome. That's really cool. Especially the like different. It's so broad. Like the businesses that you just named are very different from one another. So it's really cool that like no matter what kind of where you're at, you guys are still going to be able to Help them and like that's really cool.

02:53
Tia Burmi
Thanks. It's super fun that we have kind of that the knowledge I guess that we bring from the classroom and we're able to apply it in a real world scenario. So oftentimes the businesses are having the same core issues, but they know kind of what they're passionate about and how to follow that portion of things. So it's really cool to see their businesses develop. For sure.

03:12
Sophia Magnanini
No, that's really cool. And when you guys are like giving consulting services, what kind of does that look like when you're helping them out? Like is it just like you're helping them like budget and also like different stuff for you can.

03:28
Tia Burmi
Oh. So basically it looks like whatever they might specifically need. So we've done financial analysis before and stuff on that end of things. And typically the businesses we work with are around the two year point since they've been created. But it really just depends on whatever their pain points are. They usually bring us some overarching issue and then during scoping we ask a lot of questions and kind of whittle it down to what the core issue is. So we can either create guidebooks for them, implement new systems, just kind of whatever the case may be. It really varies from client to client.

04:02
Sophia Magnanini
No, that's really cool. Especially like I was saying earlier because yeah, I feel like you guys are very like multifaceted. Like you can help in many different ways for which is really cool because like you were saying, it's like when it comes to different businesses, they're gonna need different things and which is really cool. I wanted to ask what like kind of students get involved because I know you were saying earlier that now there's kind of a more rod of majors, but like is it mostly business majors?

04:33
Tia Burmi
Political. Like we do have a lot of business majors. So I would say like 40% of our students are business majors. But we're open to all majors. So we have like I mentioned business. Comp sci is another big portion, other engineering, but we also have like food science. We have some science students. So all across the board. I think the great thing about CYC is one, there's a lot of transferable skills you can learn and two, there's a really great support system. So if you want to take on something that you haven't maybe learned in your major or in the classroom, we have tons of resources within the organization itself. And also a mentorship program and things just help you develop as well.

05:11
Sophia Magnanini
No, yeah, I love that because it's almost like an Internship in the way where you guys are getting such hands on, like you guys are really going out there actually, which is really cool and probably really good for the future. You guys just are gaining experience and like talk in many different ways. So that's awesome. And I was going to say. Oh, no, you.

05:36
Tia Burmi
I was just going to say I did end up using a lot of the skills I learned in CYC internships I've done in the past. So it's not something I realized when I first joined, but definitely prevalent.

05:49
Sophia Magnanini
No. Yeah. Because my next question kind of like leads into that. How has like participating in CYC kind of helped you prepare like for future careers or like community involvement?

06:02
Tia Burmi
Yeah, definitely. So besides the couple things that I mentioned, the transferable skills and hands on experience and all of that, we also have a ton of corporate and community partners. So they participate in our all member meetings or in our end of semester event, just in different facets of CYCEV. And then also we have a ton of volunteering events and networking opportunities. So our vice president of development sets those up and make sure, really prioritize member development and kind of all the work that he does. And then we also have a strong alumni network. So CYC has been at NC State since 2016. So we've been doing our best actually in recent years to kind of compile the alumni and make them more involved or we send out a newsletter to them and we have alumni advisors on our engagement.

06:46
Tia Burmi
So just kind of bringing them into the process and giving them kind of a look at what we've been up to since they've graduated.

06:53
Sophia Magnanini
Yeah, that's because I didn't realize that, yeah. You guys were created in 2016, which, yeah. Saying it feels like not too long ago, but now I'm saying It's almost like 10 years when I'm like so crazy. No. Right. But the fact that you guys. Yeah. Have built this over that like short a time span is really cool. And it also just shows. Yeah. The community that you guys are building and just like the connections that you guys have, which is really cool. I wanted to ask, how do you kind of balance the CYC and being a student also yourself.

07:30
Tia Burmi
Yeah. So I feel like the balance in that is part of the support system that I mentioned on, honestly. So you see people before you balancing it well and paving this path for you, I guess in a way. And they've left us with a ton of resources, a ton of mentorship. Like the, the people who I guess got me into CYC and taught me how to do all this stuff. Like, there were people I used to look up to when. When I was a freshman and they were seniors. And so it's like it just. The cycle kind of continues in that way one end of things. And we have. Even in just terms of deliverables, we have so many deliverables in our Google Drive. So if you don't know how to do something, someone else probably has done it.

08:10
Tia Burmi
There's tons of resources at a national level as well. CYCEV has tons of chapters across the nation and it started in Berkeley in 2013. So if we need more information, there's always that as well. And our alumni advisors are a great way for us to make sure what we're leaving our clients with is something they can use in the future and up to industry standard and just presenting CYC in a professional light. So that helps on that side of things. And we built great connections throughout the last couple of years with the city of Raleigh, other community partners. So that makes it a little bit easier as well when you see other people in the same space and kind of how they operate.

08:50
Sophia Magnanini
Yeah, I could imagine. I wasn't aware that, yeah, there were multiple different chapters kind of around which I feel like that's also really cool that like, you're all helping one another, like, even if you're not in the same state. Because I feel like that's not kind of really common, like, especially for like, different. Which I love. That also just kind of adds to the sense of like, community and like helping one another out, which is very on brand.

09:17
Tia Burmi
It definitely is very nice to know you have that.

09:22
Sophia Magnanini
I was going to ask because. Yeah, while we're talking about, like, collaborations, have you guys collaborated or like, do you collaborate with any other, like, NC State clubs or like local nonprofits or city programs?

09:33
Tia Burmi
Yeah, so we definitely want to get into collaborating more with NC State clubs. We were talking about that with leadership or in our last Leadership Council meeting, but. Or sorry, PRT meeting. But we do collaborate a ton with other community partners and nonprofits. So like I mentioned the City of Raleigh, we're taking them on as another engagement this semester. Their Small Business Development group supports hundreds of small businesses in the greater Raleigh area. So we've worked with them in that capacity. They supported us in our Small Business Fair, which I'll definitely tell you more about in just a sec. But also other small business support networks in the city. And then we're having other events for Small Business Fair. For example, a preview night next week, which is Held at Crank Arm Brewery.

10:16
Tia Burmi
So other venues across Raleigh and definitely Community Partners is where we've put most of our efforts in the past and have really built out a thorough network there.

10:25
Sophia Magnanini
That's a, that's really great though. Like the. I feel like community is definitely going to be a word spoken a lot during this but it really is because the sense of community and just like helping one another and it's really great to hear that like yeah, you guys are also getting, working with other people, getting these other helps and like. But that's really awesome. And also my next question which probably leads into the Career fair. Yeah. What. What are like some goals or upcoming projects or that you guys have already done also that you're kind of excited about Definitely.

11:00
Tia Burmi
So I know I mentioned earlier that our bread and butter are those semester long engagements but outside of that we do have a couple other avenues that we support the small business community in Raleigh. So one is consultation. So small businesses can sign up for consultation if they have a one off issue. Maybe not enough for a semester long engagement. And we'll do the same kind of process in a shorter scale. So me or our vice president of growth we will look at kind of the issue that they present us with. Create a deliverable, the end to end whole process. We also have small business seminars so that's once a month. We either partner with someone in the community. So for example last week City of Raleigh was presenting or this last month and this month Hub NC State will be presenting.

11:46
Tia Burmi
So that's just an opportunity for business owners to come in and learn about whatever business topic in a more collaborative space. We make it very interactive and just another kind of add on. We do. But our biggest goal for the upcoming year is Small Business Fair. So that'll be held on April 9th of the upcoming year and we've already started planning and fundraising and doing all of the things for it. It's entirely community fundraised and free for vendors to participate. So it's a way for us to bring in the small business community to NC State's campus, help them open up into a new market with no barrier to entry and just kind of connect the NC State students with a greater Raleigh population.

12:26
Tia Burmi
But we're having a couple events next week so we're having our preview night like I mentioned which is more so for the business owners and sponsors. But if you all would like to support Small Business Fair we're having a house show on November 8th. So the show will start at 8 and then we having a fun run on November 9th at 9:30 in the morning, which will start at the bell tower.

12:48
Sophia Magnanini
I love that. Back to back. I mean, but you got to show for your community. You got to show for the small businesses.

12:54
Tia Burmi
Exactly. So we're trying to make it a little bit more collaborative on the fundraising side this year as well. Just tapping into a bunch of different groups of people. And I personally love a house show, so you guys should come out and bring your friends.

13:07
Sophia Magnanini
No, I love that because. Yeah, I feel like also that those are two. Like, you don't really see those that much with, like.

13:15
Tia Burmi
Yeah.

13:16
Sophia Magnanini
So I feel like that's a really fun. Also really amazing way to. Yeah. Get the community out there and just to get people involved, which is really cool.

13:25
Tia Burmi
We're super excited.

13:27
Sophia Magnanini
No.

13:27
Tia Burmi
Mm.

13:28
Sophia Magnanini
Also because. Yeah, this is gonna come out this Monday. So. Yeah. Listeners go to the house show.

13:36
Tia Burmi
Go to the. It's Saturday and Sunday. Exactly.

13:39
Sophia Magnanini
Like, you got time to plan. But how has planning like the.

13:46
Tia Burmi
How.

13:47
Sophia Magnanini
What's kind of like the process of planning? Or is it kind of like. I know you're saying because the Small Business Fair is in April and you guys are already kind of like, going.

13:58
Tia Burmi
Yeah, it's been good. Our Vice President of growth, Navia, is at the head of all that, as well as our Small Business Fair team. So we have sub teams within CYCEV. We have recruitment, impact and Small Business Fair, and they have been kind of split into groups. So we have, like, fundraising partnerships, marketing, like, all sorts of things. And we're working on the initial stages of the planning. And it's helpful because we've had a couple Small business fairs in the past already at this point, so we don't have to start from scratch. So that's really awesome. And it's great to kind of just see people take their own initiative on things. And we're having Small Business Fair merch for our students and switching up our setup and all these things, but it's just a really cool experience for everyone involved.

14:43
Tia Burmi
I think this is something that you would only get to experience here. And planning an event at such a large scale is really just. It's really cool and fun to collaborate with other CYCEV members.

14:54
Sophia Magnanini
Yeah, I can imagine kind of the. This not satisfaction, but yeah, just once it's all complete and you can be like, yeah, you helped make this. Like, you did this.

15:04
Tia Burmi
Exactly. I'm so excited.

15:06
Sophia Magnanini
And it's also. I love that it's free for vendors to sign up, which makes it more. Probably so much more accessible for so many small businesses. Because I feel like. Yeah, especially in this time and age where there's so many of like the giant corporations where it's like Amazon, that stuff the small businesses need, no matter what they are, like, yeah, need the support. And so it's amazing what you guys are doing.

15:32
Tia Burmi
Thank you. Yeah, I feel like it's kind of more prevalent now than ever. So we're really trying to kind of step into other aspects of ways to make this happen and ways to just amplify the impact we have for the businesses.

15:45
Sophia Magnanini
No, I love that. And you guys most definitely. Most definitely are. But this kind of leads into my next question. How are you guys kind of hoping to expand or evolve the impact within the community in future years?

15:59
Tia Burmi
Yeah, definitely. So I mentioned a little bit, but we're looking to expand the impact that our Small Business fair has on each of the vendors. So whether that be monetarily or amount of vendors that we can support and continuing to build partnerships at NC State and then also with the small Business Support networks in Raleigh. There's a really big ecosystem and I think the more we learn about other organizations and are able to kind of point people in the right direction or collaborate most effectively would be just better for everyone involved. So definitely looking to do more of that in this upcoming year.

16:35
Sophia Magnanini
No, that's awesome. Because I feel like the reach, as you guys kind of go on, you're gonna get more and more, which is just amazing. Awesome. And as you kind of come up on the end of our chat, if a local business owner or student listening wants to get involved, what are the best ways to get involved with CYCEV or to reach out?

17:00
Tia Burmi
Yeah. So for anyone, Our email is nccstateconsultyourcommunity.org that's a great place to reach us at any point with any ask business owners. We have a rolling application on our website if you'd like to be a client or the link to sign up for consultation as well as past seminars, all on our website. But again, if you. Which is CYCNC State, but if you do have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to the email at any point. And for students looking to get involved, our application opens on the first day of each semester, so we would love to have you apply.

17:34
Sophia Magnanini
Perfect. That's awesome. No, thank you so much. And also I just wanted to thank you so much for coming in and talking with me and giving us all this information about CYCEV, because it really is, I feel, not underrated, but it's something that needs to be more known and because I feel like you guys are helping so much in the Raleigh community and outside also. So it's really good that you guys are being noticed and appreciated. Thank you guys so much for listening to my chat with Tia. Coming up next is a little segment from Evie. Are very beautiful, very special Evie, where it kind of leads in to the community and small business part. And you guys are about to hear a clip of her interviewing a business at the fair and just people at the fair also.

18:31
Sophia Magnanini
So I hope you guys enjoy this. But do not forget you're listening to Hook city move on WKNC 88.1. And yeah, episodes will come out every Monday or every other Monday. But hope you guys have a great day.

18:53
Evie Dallmann
I am Evie Dallmann with WKNC at NC State Radio.

18:56
Kaleb Rathbone
I'm Kaleb Rathbone, assistant commissioner for Western North Carolina. So down here helping out this week.

19:02
Evie Dallmann
Do you see any trends or things looking out in the future with Raleigh's urban development and like maintaining the importance of agriculture and maybe the state fair's involvement in that and placing that?

19:13
Kaleb Rathbone
Sure. So a big part of the state fair is to spread awareness of the industry and inspire importance to North Carolina. And you know, North Carolina is a rapidly growing state. So with that population growth, we also see a big loss in farmland as development takes place. So over the next the projections are by 2040, we're looking at losing another over a million acres of farmland across the state. And so as we become more developed as a state, that awareness of the importance of agriculture is going to be critical to make sure that we're able to maintain policy so that our farmers can keep farming.

19:57
Evie Dallmann
Yeah, I'm curious. Someone in here was talking earlier about like smaller farms, family farms, minority based farms, knowing about kind of the governmental support such as tax breaks and whatnot. So I'm curious about this part of the agricultural education in supporting the farmer fiscally and also with education possibly spanning into the urban sphere so that agriculture can become more accessible and also get people interested.

20:24
Kaleb Rathbone
So, you know, we are a state made up of small farms. So the vast majority of farms are small family owned operations in the department. We actually have divisions that's focused solely on smaller minority farmers making sure that they have access to the programs that are available to them, whether they're federal programs, state or grant opportunities. And so our small farms division does a lot of work with that. We also work very closely with NC State Extension and other groups to make sure that if programs are available, those who are eligible to plan, participate, are aware of it and know how to apply and. Yeah, take advantage of those programs.

21:09
Evie Dallmann
Yeah. I think also in that vein of like NC State's agricultural extension program, I guess, like, maybe do you want to talk on like this importance of kind of making tangible agriculture. So, like workshops, demos, education, like you're saying, for this next generation. Like I said, there's a guy in here to talking earlier about, you know, most people are three to four generations removed from a farm. So I guess in the coming years, like, how might that change and how might you be inspired by the state fair to propel these kind of movements of agriculture back into people's lives?

21:43
Kaleb Rathbone
Sure. So North Carolina has, I won't say they have the best extension service in the nation. Maybe a little biased, but I think it can be backed up with numbers. So we have. The extension service has offices in all 100 counties, plus an office for the Eastern Band of the Cherokee in western North Carolina. You know, so North Carolina State staff and faculty in every county accessible and available to farmers to be able to ask questions. And they really are the front line of making sure that farmers have access to the latest information that's developed on, you know, our research stations are partnering with companies who are doing research to make sure that it is accessible. So those programs are very important at the farm level.

22:31
Kaleb Rathbone
But also the Youth programs through 4H FFA and like the livestock shows here at the fair, extension is very involved. And, you know, the livestock shows, the competitive entries at the fairs historically and still reigns true today. It's a great way for youth to be able to get involved in the industry, understand what it takes to actually raise animals for food or crops that they may enter in the fair. It's also a good way to train work ethic and experience. You know, it's not easy producing the food that we all need on a daily basis. So it gives them a firsthand experience of being able to raise animals.

23:18
Evie Dallmann
Yeah. Wow. I really like that idea of, like, you have to see it to know. And then that kind of also can help in sustainability, like divert maybe food waste if you're kind of more aware of like, everything that goes into that West End. And I were going to talk about kind of like livestock care in particular, like, largely farming, but livestock particularly as it relates to community ethics and like, morale. And I'm curious, like, if that like, inspires anything in you and like, what that means to take care of animals, live with them and kind of produce a community ethic about valuing other lives While simultaneously still supporting our communities sustainably.

23:55
Kaleb Rathbone
Sure. So I grew up raising livestock and showing animals at fairs. My kids have been involved, and so I've experienced and seen firsthand how, you know, it's one thing to read about food production in a textbook or, you know, watch a video on it on YouTube, but to actually experience it form a bond with those animals and see what it actually takes to bring them from, you know, from birth all the way through production. You know, I think it's an important part of developing that appreciation for where food comes from. It gives you a different perspective on waste, also allows youth to see how what could be waste products in the food production cycle can actually be upcycled through different feed sources for the animals and being able to have that sustainability in the entire process production chain. And another really fascinating piece.

24:57
Kaleb Rathbone
I mean, so historically, the entire reason that state fairs began was for farmers to bring their best animals, their best crops together, to be able to share with their neighbors, to be able to see the improvements. And it's through those improvements that we actually have a more productive and efficient food production system. And so each year you produce, bring your best through breeding and different husbandry practices. And it actually does improve the efficiency of food production year over year. And so it's a tradition that we're proud to continue.

25:33
Evie Dallmann
Yeah, that's a beautiful line. I guess, in this way, would you see the fairs as kind of like a skill sharing grounds originally and hypothetically, hopefully in the future as well?

25:43
Kaleb Rathbone
Absolutely, yeah. And so there's a great speech that Abraham Lincoln actually gave. I think it was at the Wisconsin State Fair where he talked about the importance of bringing your best to demonstrate and showing progress and creating two where there was originally one. So that was true in the 1850s and it's still true today. So I don't know that we're fortunate to be in a business where we will never have the luxury to stop improving how we produce food. Sam.