School of Government

Skip to content
Cohort 8

Jurisdiction: Western Piedmont COG

University: Yale University

Hometown: Lansing, NC

Abby Carpenter serves as a Lead for North Carolina Fellow with the Western Piedmont Council of Governments, where she supports regional water policy, disaster recovery grant administration, and organizational capacity building. During her fellowship, Abby will research Charlotte Water’s Inter-Basin Transfer request and analyze its potential effects on regional water capacity, drought conditions, industry needs, and water quality. She will translate her findings into memos, presentations, position statements, and research summaries for local stakeholders and elected officials. Abby will also assist with the administration and compliance oversight of CDBG-funded disaster recovery projects, including environmental reviews, monitoring visits, labor standards reporting, grant documentation, and audit preparation. In addition, she will support updates to the COG’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, help plan its annual meeting, develop ADA compliance training, and assist with revising organizational bylaws. Through this work, Abby is gaining hands-on experience in environmental and water policy, grant compliance, disaster recovery, intergovernmental collaboration, stakeholder engagement, organizational planning, and regional government operations.

Abby Carpenter recently graduated from Yale University, where she studied Environmental Studies with a concentration in environmental justice and a minor in Energy Studies. Passionate about the environment, Appalachian equity, and law, Abigail hopes to attend law school and eventually practice environmental law in North Carolina

October 6, 2026

COLUMBUS— The Town of Columbus is welcoming a new team member this summer through a statewide program designed to bring fresh talent into local government. Isa Gandy, a graduate of…

September 6, 2026

 This July, the eighth cohort of Lead for North Carolina Fellows arrived at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to begin their journey into public sector careers. After…

August 24, 2026

This July four Western Carolina University graduates were chosen to serve communities across the state as Lead for North Carolina fellows. Lead for NC is a government fellowship program started…

AmeriCorps