MDC is pleased to announce the opportunity for funding and participation in its learning and action network to advance work on educational equity for young people with learning differences who experience further marginalization due to racism and/or poverty. Learning for Equity: A Network for Solutions North Carolina (LENS-NC) – a network partnership between nine NC-basedContinue reading Request for Applications – Learning for Equity: A Network for Solutions (LENS-NC)
Dr. Jason Caldwell shared MDC’s Student Loan Debt Policy Agenda at The Collaborative NC annual conference as part of the Student Loan Roundtable panel. The burden of student loan debt looms large for policymakers and millions of Americans. Durham NC-based non-profit MDC has released a policy agenda for reducing student loan debt in North Carolina.Continue reading MDC releases Student Loan Policy Agenda
MDC is delighted to announce that Rural Forward NC has joined the MDC team, providing additional expertise and capacity to support rural leaders, organizations, and communities.Continue reading Rural Forward NC joins MDC to enhance capacity and support for rural leaders and communities across the South
From left, Gov. William Winter, former MDC Program Director Shun Robertson, retired MDC President David Dodson, and MDC Autry Fellow Anna Shelton-Ormond at a 2015 showing of the documentary “The Toughest Job” about Gov. Winter at UNC-CH MDC mourns the loss of Mississippi Gov. William F. Winter, who passed away Friday (12/18/20) in Jackson, Miss.,Continue reading Remembering Miss. Gov. William Winter, MDC chair emeritus and an inspiration
The Oak Foundation has committed over $1.4 million to an 18-month MDC initiative that provides a network of organizations grants and support to advance their work to improve the lives of the one-in-five children who struggle with learning and attention issues, and the less than favorable outcomes for the ones who are low-income students and students of color.Continue reading LENS NC offers space for new connections and shared dreaming to help students with learning differences
John Simpkins became MDC’s third president in 53 years in July 2020, succeeding David Dodson. Before coming to MDC, he held various leadership roles in efforts to promote equity, access, and inclusion at the state, national, and international level. Most recently he was vice president of the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.Continue reading Q&A with John Simpkins, MDC President
MDC adds four new staff members to its operations and program teamsContinue reading MDC adds operations and program staff
MDC Autry Fellow Faydra Richardson writes about being 22 in 2020.Continue reading 22 in 2020
Once you realize that Black Lives Matter, what comes next? Across the nation and beyond leaders are finding themselves in the awkward position of needing to address systemic inequities, but they are devoid of the tools or even the language to reckon with our deep history of racial violence and exclusion.
Social justice advocates already are questioning whether this is a movement or a moment; they are worried that that real change will remain illusory.
We can’t let that happen.Continue reading We can’t change the South’s past, but let’s make all Southerners part of its future: Op-ed by John Simpkins
Nine North Carolina organizations focused on education, disability rights, activism, Latino issues, and rural communities were selected to learn more and advance their work at the intersection of race, educational equity, and learning differences through participation in “Learning for Equity: A Network for Solutions,” a learning and action network being created by MDC and Oak Foundation.Continue reading Nine North Carolina organizations selected to address the intersection between race, educational equity, and learning differences