MDC Announces New Publication for Scaling Up Community College Programs
We are proud to announce the release of MDC's latest publication, More to Most: Scaling Effective Community College Practices. More to Most is a guide for community colleges that are expanding small or pilot programs into larger, sustainable efforts that serve most -- if not all -- of the students who can benefit from them. More to Most grew out of MDC's work in the Developmental Education Initiative, an $18.5 million effort to scale up effective remedial instruction at community colleges, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation. Even in focused efforts like DEI, deciding which programs to expand and how to do it is a complex process that can waste valuable time and resources if not conducted thoughtfully. The comprehensive process outlined in More to Most helps organizations assess which programs are ripe for expansion, and gives direction on how to create a scale-up plan -- and it's all designed to dovetail with planning structures already in place. You can watch an introductory slide show, learn how Jackson Community College in Michigan implemented the process, and download a copy from www.more2most.org.
N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue talks about the importance of postsecondary success at MDC Learning Institute 2012
N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue told around 100 people at MDC's Learning Institute 2012, "I don't believe that in my state, or in your states, we can afford to throw out about one out of every 10 children in our public school system."
Talking about the impact of school dropouts on communities, Perdue made the remarks on March 29, 2012, the final day of a three-day conference focusing on ways that school systems, community colleges, nonprofits, businesses, and social service agencies can work together to increase the number of students who get credentials or diplomas that can attract businesses and create living-wage jobs.
"America simply cannot compete unless we seek and succeed in educating every single person," she said.
The MDC Learning Institute 2012, held at the R. David Thomas Executive Conference Center at Duke University, included representatives from the four cities participating in the Partners for Postsecondary Success initiative (Raleigh, N.C., Charlotte, N.C., Brownsville, Texas, and Amarillo, Texas) led by MDC and from Communities Learning in Partnership (CLIP), led by the National League of Cities. Both programs are funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Watch Governor Perdue's full remarks here:
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MDC Mourns the Loss of Ed Bishop
All of us at MDC were deeply saddened to learn of the passing on Jan. 14, 2012, of Charles Edwin Bishop, a renowned economist and university leader who was vital to MDC for many years.
Ed married a life-long commitment to the "people and places left behind" with an uncompromising intellect and the most rigorous analytic standards. As a result, he pushed MDC to give our very best efforts to clarify problems and forge solutions to economic and human challenges. He recognized a decade before most of his peers that demographic changes would place a new urgency on erasing educational inequality and fostering high attainment for all. He was pained by economic inequity, particularly growing gaps between rich and poor in America. He was a champion for rural people while remaining unsentimental about the prospects of rural areas in a globalizing economy. He was a master teacher, powerful mentor, and dear friend to all who worked with him.
Ed's involvement as an advisor and board member for MDC came after his "retirement" from a career that included being head of the Department of Economics at N.C. State University, vice president of the University of North Carolina, Chancellor of the University of Maryland at College Park, president of the five-campus system of the University of Arkansas, and president of the University of Houston System. He also served three U.S. presidents: as executive director of President Johnson's National Advisory Commission on Rural Poverty, as a member of President Nixon's White House Task Force on Rural Development and his Food Advisory Council, and on President Carter's Commission on an Agenda of the Eighties and his Advisory Commission on Balanced Growth and Economic Development.
His work and influence at MDC will long be with us.
To read Ed Bishop's obituary, click here.
And to read a reflection on Ed Bishop by Bill Bishop (no relation) in the Daily Yonder, click here. He writes, "There isn't anyone like Ed Bishop in the U.S. today -- someone who can command the respect of presidents but understands completely the way people live in the poorest community."
MDC to Assist Lumina Foundation in Effort to Improve Postsecondary Completion Rates for Latino Students
MDC is playing a key role helping Lumina Foundation launch a four-year, $7.2 million effort to improve the postsecondary success of Latino students across the nation. Titled "Latino Student Success," the initiative is aimed at bringing together community leaders in policy, education, business, and nonprofits to create community partnerships that can dramatically increase the number of Latino students who start--and finish--studies at postsecondary institutions (both community colleges and universities).
In 12 metropolitan areas in 10 states from Florida to New York and California to North Carolina (including MDC's home base of Durham-Raleigh), MDC will lead community coaching as partnerships develop a plan and create a structure for implementing sustainable strategies that can have long-term success helping Latino high school and college students.
"Every community is different, but the one thing they have in common--and we all have in common as a nation--is the economic and social imperative to improve the postsecondary success of Latino students, who are the fastest-growing student population in America," said David Dodson, president of MDC. "Through community coaching, we hope to help each location create a program that speaks to their unique challenges. Our goal is to create collective impact by helping each partner understand their role in increasing the number of Latino students who finish college."
Partners, working with a backbone organization taking the lead, will consider a wide array of means for helping students making it to and through college, including tutoring and mentoring programs, professional development for faculty, removing roadblocks in the transition from high school to college, and providing financial planning classes for their families. Communities also will create systems to collect data and track students' progress.
MDC's role in LSS builds on the decades of experience gained working to increase student success at community colleges, using reflective planning to help community philanthropies become more strategic, and managing and incubating programs such as the national Achieving the Dream initiative. LSS is part of Lumina Foundation's national Goal 2025 movement, which aims to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by the year 2025.
"Latinos are emblematic of today's 21st century student," said Lumina President and CEO Jamie Merisotis. "They are largely first-generation college students--many of whom are working adults, with family responsibilities who oftentimes begin their postsecondary education in community colleges. Increasing the access and degree attainment rates of Latinos is critical and our hope is that Latino Student Success will provide catalytic support that can have a positive impact on making all 21st century students more successful."
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Awards New Grants for MDC's Partners for Postsecondary Success
Three community partnerships in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Brownsville and Amarillo, Texas, have been awarded grants to continue their participation in Partners for Postsecondary Success, a three-year demonstration led by MDC and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Partners for Postsecondary Success initiative is part of the Gates Foundation's postsecondary strategy to double the number of young adults (aged 16-26) who earn a postsecondary credential with labor market value by 2025. During the implementation phase, site partners will strengthen and build partnerships; engage the local community to raise awareness about postsecondary completion rates; and remove barriers that block students from the supports they need to be successful.
Lead organizations in each city coordinated the work of the partnership through the planning phase of the initiative and will continue to lead each partnership through the implementation phase. The lead organizations are:
A fourth community partnership from Charlotte, N.C., led by the Foundation For The Carolinas, is continuing planning to develop high-impact strategies to improve postsecondary and employment outcomes for their low-income young adults and will submit its proposal for continuing participation in the project in the early fall of this year.
Click here to read the full press release.
Completion Matters recently interviewed Bonnie Gordon, Partners for Postsecondary Success project director and MDC program manager. Bonnie spoke about the continuing work of the initiative and the importance of MDC's place-based work.
MDC President David Dodson Reports on The State of the South to Gathering of Community Leaders in Tupelo, Miss.
MDC President David Dodson recently brought the insights of The State of the South 2011 report to more than 300 community, business, and civic leaders in Tupelo, Miss., at the CREATE Foundation's 15th annual State of the Region meeting.
"Who we are today will determine who we are tomorrow with respect to the future workforce," Dodson told the group while praising northeast Mississippi for the economic development it already has accomplished, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported.
Dodson's presentation included insights such as:
Changing demographics and slow rates of internal growth mean Mississippi will need to ensure that the very groups that haven't historically enjoyed high rates of educational success get postsecondary credentials with labor market value.
Local people will need to be educated and trained to the specifications required by the emerging automotive economy in northeast Mississippi as Toyota is poised to open a major manufacturing facility employing 1,200 direct workers and thousands more at supplier firms. If local workers aren't ready for these jobs, the region is in danger of becoming the kind of "colonial economy" n which good jobs go to skilled in-migrants, not spiring locals.
Chronic inequities lie at the heart of many of the social and community pathologies that still plague Mississippi. Education, particularly increases in postsecondary success, offer a way to reduce inequities by equipping people to earn, work, and save their way out of poverty.
Wise, place-based philanthropy like the CREATE Foundation gives northeast Mississippi an unparalleled resource for addressing long-term challenges. CREATE is a powerful example of the "passing gear" social venture capital that the South sorely needs.
Read a live blog of the event here.
North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue Thanks MDC for Work with Disconnected Youth
On a recent visit to Durham Technical Community College, N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue met with students who were participating in Gateway to College, a program for 16- to 21-year-old high school dropouts who want to receive a high school diploma and a college degree. She was moved by their dreams and determination and said programs such as that were vital to creating opportunities for North Carolina's people and its economy.
She and Durham Tech President Bill Ingram also cited MDC's role in helping Durham Tech receive the $300,000 grant for the program from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It was a direct outgrowth of MDC's 2009 report, sponsored by the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, "Disconnected Youth in the Research Triangle Region: An Ominous Problem Hidden in Plain Sight," which described and quantified the issue. MDC then led Durham leaders on a trip to Portland, Ore., where Durham Tech learned about the Gateway to College program.
The governor and President Ingram thanked MDC for bringing the issue to the city's attention, for bringing the program to the college's attention, and for helping to make it happen. "Thank you, MDC," the governor said, then spoke with students whose lives were being changed by the program.
Here's a video clip of the governor's visit, and a report on it from WRAL-TV.
MDC is Moving to Durham!
Thanks to a partnership with Self-Help Credit Union, MDC is moving into the heart of revitalized downtown Durham at 307 W. Main St., the four-story, 16,295-square-foot John Sprunt Hill Building
Self-Help purchased the historic, 1925 Georgian Revival building--which is next door to its headquarters--for $1.4 million. It will be owned jointly by the two nonprofits, with MDC leasing the entire building and becoming a partner with Self-Help in its ownership. Self-Help expects to spend $800,000 in renovations and improvements, and MDC expects to move in July.
"We are delighted to be coming to Durham, the home of our forebear institution, the North Carolina Fund," said David Dodson, president of MDC. "We look forward to a bright future contributing to the city, the state, and the nation. And we could not be more thrilled to be neighbors and partners with Self Help, one of the most innovative nonprofits in the country."
Two key features of the building will help MDC enhance its work: the first floor will become a place to incubate nonprofits that need both space and back-office support in marketing, finance, and administration. And the fourth floor will be a state-of-the-art convening, conference, and training space. In addition to hosting MDC convenings, it also will be made available to local businesses and nonprofits.
"Self-Help is pleased to help redevelop this downtown Durham landmark and help bring MDC to Durham," said Self-Help Vice President John Shanley. "It's a unique and beautiful building. Putting this space back in circulation with MDC is a perfect fit for Durham. The ownership structure of the property allows MDC to build equity through real estate, a unique opportunity that comes from organizations with long-standing mutual trust and respect."
Click here for a news release about the move.
MDC President David Dodson Discusses State of the South on NC Now
UNC-TV's North Carolina Now program interviewed David Dodson about the just-released State of the South 2011 report. David spoke with host Mitchell Lewis about the changing demographics of the American South, the need for improved postsecondary completion rates for a new generation of Southerners, and the importance of maintaining investments in education and innovation that were essential to North Carolina's groundbreaking economic success over the last 50 years.
See what else is being said about State of the South 2011:
The Daily Yonder
The Rural Blog
The Philanthropy Journal
The Southern Governors' Association (under "Newsworthy")
Read the State of the South 2011 Op-Eds:
The Charleston Gazette (WVa)
The Tennessean
The News and Observer
The Charlotte Observer
The Anniston Star
The Birmingham News Commentary
Read the full State of the South 2011, Looking Ahead: Leadership for Hard Times, and the State of the South 2011 News Release about the report.
To register to receive future State of the South updates by email, please click here.
With 2011 shaping up as a year of reckoning and most Southern states facing budget shortfalls that threaten recent economic progress, the region's leaders must focus on a "North Star" of long-term priorities for real recovery to take place, a new report says. The State of the South 2011, the concluding chapter of MDC's The State of the South 2010 series, finds that for the region to move forward, Southern leaders must look beyond budget cuts and focus instead on education reform (with an emphasis on postsecondary completion), tax modernization, regional collaboration, improved civic connections, and development of new leadership.
"While cuts appear inevitable, an across-the-board, cut-only 'strategy' won't do; in fact, that's no real strategy at all," the report says. "Better is a mix of budget reductions, critical investments and revenue increases, all guided by a "North Star" for setting priorities." It is a time for "decisions that cry out for leaders focused on equity, opportunity and competitiveness," the report says.
One key to the region's long-term economic health will be improving the economic prospects for African-American and Hispanic young people. "Put bluntly, a large majority of older adult Southerners are whites, while blacks, Hispanics and other recently arrived ethnic groups form a near majority of younger Southerners," the report's research finds. "It is imperative that the South sustain efforts to close educational achievement gaps and assure that tomorrow's more diverse workforce has the skills to thrive in a high-tech, high-wage, knowledge-centered economy."
MDC President David Dodson said focusing on public policy and investments that remove the structural barriers that hold people back should be a critical focus of policy in a time of diminished resources.
"While this is a difficult time, we're also at a crossroads," he said. "It is a great opportunity for legislators and policy makers to focus their sights on rethinking systems and programs so they prepare us for the world of work and life in the 21st century. We need to make all of our decisions with an eye on the 'North Star' of broader economic opportunity."
Read the full State of the South 2011, Looking Ahead: Leadership for Hard Times , and the State of the South 2011 News Release about the report.
To register to receive future State of the South updates by email, please click here.
New Book Co-Edited by MDC's Colin Austin Reflects upon the Important Lessons of Failure for Advancing New Models of Social Innovation
Should nonprofits spend as much time reflecting upon their failures as they do celebrating their successes? Mistakes to Success: Learning and Adapting When Things Go Wrong (iUniverse), a new book of essays co-edited by authors Robert Giloth and Colin Austin , argues that nonprofits too often miss important lessons by ignoring their failures.
"A treasure trove of innovation mistakes and failures exists, mostly out of sight, that could inform the design and replication of a next generation of social innovations," the authors write. "We need to know more about what hasn't worked and why. We need to learn from our mistakes."
Drawing upon their years of experience in the community and economic development fields, the authors bring together an impressive collection of experts who honestly examine their own mistakes and reflect upon what those experiences taught them.
"I hope this book will encourage more economic and workforce development practitioners to critically examine their mistakes," says Colin Austin, a senior program director at MDC. "We need to recognize constructive failures and take corrective actions that increase the survival rate of social innovations."
"This collection of illuminating examples is a valuable resource for social innovators," says MDC President David Dodson. "The difficult work of honestly examining our mistakes and failures is essential to creating reflective practitioners in community development."
For the South to attract the high-skill jobs that are likely to expand as the economy recovers, it must increase the number of its citizens who earn a postsecondary degree or credential, says a new report from MDC. The second chapter of The State of the South 2010, Talent and Skill: Antidotes to Uncertainty , finds that most Southern states lag not just the U.S. but many developed nations in college completion rates (click on the chart below to see comparisons) and faces a "job gap" totaling 3.1 million jobs--the number of positions it would take to get back to 2007 employment levels.
It is projected that by 2018, 49 to 64 percent of Southern jobs will require some college, but states are currently producing postsecondary degrees at rates between 30 to 44 percent. If the region hopes to be competitive for new industries and a new generation of high-skill jobs, special emphasis must be placed on addressing the needs of those who historically have been left behind. Though blacks and Latinos have markedly lower postsecondary success rates, they will constitute a larger share of the South's working-age population as largely white baby-boomers move into retirement, the report says.
"Historically, the Southern economy did not require a
well-educated, well-credentialed workforce," said David Dodson, president of MDC. "Today, postsecondary credentials are increasingly the key to success in the occupations that will drive our economy and provide prosperity for Southern workers and communities. Southern 
leaders need to work aggressively to create pathways and incentives that will raise postsecondary attainment rates across the region for all population groups."
Read the full report, The State of the South 2010: Chapter 2 , and the MDC news release about the report.
MDC Awarded Gates Foundation Grant to Launch New Initiative in North Carolina and Texas
MDC has received a $1.8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create and lead a program to help low-income young adults in four communities complete their postsecondary education and acquire good jobs.
"Too often low-income young adults are unable to see a clear path to a meaningful career, in part due to misconceptions about the full range of postsecondary options available to them," said David Dodson, president of MDC.
Called Partners for Postsecondary Success , the program is helping partnerships in Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C., and Brownsville and Amarillo, Texas, examine historical barriers to postsecondary completion within the their communities, and to work to find solutions to connect more young people with living-wage jobs.
"As our economy is demanding increasing skills, the economic viability of cities is directly tied to the education of their citizens," said Hilary Pennington, director of Education, Postsecondary Success, and Special Initiatives for the Gates Foundation. "The lessons learned though the Partners for Postsecondary Success project will provide valuable insight into what communities can do to make college completion happen."
Lead organizations will coordinate the work of the partnerships in each city. The lead organizations are:
Read the full press release here .
The Benefit Bank of NC Now Operating in 40 Counties Throughout the State.
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A new program is under way in North Carolina to help thousands of families receive work supports that can keep them from sliding into poverty while they're working, going to school, or between jobs.
The Benefit Bank © is an online service used by community-based organizations such as churches, schools and food banks to connect low- and moderate-income people with the work supports for which they are eligible. It is now operating in 40 North Carolina counties, with plans to expand into every county in the state. In just four months, it has helped more than 8,000 families receive nearly $4 million in tax credits and refunds and an estimated $1.7 million in food and nutrition benefits.
MDC manages the national Work Supports Initiative and brought The Benefit Bank© to North Carolina as it expands nationwide.
MDC's Work in the Dan River Region Recognized by the Council on Competitiveness
The Council on Competitiveness
has released the third installment in its series on regional innovation. Collaborate: Leading Regional Innovation Clusters begins with a simple question: why are some regions more successful than others in global competition?
Drawing on original research and case studies, the report says for regions to be competitive in the global marketplace they need leadership that's focused on collaboration, with an ability to leverage local resources and network with regional stakeholders.
The report notes:
This new kind of leadership confronts a series of tasks that differ substantially from those of the old, local economic model, where the region next door was the competition and recruiting firms from elsewhere was the mission. New regional leadership must create a shared regional narrative, build consensus, institutionalize innovation and lead change.
Prominently featured in the report is the strategic partnership formed between MDC and the Future of the Piedmont Foundation (FPF), an economic development initiative created by community leaders in the Dan River Region of Virginia in 2000.
MDC assisted the Foundation in creating an economic development plan to shift the region from a traditional manufacturing/agriculture-based economy to an information/high-tech economy.
As a result of that partnership, the Foundation created the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research , a $70 million dollar research institute and incubator that acts as a "catalyst for economic and community transformation."
The Dan River Region is a promising example of how a new kind of leadership can transform a region.
Read the full report.
Former MDC Board Member Juanita Kreps Passes Away
We at MDC are heartbroken to hear of the passing of our dear friend and longtime board member, Dr. Juanita Kreps. Juanita served on the MDC board for 19 years, including five years as chairman and 11 years as vice-chairman.
As the daughter of an Appalachian coal miner, Juanita had an intimate familiarity with the economic hardships facing working-class families and throughout her distinguished career she remained a strong voice for change in the American South.
As one of the few female economists in the 1960s and 1970s, Juanita was not only a pioneer in the world of academics, but also in the private sector, serving as the first female Director of the New York Stock Exchange, and in government, where she was appointed Secretary of Commerce by President Carter.
MDC President David Dodson remembers Juanita as a constant advocate for MDC and a catalyst for economic development and social advancement in the American South.
''What a great person Juanita was and how she loved MDC,'' says Dodson. ''Her loyalty, especially during times when MDC was struggling to deal with the post-Carter policy environment, was critical to our survival.''
''She also had a wicked sense of humor. I remember an exchange with a group of male economists in the 1990s. One man said, 'I am concerned that we have a growing group of people who have high skills but low wages.' Juanita listened and then responded, 'Well, yes, we always have had people with high skills and low wages ... we call these people WOMEN.'''
We at MDC extend our condolences to the Kreps family for their loss and would like to express our gratitude for the years of selfless service Juanita provided to our organization.
Read the full New York Times obituary here .
Continuing a series that began in 1996, MDC has released the first chapter of its respected research publication The State of the South . In The State of the South 2010 , a look at the region's economy, MDC researchers found that two recessions nearly erased the advances made during the unprecedented boom of the 1990s. From a time when the South led the country in population growth and job creation, the region was thrust backward: median household income declined more than in any other region, and the region returned to poverty rates of a decade earlier.
The receding economic tide revealed that many of the region's persistent problems had never been solved. Future chapters of The State of the South 2010 will look at five transformative strategies that could put the region back on its powerful economic track: Learning, Earning, Living, Connecting and Leading.
This is the seventh edition of The State of the South , and for the first time will be published in chapters, with free downloads available online. Read the full State of the South 2010: Beyond the 'Gilded Age' ; the MDC news release about the report; and a page of Data Highlights . And stay tuned for future chapters.
MDC Connects South Alabama's Asian Communities to Emergency Preparedness
The small fishing village of Bayou la Batre, Alabama, was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in late 2005. However, nearly 30 percent of residents of the surrounding areas are Southeast Asian immigrants working in the fishing industry, and many of their needs were unmet by responses to Hurricane Katrina. By working with the community to identify their needs, MDC helped connect the four Asian communities - Thai, Lao, Vietnamese, and Cambodian - to local emergency management agencies and to the Community Foundation of South Alabama, as well as helping each community complete projects on emergency preparedness. This video documents MDC's work in south Mobile County after Hurricane Katrina, and the results for the Asian communities.
MDC Awarded $3.8 Million 'Pathways Out of Poverty' Federal Training Grant
MDC was one of eight national organizations to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor's 'Pathways Out of Poverty' program, a national green jobs initiative. The $150 million in grants to 38 local and national organizations, authorized as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will support programs that help low-income and disadvantaged populations attain economic self-sufficiency through good jobs in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries.
Through Career Pathways for a Green South , MDC proposes a new model for workforce investment in the region that draws on untapped potential of the region's citizens and relies on strong community colleges as hubs. MDC will use its $3.8 million grant to work with four communities in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina that have suffered manufacturing job loss in recent years to help low-wage and unemployed workers find work in emerging green industries. By creating partnerships with local community colleges, workforce investment boards, and other organizations, MDC will bridge gaps between disadvantaged individuals and the training and support that lead to industry-recognized credentials and placement in green jobs.
Read the full MDC News Release and the DOL News Release about 'Pathways Out of Poverty' grants: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/eta20100039.htm .
What moves people into the middle class and places out of poverty: MDC's Quick Primer >>