Where we work

MDC has a footprint in 13 states of the American South, with our deepest work taking place in North and South Carolina. Our headquarters are in Durham, NC.  

Current issue areas

Economic Security & Mobility: Shifting power and improving systems to empower people out of poverty and economic insecurity

Educational Equity: Transforming systems, policies, and practices for more equitable education from early childhood through post-secondary settings

Equity Centered Leadership & Philanthropy: Equipping leaders to advocate for their communities and the systemic changes that will benefit everyone

Rural Prosperity & Investment: Amplifying rural voice, capacity, and power towards equitable systems and policy change

Who we partner with

Community changemakers—recognized and unrecognized leaders working throughout the American South

What we value

• People: MDC recognizes the value of direct experience, learning from those closest to the issues and most impacted by decisions. 
• Power: MDC aims to equalize voice, access, and impact across issues and opportunities so that all can thrive. 
• Progress: MDC not only recognizes but catalyzes community change that can be measured and improved over time. 
• Partnership: MDC equips changemakers with tools for collaboration and provides balcony-level connections to fight the isolation changemakers face. 

Our approach

MDC catalyzes and accelerates economic mobility across the South by activating changemakers, strengthening capacity, framing key issues, and cultivating networks—centering equity through it all.

In 2023, MDC worked with community members, nonprofit organizations, public officials, philanthropic institutions, artists, and others to advance racial and economic justice in the South. Throughout the year, we’ve witnessed our partners engaging in equity-centered leadership, deep collaboration, systems change efforts, and advocacy to ensure a life of Meaning, Dignity, and Community for all Southerners.     

Where MDC Provided Direct Support to Partners in 2023: Our Strongest Relationships and Deepest Connections*

MDC has a footprint in 13 states of the American South, with our deepest work taking place in North and South Carolina.

*Map excludes partners that have a statewide footprint, as well as organizations that participate in statewide networks facilitated by MDC, such as the North Carolina Inclusive Disaster Recovery Network and the North Carolina Student Debt Relief Coalition. 

Engaging Southern changemakers in Transformative Leadership Development

Through formal leadership development programs like the Investing in Leaders of Color Fellowship, to informal coaching and problem-solving support, MDC inspired individuals to feel more confident to take on leadership roles in their communities and speak up on equity issues where they may have previously held back.  

Strengthening Organizational Resilience and Collaboration

Through programs like the Southeast Human Services Learning Community and Rural Forward, MDC connected organizations to resources, technical assistance, peer support, and promising practices to help them grow, sustain, and thrive. As part of our Build Up, Great Expectations, and Local Partnerships for Public Funding initiatives, we cultivated partnerships that enabled organizations to achieve greater impact in their communities.

“MDC has helped me think differently about working with other organizations, finding ways to pull our voices together. I’m understanding that through unifying and having similar missions and supporting other agencies, we can get more done.”

– Local Partnerships for Public Funding Partner 

Photo by Ortega Gaines

Building Capacity for Systems Change

MDC helped organizations in programs like Local Partnerships for Public Funding, Great Expectations, and Investing in Leaders of Color identify and advocate for transformational change in complex systems. We made space for individuals with varying levels of power and privilege to have difficult conversations, deepen understanding of one another, and identify ways to work toward collective solutions. Some partners described shifts in their relationships with funders and public officials—in some cases, being invited to new tables where they weren’t previously included, while, in other cases, they successfully advocated for new dollars for their organizations or causes. 

“I saw real, intentional self-reflection in the funders’ group and a level of trust that allowed us to share challenges in a raw, honest way that is often difficult in our sector (sometimes as funders there is pressure to present an image that we’ve ‘got it all together’).”

– Foundation Partner, Investing in Leaders of Color Fellowship 

Photo by Travon Gourdine

Advocating for a More Equitable South

Through our State of the South dialogues, written op-eds, interviews, and more, MDC amplified the voices of our region’s most marginalized communities. We also joined changemakers in signing letters and submitting comments to state and federal agencies to advocate for more equitable policies throughout the South by: 

• Submitting comments to the US Department of Education (ED) on benefits to low-income borrowers from proposed changes to income-drive repayment programs for federal student debt 
• Amplifying the People’s Rally in Washington, DC in support of federal student debt cancellation  
• Signing the Aspen Institute petition to US Economic Development Administration (EDA) to support the inclusion of rural grantees in federal Recompete Pilot Program  
• Signing a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to encourage appointment of community representatives on National Advisory Council  
• Signing a letter to President Biden to Encourage Administrative Action on Student Debt Relief  
• Signing the NC Hispanic Federation letter to NC Members of Congress to Include Puerto Rico in SNAP benefits program 
• Signing the National Women’s Law Center letter to US Congress to provide emergency funding for the childcare sector  
• Signing the National Center for Nonprofits letter to US Congress to streamline federal grant processes for nonprofits  
• Joining the National Cooperative Business Association endorsement of Federal legislation to create rural support programs 

Photo by Charity Rachelle

MDC By the Numbers

In 2023, MDC…

Engaged over 200 organizations across 7 Southern states in 19 different MDC programs, 5 of which were new in 2023.

Convened and supported 82 organizations via 7 Learning & Action Cohorts.

Engaged over 30 changemakers in 5 transformative leadership programs.

Convened over 375 Southerners at 8 State of the South events to raise awareness and catalyze action for policy and systems change.

Joined 9 different advocacy efforts to reduce systemic inequities in the U.S. South.

Delivered state-level policy recommendations in 2 key areas affecting smaller, rural communities.

Amplified MDC insights and perspectives via 9 op-eds, interviews, and articles.

Shared our expertise with over 280 people at 5 local and regional conferences.

Partnered with 25 funders who believe in our mission of shaping a South where all people thrive.

Welcomed 11 new staff and 3 new board members.

What if equity was a universal Southern value?

In 2023, State of the South events explored the question, “What if equity was a universally-held Southern value, much like hospitality or generosity?”  In conversations throughout the region and online, MDC listened to communities as they reflected on root causes of racial and economic injustice and thought big about what it would take to shape a South where all people thrive.  

The Practice of “Othering” Persists and Perpetuates Inequities throughout the South

In February, State of the South partnered with Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) to support their premiere of Rhiannon Giddens’ Pulitzer-winning opera, Omar, through a dialogue between MDC Senior Program Director, Kerri Forrest, MDC board member and labor economist, the late William Spriggs, and UNC’s professor of Islamic Studies, Youssef Carter. Panelists explored how “othering”—the practice of deeming a group of people as “unworthy of dignity” because of their race, class, religion, or otherwise—provides justification for those with power to enact policies that exacerbate poverty and prevent equitable access to living wages, housing, healthcare, and other basic human rights.  

This theme echoed through our March program in Charleston, South Carolina as local leaders shared examples of people of color being displaced from their communities without any concern for the impact on their wellbeing. Panelists spoke on the importance of identity, trust, and sense of home within a community, and the ways in which housing displacement disrupts residents’ lives and livelihoods. Panelists discussed issues of development, heir’s property, and zoning and emphasized the need for community engagement and policies that protect people and communities over profit. 

In Birmingham, Alabama this fall, community members, nonprofit leaders, business owners, artists, and others gathered around food and creative expression for a discussion of the benefits and barriers to closing the health insurance coverage gap. Here again, the need to integrate empathy into policy discussions rang through the collective dialogue. The lack of access to ongoing preventative and chronic care has a human cost that people and communities must acknowledge and grieve. There’s also an economic impact as urban and rural communities suffer from hospital closures, a declining healthcare workforce, and rejection of federal dollars for Medicaid expansion. In Alabama, the governor has sole authority to sign Medicaid expansion into law (pending state budget approval), yet no action has been taken.  

State of the South exists to draw attention to and to challenge harmful practices like “othering” in our region. Through our collective efforts, we are working to dismantle longstanding misconceptions and advance equity as a shared Southern value. 

Photo by Charity Rachelle

Exploring Central Appalachia’s Past, Present, and Potential through Art  

MDC partnered with Brushy Fork Leadership Institute, a strategic initiative of Berea College, to host a State of the South convening focused on issues of equity and economic opportunity in Central Appalachia. The event included an evening of regional music and storytelling. Former Kentucky poet laureate Frank X Walker shared poems linking the lived experiences of enslaved and newly-freed Black people post-Civil War with the experiences of Black communities still pushing for freedom today. Walker’s poems were followed by a dynamic performance by Cornbread and Tortillas, a collective of Appalachian and Latino artists blending song, story, and dance from the mountains of Appalachia to the mountains of Latin America. The evening was a powerful reminder of the ways in which art can connect, empower, heal, and inspire. 

Appalachian, Andean, and Latino artist collective Cornbread and Tortillas performs at State of the South: Central Appalachia, photo by Rebecca Chambers Photography.

Philanthropy Must Lead in the Movement for Racial Equity  

In October, State of the South hosted a webinar about the state of racial equity in higher education in a post-affirmative action world. Panelists Dr. Laura Gerald, President of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust, and Ed Chaney, an attorney specializing in non-profit law, agreed—this difficult moment calls for philanthropy to use its platform to advance racial equity in education. This means supporting non-profits that target racial disparities in education, engaging in trust-based philanthropy, and refusing to back away from the fight for racial equity, even in the face of a challenging legal and political landscape. In a post-affirmative action world, our Southern equity agenda needs a persistent, steadfast partner. Philanthropy must rise to meet the moment. 

What’s in store for 2024 and beyond?

In August, MDC staff and leadership met to discuss the next phase for the State of the South Program. Through an array of activities, State of the South will:

• Support a Southern agenda that advances equitable systems change and dismantles poverty.
• Amplify community experiences and insights to drive policy change at city, county, state, and federal levels of government.
• Identify areas where philanthropic leadership may have systems-level, long-term impact in communities that have traditionally experienced underinvestment or disinvestment.
• Develop and strengthen relationships among key stakeholders and communities to realize equitable systems change.
• Integrate the arts as a tool for celebrating the region’s creative talent, inspiring empathy and demonstrating creative approaches to systems change.

MDC’s Economic Security and Mobility team shifts power and improves systems to empower people out of poverty and economic insecurity.

Strength in numbers:
Convening coalitions to advance economic security in the South

Nearly half of all Southerners—disproportionately people of color—live paycheck to paycheck with little or no savings for emergencies. In 2023, MDC’s Economic Security and Mobility team convened and supported Southern changemakers who are working to build more equitable and effective access to resources and accelerate movement out of poverty for those living at the margins.

Strengthening the Southern Human Services Workforce

After just one year, agencies in the cohort have started to implement innovative strategies to address workforce challenges, including salary adjustments to make compensation more equitable; skill-based hiring initiatives; investments in staff education and training; increased leadership and growth opportunities; and enhanced supports for staff well-being. While these strategies will have an immediate effect on the Southern human services workforce, the ripple effects extend into the communities these agencies serve by reducing caseloads, improving caseworker continuity, and clearly defining job competencies needed for success. Addressing staffing challenges ensures families seeking services will experience more timely, individualized, and higher-quality support on their path to greater economic security and upward mobility.

MDC Launches North Carolina Student Debt Relief Coalition (NC-SDRC)

Student loan debt comprises the largest percentage of non-mortgage debt held by Southerners, likely because of the rising cost of education, public underinvestment into postsecondary education, and low returns on some credentials in the labor market. Building on earlier work with the Southern Partnership to Reduce Debt, the Economic Security and Mobility team launched the North Carolina Student Debt Relief Coalition (NC-SDRC) in 2023 to inform and empower trusted community messengers to share information about student debt relief and advocate for tangible reductions in student debt.

The vision for NC-SDRC is for organizations to be more confident, competent, and accessible in providing information and resources on student debt relief to the communities they serve. To facilitate this, MDC is co-creating an online platform for Coalition members to download informational materials to share with their constituencies, linked to a resource page with updated information about evolving student debt relief opportunities.

This fall, the Coalition partnered with national organizations to present at the NC Center for Nonprofits Annual Conference, sharing information about how student debt impacts nonprofits’ communities, constituencies, and employees and encouraging nonprofits to consider ways to share information. MDC will support the ongoing evolution of NC-SDRC with an eye toward increasing equitable access to resources, such as tax credits and public benefits, in other Southern states.

Speaking Up for Student Debt Relief

In February, MDC submitted comments in support of the Federal Department of Education’s proposed changes to income-driven repayment options for federal student loan borrowers, citing benefits for low-income and rural borrowers. Additionally, MDC recommended that the Department “invest in extensive and targeted outreach” to publicize the changes, since “standard outreach efforts often fail to reach marginalized populations, [particularly Southerners and people of color,] who are the most in need of resources.” MDC views these changes as particularly important because student debt disproportionately burdens Black women in North Carolina and throughout the South.

Supporting Wraparound Services in Greensboro, Durham, and Saint Paul

MDC demonstrates Integrated Services Delivery (ISD) Networks within local communities to help people move out of poverty and achieve better social, economic, and health outcomes. Research shows that ISD triples to quadruples the odds that households achieve major economic outcomes, including reduced levels of poverty and economic insecurity and increased levels of education, employment, income, and financial stability. MDC provides expert programmatic assistance to support the community-based design and implementation of ISD Networks. Our partner, United Way of Greater Greensboro, is demonstrating the first ISD Network in Guilford County, NC. In 2023, two new networks joined: (1) network in Durham, NC led by Hayti Reborn-Justice Movement; and (2) Economic Mobility Hub for American Indians sponsored by Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul, MN, and its Division of Indian Work.

MDC’s Educational Equity team works with changemakers and communities to transform systems, policies, and practices for more equitable education from early childhood through post-secondary settings.

Building community
for systems change

In 2023, the Educational Equity team convened program participants to strengthen connections and consensus with one another and build capacity to address systems-level issues that hinder an equitable birth-through-post-secondary education experience for all children, families, educators, and care providers in North Carolina.

MDC Launches Two New Initiatives to Tackle Inequities in Early Child Care

With support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation, MDC launched two interconnected initiatives to strengthen the capacity and voice of those directly impacted by inequities within North Carolina’s child care system.

MDC’s Home-Based Child Care (HBCC) Community of Practice launched this spring. From May through September, representatives from eight HBCC provider-networks across the state participated in monthly training and technical assistance sessions with Home Grown, MDC partner and HBCC expert. In October, MDC convened the Community of Practice in Durham. Participants built relationships, reflected on the inequitable history of child care policy in North Carolina, and began developing a shared vision for how they will work together to create an equitable and inclusive system for the state’s HBCC providers and the families they serve.

North Carolina Leading from Home (NCLFH)—a leadership development program established by Home Grown that MDC is replicating in NC—launched with a virtual session in October. NCLFH includes 10 HBCC providers who represent both licensed family child care providers and informal Family, Friend, and Neighbor caregivers. Providers participate in regular community roundtables and workshops and receive one-on-one support from provider-mentors and MDC staff. Through these efforts, NCLFH will help provider-leaders expand their local networks and strengthen individual voice for engaging in policy change. MDC is excited to convene this enthusiastic group in-person for the first time in January 2024.

The Home-Based Child Care Networks Community of Practice met in person at MDC’s office in Durham for the first time in October 2023. Photo by Travon Gourdine.

Collaborating to Create a More Equitable Early Childhood System in Forsyth County, North Carolina

Great Expectations is a special initiative of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust that seeks to ensure that children in Forsyth County, North Carolina, enter kindergarten ready to learn and leave set for success in school and life, regardless of their race, location, or economic status. MDC convened Great Expectations grantees and partners in September for a daylong, in-person gathering to facilitate community-building and to create a deeper understanding of systems change work, including uplifting the importance of self-care and exploring what system-level impacts their efforts have already had in Forsyth County.

LENS-NC enters its third year of work, focused on learning and acting together to improve outcomes for vulnerable students

Full story authored by Rupen Fofaria and originally published at EdNC.org on 10/12/2023.

When LENS began in 2021, its nine members met on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a world of remote learning and masking – as well as demonstrating. In the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd in 2020, the group felt a wave of energy toward justice work. Many group members had been deeply engaging in justice work for a long time.

At that time, there was a call to action. Many of their individual group projects mirrored that. But outcomes for students remained out of reach. In year two, the call to action hung in the air but, as the cohort grew to 20, there was also a call for further study.

….

“I would say year two was about finding content areas to study and practice but the intentionality behind how we approach relationship building and supporting the creation for conditions of safety — so our individual and collective learning can even happen — has been equally, if not more, important,” [said Jason Marshall, the LENS-NC program director at MDC].

“And year three is really around integration – integrating those two content areas, relationship building — social emotional learning sprinkled throughout our work, evolving toward a collective action, and lastly a thorough evaluation of our efforts. And then within that is our whole work.”

MDC is grateful for our partnership with EdNC.org and their coverage of this important work. Read the full story and others from the LENS-NC series at EdNC.org.

Photo by Travon Gourdine.

MDC Joins Child Care Advocates in Urging Federal Lawmakers to Pass $16 Billion in Emergency Child Care Funding

This fall, MDC and partners from our Home-Based Child Care Network Community of Practice joined nearly 1,000 child care advocates from all fifty states in urging federal lawmakers to immediately pass $16 billion in emergency child care funding to prevent a looming child care crisis that will disrupt families’ child care and devastate the economy. The American Rescue Plan Act stabilization dollars that saved the child care industry from collapse expired on September 30. Without additional investment, child care programs in NC and across the country will be forced to either raise their rates or close their doors permanently, leaving thousands of families without the child care that they depend on. The letter was led by the National Women’s Law Center. As of December 2023, Congress had not passed the emergency funding bill.

MDC’s Equity Centered Leadership team equips leaders to advocate for their communities and the systemic changes that will benefit everyone.

Holding space for courageous conversations

In 2023, the Equity Centered Leadership and Philanthropy team engaged early career professionals, nonprofit leaders of color, philanthropic leaders, and others in courageous conversations about the root causes of racial and economic injustice and in co-creating strategies to transform institutional systems from those that oppress to those that empower.

MDC Graduates its First Cohort of Investing in Leaders of Color Fellows

Recent studies show there are significant differences in funding and capacity support for Black- and Brown-led organizations versus their White counterparts. MDC’s Investing in Leaders of Color (ILOC) Fellowship is designed to help close this gap by acknowledging and supporting the work of leaders of color—and their organizations who serve communities of color—throughout the Carolinas. Co-designed by participating fellows and supporting foundations, the initiative provides financial, capacity building and leadership development resources to leaders and organizations that have experienced systemic disadvantages in their work within the philanthropic and nonprofit fields with. Philanthropic partners participate in collective learning, mutual mentorship, and relationship-building alongside the fellows.

From May 2022 to May 2023, MDC provided opportunities for 12 dynamic nonprofit leaders to connect and grow in their leadership journey and engage in honest conversation about how philanthropy can better support communities of color. Over the course of the program, the inaugural cohort of fellows developed a strong sense of community that can be difficult to find as nonprofit leaders of color. “[We connected about] shared joys and journeys,” said one Fellow. “[It gave us] someone to bounce ideas off, a place for peer-to-peer connections and to hold each other accountable.”

Fellows also deepened relationships with participating foundation staff. Funders helped fellows make progress on organizational goals, while the fellows helped funders deepen their understanding of nonprofits led by people of color and the barriers they face when accessing philanthropic resources. “Our job [as funders] is to think and act in the best way possible to invest in solutions that will produce the best outcomes,” noted one of the participating funders. “Cultivating deep relationships with nonprofits allows you to consider ways to center the needs of the community over those of a funding institution.” This transformational year generated valuable lessons about the potential for removing institutional barriers while uplifting organizations doing critical work in communities of color.

MDC’s first cohort of Investing in Leaders of Color (ILOC) Fellows. Photo by Ortega Gaines.

MDC and the Oak Foundation Support Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy

The Emerging Leaders Fellowship is a program MDC piloted in partnership with the Oak Foundation that gives young leaders an opportunity to learn how philanthropy can advance equitable systems change. Three early career professionals, Ajani Anderson, Rebecca Hall, and Maya Weinberg, participated in the inaugural two-year fellowship from 2021 through 2023. Fellows attended MDC-facilitated learning and development sessions while working with Oak’s Special Interest Programme, Oak’s President’s Office, and Oak’s Learning Differences Programme.

Through the experience, Fellows built valuable skills, such as communication and project management, and expanded their professional networks. They also gained exposure to careers in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, helping them clarify personal career goals.

“I didn’t really understand philanthropy when I came in, but now I have a better understanding of how I could effect change and what values would be important to me if I were to stay in philanthropy.”
– Emerging Leaders Fellow

To celebrate the completion of the program, the Fellows attended a May luncheon at the Oak Foundation office in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The Fellows presented independent projects of direct relevance and impact to the Foundation’s work, including recommendations to improve the foundation’s grant inquiry process, a resource guide on Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for global philanthropy, and an accessibility toolkit for supporting employees with learning differences. We are excited to share that, after completing her fellowship in August, Rebecca Hall accepted a full-time position as Program Coordinator with our State of the South program!

MDC and Oak Foundation Emerging Leaders Fellows pictured from left to right: Ajani Anderson, Rebecca Hall, and Maya Weinberg.

Engaging the Next Generation of Leaders for a More Equitable South

Race Matters Institute Joins MDC

MDC’s Rural Prosperity and Investment team amplifies the voice, capacity, and power of rural communities in the South towards equitable systems and policy change.

Catalyzing community-driven change
in the rural South

In 2023, the Rural Prosperity and Investment team worked closely with rural leaders to develop the tools and resources to engage with decision-makers around substantive community issues like substance misuse, employment, and public funding for community-identified priorities.

Rural Stakeholders Provide Recommendations for County Use of Opioid Settlement Funds

Opioids, a class of drug primarily prescribed for pain relief, have been a major contributor to drug overdose in North Carolina, impacting people of all backgrounds, identities, and ages and contributing to the more than 28,000 lives lost to overdose in the last 20 years. NC Attorney General Josh Stein led over 3,000 state and local governments in suing opioid manufacturers and distributors for dangerous practices that contributed to the opioid epidemic and won. As a result, local governments in NC will receive a transformational $1.5 billion dollars over 18 years to combat substance use issues and advance equity in their communities.

MDC Rural Forward has provided requested support, coaching, and capacity-building to many communities and organizations as they developed recommendations for how to spend Opioid Settlement Funds. This support has resulted in success for many of our partners. The McDowell County Partnership for Substance Awareness offered recommendations that were unanimously approved by County Commissioners following participatory decision-making led by community organizations and supported by our team. Warren County’s Health Department and County Manager collaborated with MDC Rural Forward to conduct a community-engaged planning process that resulted in recommendations that were approved by the County Commissioners, a gap analysis to build on in the future, and the creation of a Task Force to implement and oversee the projects in the long-term. These and other processes supported by MDC Rural Forward empower communities, encourage stronger relationships between public officials and community organizations, and ensure that funding is used to strengthen critical front-line services that meet people where they are and connect them to treatment and support.

MDC Rural Forward facilitated a gathering of community members in Warren County for a public meeting to discuss opioid and substance misuse. Credit: The Warren Record July 31, 2023

Building Economic Resilience in Eastern North Carolina

Households in the greater Delco, NC community struggle from intentional disinvestment that creates barriers to economic mobility. Workforce development opportunities and job skills programs are difficult to access in the region, particularly for community members who lack broadband or reliable transportation. At the same time, employers in the area struggle to find employees with the skills they need to perform their jobs.

Men and Women United for Youth and Families CDC (MWUYF) partnered with MDC to address these needs by developing an Economic Resilience Hub for Bladen and Columbus County. Funded by the US Economic Development Administration, the hub will build collaborative, community-based capacity for economic resilience by improving access to existing workforce development and job skills training programs.

Building Capacity for Public Investments in Community Priorities

The recent influx of federal funding—the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and Inflation Reduction Act—represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pandemic recovery and community resilience. MDC leads the Local Partnerships for Public Funding initiative, serving as backbone support for a collaboration of four statewide and eight community-based organizations working together to ensure federal funds do the maximum good in their communities. This is a learning and action network – leveraging MDC’s strengths in capacity-building alongside our partners’ expertise in budget and policy analysis, strategic communications, and community organizing.

Fayetteville PACT, a community-based member of the partnership, organizes for police accountability and social justice issues. The centerpiece of their advocacy for ARPA funds is a documentary that catalogs community priorities and calls on the investments in services for their neighbors “who are suffering the most.” In October 2023, Fayetteville PACT recognized the Fayetteville City Council for investing over $8 million in federal funds in affordable housing that will make “a significant impact on our community while addressing the critical needs of our residents.” In response, the mayor publicly thanked Fayetteville PACT for its role ensuring the council’s actions remain accountable and transparent.

This work, and our Local Partnerships for Public Funding initiative more broadly, is supported by philanthropic funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation and Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. MDC administered pass-through funding from these grants to local organizations like Fayetteville PACT to support their time and expertise in community organizing, which otherwise often goes uncompensated.

Bridging Mainstream Resources and Community-Based Relationships for Digital Equity

The N.C. Department of Information Technology (DIT), Division of Broadband and Digital Equity received planning funds in 2022 to create a statewide Digital Equity Plan and build out their Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. With these funds, the state sought to collect feedback from stakeholders who have a vested interest in expanding high-speed internet access and building digital equity within the communities they serve, represent, or in which they live.

Building on our reputation as a resource for value-based community engagement across rural North Carolina, MDC Rural Forward was asked to support deep listening sessions throughout the state. MDC identified partners to host the listening sessions, balancing the need for community trust, experience, capacity, and local, regional, and statewide perspectives. We also helped negotiate a pilot for NC DIT to compensate partners. Each host was asked to secure an in-person or virtual venue for the sessions, recruit participants, provide support and accessibility services as needed, and conduct the work sessions in collaboration with NC State University’s Friday Institute, NC DIT, and MDC. Together with partners, MDC conducted 22 listening sessions with eight diverse and trusted community organizations that represent the wide-ranging needs of North Carolinians.

MDC Welcomes 11 New Team Members!

Administration and Finance

Economic Security and Mobility

Educational Equity

Equity Centered Leadership and Philanthropy

Rural Prosperity and Investment

Three New Board Members Join MDC

Current Board Members 

Amir Farokhi, Director, Corporate Council, CARE City Council, City of Atlanta

Darrin Goss, Sr., President/CEO, Coastal Community Foundation

Josh Carpenter, Ph.D, President/CEO, Southern Research

Juan Sepulveda, President’s Special Advisor for Inclusive Excellence, Trinity University

Kweku Forstall, Director, Atlanta Civic Site of the Annie E. Casey Foundation

Richard Ammons, Of Counsel, Marts & Lundy

Susan Gooden, Ph.D, Dean/Professor, Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth University

Did you know?
MDC plans to finance 10% ($550,000) of its 2024 activities through individual giving. This will help us—and the communities we serve—advance equity, economic mobility, and prosperity for more people across the South. Donate today to shape a South where all people thrive!