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myFutureNC Local Educational Attainment Collaboratives

myFutureNC Local Educational Attainment Collaboratives

Launched by ncIMPACT Initiative

Building Local Capacity to Achieve the State’s Goal of #2Millionby2030

Program Basics

 

Team Formation

 

Case Studies on Sample Collaboratives from 2019

 

Data Resources

 

Promising Approaches Profiled by ncIMPACT Initiative

 

Resources for Local Educational Attainment Collaboratives

 

Contact Us

The ncIMPACT Initiative at the UNC School of Government (ncIMPACT) and myFutureNC, with support from the John M. Belk Endowment, Dogwood Health Trust, and UNC Rural, launched a pilot program that supports 15 local educational attainment collaboratives across North Carolina that seek to significantly increase the number of students successfully completing post-secondary credentials of value in the workforce: a degree, credential, or certification.

These collaboratives offer an organized way to respond to community challenges that no single institution or even an entire sector can effectively tackle.

This effort aligns with the state’s legislative goal of 2 million individuals between the ages of 25-44 who possess a high-quality credential or postsecondary degree by 2030.

Quick Reference: Downloads and Streaming

Announcing the selection of 15 community collaboratives:

Download information about the program:

Recorded Information Session:

Kickoff Webinar Recording:

Preparing the Workforce for Economic Recovery:

Education NC Podcast Feature:

myFutureNC 100 Students:

Teams showcase success stories:

Collaborating for Success from the Ground Up:  

Four Tips for Engaging Employers in Workforce Initiatives:  

 

Watch a brief video about this work:


Program Basics

North Carolina communities applied as teams to participate in this two-year program focused on increasing educational attainment and equity in attainment. Teams became the inaugural myFutureNC Network of Local Educational Attainment Collaboratives. This network will:

  • Have deep local impact by increasing the effectiveness of the local attainment collaboratives and connections among educational systems, employers, local governments, and other stakeholders within the participating communities;
  • Build capacity across the state by creating collaborative cross-community learning and partnerships, and delivering model policies to inform North Carolina’s broader policy landscape; and
  • Leverage key resources including federal, state, and philanthropic funding, as well as data tools and metrics to measure collaborative progress toward achieving their goals.

Network collaboratives will also receive these benefits:

  • Valuable resources that respond to immediate concerns about learning loss during the pandemic and help prepare for longer-term planning;
  • Deep expert and peer support during five forums at which teams will develop goals, make plans for implementation, and collaborate across sectors;
  • Robust technical assistance throughout the process;
  • Critical financial support in the form of $15,000 to compensate a community project manager and $10,000 of implementation funding for their action plan; and a
  • Local Attainment Collaborative Toolkit to implement and sustain demand-informed local collaboration with regional employers.

Team Formation

After selection for the program, the core team identified in the application engaged the full community team (local collaborative). Each collaborative includes a diverse team of community stakeholders, all committed to active participation in the two-year program. ncIMPACT assisted communities with stakeholder identification to build the collaborative team. Given differences between communities, the composition of the teams varies.

Commitments: Each community collaborative meets monthly over the course of the program to develop and implement a cogent strategy that (1) leverages existing assets and activities, (2) increases the community’s educational attainment, and (3) improves equity in attainment. A community project manager supports this work (with funding provided by the program) in addition to the technical assistance provided by the partners. 

Case Studies on Sample Collaboratives from 2019

Data Resources

Promising Approaches Profiled by ncIMPACT Initiative

Resources for Local Educational Attainment Collaboratives

Scroll through this additional list of resources helpful to communities working together to increase educational attainment: Resource List PDF

Categories covered within the resource list:

  • Pre-K Education and Early Childhood Learning 
  • Improving Public Education
  • Value of Increasing Post-Secondary Education Attainment
  • Determining Career Paths 
  • Determining Career Paths Continued 
  • Racial and Gender Equity in Postsecondary Attainment 
  • Cost of Post-Secondary Enrollment and Attainment 
  • Proposals and Actions to Increase Post-Secondary Education Attainment

 

Contact Us

Anita Brown-Graham, Professor & Director, brgraham@sog.unc.edu

Emily Williamson Gangi, Policy Engagement Director, emily.gangi@unc.edu

 

This project is a collaboration between:

 

Funding for this work was provided by: