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Hi Friend,

MDC is excited to announce the addition of two new members to its senior leadership team. Brandy Bynum Dawson will be joining MDC as the Senior Director for Rural Prosperity and Investment and Magan Gonzales-Smith will be joining as the Senior Director for Educational Equity. In their positions, Brandy and Magan will work to increase MDC’s capacity-building capabilities, expand our portfolio in the areas of rural development and educational access, and help ensure MDC promotes equity across the South. Both Brandy and Magan are innovative leaders and founders who bring decades of experience, insight, and expertise in their respective fields. 

Brandy starts her role in August, leading MDC’s rural prosperity engagements in NC and beyond, managing a state, regional and national portfolio of work. Magan begins her role as Senior Director for Educational Equity in September. She’ll shape and build MDC’s agenda to advance educational opportunity and equity for children and youth throughout the South.

We are thrilled to have these dynamic leaders on the MDC team!

 

Partner & Project Highlights

 


Rural Development and Prosperity

Men and Women United Partners with MDC to Support Economic Mobility in North Carolina.

Men and Women United for Youth and Families (MWUYF) is partnering with Durham-based non-profit MDC to develop community-based capacity for economic resiliency in Columbus and Bladen Counties, NC. The resiliency hub and workforce development project, funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), will address barriers to accessing workforce development and job skills programs.

MWUYF and MDC will plan and host regional convenings of community stakeholders to develop action-based plans and develop networks of employers, educational partners, and others to promote economic growth and resiliency

Learn More → 

 

MDC News

 

We're Hiring! Application Deadline, Aug. 7, 5:00 pm

MDC seeks a proven development professional to orchestrate the organization’s fund development strategy and execution to support MDC’s continued growth, organizational effectiveness, and impact.

The Development Director, Major Gifts will create and drive annual growth strategies; identify, build, and manage relationships with investment-level donors; and strengthen MDC’s fundraising operations, creating a solid foundation for future departmental growth. This is a new position at MDC, designed for an individual interested in joining a meaningful mission, creating and building effective systems from the ground up, and cultivating transformational relationships to build sustainable funding for the organization.

Read More → 

MDC welcomes three new members to its board of directors.

MDC is thrilled to announce the addition of three exceptional individuals to our board of directors, each bringing a wealth of experience and dedication to our mission of advancing equity and economic mobility throughout the South. 

Michelle Mapp is the Advocacy Director at the ACLU of South Carolina. She previously worked for 13 years at the South Carolina Community Loan Fund (SCCLF) and served as the organization’s CEO for 7 years. 

Monica Dongre is a Senior Employment Counsel with RTI International, a nonprofit research institute dedicated to improving the human condition. A graduate of Furman University and the University of North Carolina School of Law, she has dedicated most of her career to the practice of labor and employment law.

Dr. Stephanie Kang most recently served in the executive leadership of Nashville’s Metro Public Health Department launching the first Bureau of Health Equity. Her professional background also includes founding and scaling several health equity-centered organizations.

Read More → 

 

The State of the South

 

MDC Statement on Supreme Court Student Debt Decision

The Supreme Court of the United States recently struck down President Biden’s student loan one-time forgiveness program. The Court ruled that the Administration exceeded its authority to use emergency powers for forgiving student loan debt. The ruling does not prohibit the President or Congress from forgiving student debt through other means.  

As a national partner of the Southern Partnership to Reduce Debt (SPRD), MDC is keenly aware that this ruling is a major setback for the 40 million student debtholders nationally who would have benefitted from this relief. Nearly 13.6 million of those debtholders live in the 13 Southern states served by MDC. Southerners and people of color are disproportionally burdened by student loans. 

Read More → 

Maternal Health and Medicaid Expansion

North Carolina’s maternal mortality rate is too high – higher than the national average and twice as high as California, according to a recent report by America’s Health Rankings.  Risks for North Carolina’s Black mothers are even worse due to many intersecting issues including differences in health care coverage and access to care, systemic racism, and implicit bias.  Black women in our state currently have a mortality rate three times higher than the rate for white women. 

 North Carolina’s recent Medicaid expansion has the potential to decrease maternal mortality rates by increasing access to care, both prior to pregnancy and all the way through childbirth.  In conjunction with MDC’s work to improve equitable birth outcomes in Forsyth County, we examined the pathways for Medicaid expansion can lead to better outcomes for NC maternal and infant mortality rates.  

Read More → 

 

Your investment drives MDC’s work.

By investing in MDC, you make it possible for us to advance knowledge about what works to create and scale transformative solutions in education, employment, access to healthcare, and sustainable community development.

 

MDC Inc
307 W Main St  | Durham, North Carolina 27701
919-381-5802 | info@mdcinc.org

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