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A note from Molly and Mebane on EdNC’s 10th anniversary

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EdNC — the work we do, the communities we serve — has been and continues to be a great privilege for us and the EdNC team.

We strive every day to be welcome in all 100 counties, and in large measure that happens because we commit every day to do no harm.

Ahead of the case study released today, the Blue Engine Collaborative conducted an in-depth review of our approach to news and content.

The report found EdNC does four things well:

  1. Strong mission: EdNC demonstrates a clear commitment to its mission by strategically aligning KPIs with educational goals for North Carolina.
  2. Data collection: EdNC does a good job of collecting a blend of quantitative and qualitative data across multiple products and channels.
  3. Data sharing: EdNC promotes a culture of open information sharing, ensuring that data insights reach all levels of the organization.
  4. Transparency: Exemplary in openly communicating outcomes, impact, and financials, fostering trust and engagement with their audience and stakeholders.

Rolfe Neill, the long-time publisher of The Charlotte Observer, taught us not to be afraid “to be caught loving our community.” He taught us when and how to use the social and political capital of news publishers to address public problems.

The hardest aspects of this work in the last 10 years have also been when we learned the most about how to do this work well — in Edgecombe County, where we learned from leaders how students could redesign their experience of learning and education; during the pandemic, when our team collectively chose to show up in person even before vaccines were available; in Haywood County, where we learned from leaders how public schools and community colleges serve as anchor institutions in times of economic crisis; and after Hurricane Helene, in the counties where we learned from leaders the day-to-day challenges of change management in the face of unprecedented, wide-scale destruction.

Our capacity to do this work only happens because of our team of peer experts, who day in and day out publish our news and perspectives with unmatched professionalism. From the blitz to our book, thank you for wanting to do the best work we can imagine together.

A special thank you to Tara Kenchen and Kelley O’Brien who provide strategic support to us as leaders and as an organization that shapes how we show up in the world.

Public schools matter. Attainment matters. We look forward to the next 10 years.