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Teach For America — Eastern North Carolina Hosting Summit

On Saturday April 1st, Teach For America—Eastern North Carolina will hold its annual Policy, Advocacy, and Community Engagement (PACE) Summit at Needham Broughton High School in Raleigh. For the past four years, the summit has served as an opportunity for leading innovators and practitioners to engage with Teach For America corps members, alumni, and community partners about topics recognizing and addressing systemic inequities in education.

This year’s theme is “Reimagining Education in Eastern North Carolina.” Rooted in the belief that if students in ENC are going to be the architects of their own lives, of the future of our communities, our state and beyond, we must drastically improve access to resources and opportunity for all students in our schools.

“Systemic change is only possible with representation from those most impacted, and we want to hear and learn from those with perspective into the realities of schools and classrooms as well as students and families,” said executive director of Teach For America—Eastern North Carolina Andrew Lakis. “This summit is a unique opportunity to examine what is possible and put it into practice right here at home.”

Teach For America has been placing teachers in Eastern North Carolina since 1990; currently there are more than 1,000 corps members and alumni working throughout our communities. In addition to corps members and alumni, the organization is inviting parents, teachers, school leaders, and others community members will join them on April 1st. Addressing systemic inequities in education will require interventions from multiple directions, which means each of us have a role to play in changing the current course. The summit looks to tackle difficult questions and big ideas: how do we re-think what students are striving for 5, 10, 15 years from now and what resources do they need to accomplish these aspirations?  What unique role can each of us play in supporting students and families?  What innovations are showing the most promise here at home and around the world? Teach For America’s PACE Summit is a chance for all interested community members to examine these questions and more together.

The factors impacting inequities in our schools are complex and numerous—systemic racism, institutional oppression, food deserts, insufficient healthcare, scarcity of technological resources, to name a few—and this year’s summit serves as an opportunity to gain greater insights into these issues, share perspectives, and build partnerships.

If you’re interested in imagining a more just and equitable future, an important step in actually building it begins at Needham Broughton High School on April 1st.

The PACE Summit is open to the public, and all are welcome to register here.

Presenter List

Brittany Packnett | Teach For America | St. Louis

Jonathan Johnson | Rooted School | New Orleans

Jamie Jenkins | B.O.O.M. | Dallas

Wisdom Amouzou | HackSchool | Denver

Vichi Jagannathan | MyHealthEd | New Haven

Seth Saeugling | Institute for Child Success | ENC

Sarah Broome | Thrive | Baton Rouge

Graig Meyer | The Equity Collaborative | Chapel Hill

John Raymond | Impact Lab | Austin

Grace Cruz | PRIME School | Los Angeles

Ernie Levrony | PRIME School | Los Angeles

Chelsea Hylton | Project Peaceful Warriors | New Orleans

Nation Hahn | Jamie Kirk Hahn Foundation | Raleigh

Tracie Jones | Adventure Girlz | New Orleans

Dr. Moriska Selby | Adventure Girlz | New Orleans

Phoebe Judge | Criminal Podcast | Durham

Dr. Steven Nelson | University of Memphis | Memphis

Christina Foust | Summit Learning | Bay Area

Tyler Sussman | Summit Learning | Bay Area

Dr. Tiffany Barnes | NC State University | Raleigh

Marnie Hill | J.H. Rose High School | Greenville

Nancy Stevens | First Flight HS | Kill Devil Hills

Gerald Taylor | Advance Carolina | Durham

Staff

EdNC staff reporting relies on staff, interns, and columnists.