Celebrating Thirty Years of Leadership Development!
Since its inception in 1979, the North Carolina Education Policy Fellowship Program has graduated nearly 700 Fellows. The program was sponsored by the North Carolina School Boards Association until 1991 when it became affiliated with the Public School Forum of North Carolina, Inc. The North Carolina site coordinators is Jo Ann Norris of the Forum staff. The EPFP site is in Raleigh, the state capital, which affords the Fellows greater exposure to the diverse policymakers who affect state policy. The program site is comprised of individuals from the education arena including public schools, higher education, and community colleges, as well as participants from human services, political disciplines, and corporate and nonprofit sectors. The Fellow is supported by a tuition grant of $2,700 from his/her sponsor and financial support for travel and accommodations to one national conference in 2013 in Washington, DC.
Each new class continues the trend of high caliber participants and is rich in its members' range of experiences, both professionally and personally. Each class includes a cohort of 25-35 Fellows who focus on technological, fiscal, legislative and administrative issues, as well as on factors affecting children and families. The program meets every week from mid-September to mid-May in a dinner-seminar setting. In this setting, Fellows increase their awareness of how public policy is made, learn whom the key players are in the formation of this policy, and become more confident and involved in the policy-making process. Strong efforts are made to develop and maintain connections between the Fellows and the 700 EPFP Alumni who live and work in North Carolina and in other states, as well as with the many resource people who have served EPFP over the years, several of whom have become “core curriculum.” These committed alumni become recruitment agents for the program and routinely sponsor new Fellows year after year.
The graduation for the 2012-13 class will be held at the Cardinal Club, Wachovia Building, Raleigh (date to be announced). The 2013-14 class of Fellows will serve as the “host” for the graduation. The event is also a reunion for alumni and is attended every year by over 125 alumni and sponsors of “who’s who in education.”
For more information about the program and participation as a Fellow in 2013-14 contact Jo Ann Norris, coordinators, at the Public School Forum. (Tel. 919-781-6833) The application may be downloaded from the EPFP link on the Forum webpage at www.ncforum.org. Do not delay. Do it today!