RALEIGH, NC (August 8, 2014) – The Public School Forum of North Carolina today announced the formation of a new initiative to support local business-education partnerships across the state. The new effort, NC Education Partners, will provide a platform for information and best practice sharing, while creating opportunities for collaboration and joint capacity-building initiatives to strengthen these vital community organizations.
The overall goal of NC Education Partners is to promote and support the network of education organizations across our state that are working in their communities to bring business leaders, elected officials, educators and non-profits together to support their local public schools.
“North Carolina’s public schools depend on the kind of local support these local partnerships generate,” said Keith Poston, President and Executive Director, Public School Forum of North Carolina. “It’s not just the financial resources they bring to the table, it’s the grassroots support that is even more critical — parents, educators, business and community leaders, all working together to support world-class public schools in every community in our state.”
This week the Public School Forum convened more than a dozen leaders from business-education partnerships across the state to discuss recent legislation affecting education, share ideas and best practices from their community and discuss the launch of this new network of local business-education partnerships, a concept first created by the Forum in 1995.
Leaders from the Wake Education Partnership, MeckEd, Guilford Education Alliance, Wilson Education Partnership, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation, Johnston County Education Foundation, Alamance County Chamber of Commerce and Pitt County Educational Foundation all participated in a rich discussion about what is happening in their communities and their efforts to support local school systems. The participants also discussed ways they could work together to advance public education in North Carolina.
About the Public School Forum of North Carolina
For nearly 30 years, the Public School Forum of North Carolina has worked to shape world-class public schools that inspire and support all children and drive a vibrant North Carolina economy through research, policy work, advocacy, and continuing education for educators and policymakers. Our focus areas are teaching and school leadership; expanded learning through programs after-school and beyond the classroom; educational achievement and innovation; and school finance. The Forum also leads the Institute for Educational Policymakers, which focuses on developing passionate education leaders and promoting sound education policy through continuous learning and issue forums for elected officials and candidates for state and local offices. For more information, follow us on Twitter @theNCForum and visit our web site at https://www.ncforum.org/