From April 28-30, 2019, philanthropists, educators, policymakers, and community leaders gathered in Greensboro to understand the work to be done and the work being done to orient all of our students, educators, and leaders towards readiness and attainment. This program outlines the agenda for Bridge.

1. APRIL 28 - 30, 2019
BRIDGENORTH CAROLINA

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Table of Contents
Bridge Definition
Welcome Note
Agenda
Field Trips
3
4
5
9
Please download the
free Superevent app
and scan the QR code
to access agenda
items, speaker bios,
and extra reading
materials.
If you have any questions or concerns throughout Bridge, please text HELP to 73224.
In every possible moment and in every possible way, please thank the team at the
Proximity. This employee-owned hotel is underwriting this gathering because they too
believe in our students, in hope, in a greater North Carolina.
Surprise, surprise, EducationNC won’t be tweeting during Bridge. The point of this
gathering is to be in relationship with each other here. If someone moves you during
Bridge, offer up snaps. If you want someone’s contact information, ask them for it. Notice
that the only information on your name tag is your first name. In this space, all are equal,
so reach out and just get to know the person next to you. I can promise you that everyone
here is committed to education and loves our state.

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Bridge A gathering for North Carolina’s future . . .

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Hey y’all! Welcome.
Think of Bridge not as a conference, but as a gathering.
Think of the Proximity not as a hotel, but as home.
Think of each other not as colleagues, but as family.
It is our hope that the relationships built in this space will be our bridge, our missing link to building a 21st
century education system for our students, to building a workforce for the economy of our future, to
building a greater North Carolina, and to positioning us in the world less as a big state and more like a small
country.
Just over 30 years ago, the Linn Cove Viaduct – the bridge of Bridge – was completed. There is a lesson in
this bridge: it respected the past, mindful of the environment of one of the world’s oldest mountains, and at
the same time, it was innovative, the most complicated concrete bridge ever built. It is known as the missing
link of our beloved Blue Ridge Parkway.
In February 2018, when he was visiting North Carolina, Jeremy Anderson, president of Education Com-
mission of the States, said in states where leaps and bounds are being made, leaders have found ways to
work across difference. “It’s a simple litmus test,” he said. “Can the people who can move this policy meet for
coffee even if they disagree and talk through some of these differences?”
As I travel, I notice whether people are having coffee. Not so much, y’all, especially if it involves people who
don’t think or look like each other. Bridge is for all of us to come together across all of the lines of difference
that seem to divide us.
You will meet many lovely people here, as our Liz Bell would say, including the EdNC team, the EdAmbassa-
dors, Freebird and Julie, many who have supported us from the very beginning, one who taught us what it
means to go up in the bucket, and a very special student from Edgecombe County.
Breyia recently traveled with me from North Carolina to Idaho. It was her first time on an airplane. We
screened the short documentary you will see about her “School of Innovation” for rural philanthropists and
educators. At the start of the day, we were asked the word of intention we were holding for the day. Breyia’s
was “proud.”
Let’s make Breyia and all our students across the state proud. With 2020 around the corner, and myFu-
tureNC and the work of the Leandro court and commission ahead, there is no better time for us to collec-
tively ask ourselves, “What’s our greater, North Carolina?”
If in the days we are together and in the days that follow, we act in peace, kindness, love, and grace, then
hope will follow.
Thank you for your time. Thank you for your public service to our students, our state, and our future. Thank
you for building our bridge, our missing link.
#loveNC,

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Agenda
Registration
Lobby
Welcome
Sharon Contreras, ​Superintendent of Guilford County Schools​
Randy Parker, President of Guilford Technical Community College
Weaver Room
​Introduction of emcees​
Freebird McKinney, ​2018 NC Teacher of the Year​
Julie Pittman, 2​018 Western Region NC Teacher of the Year
Weaver Room
Equity in education introduction
James Ford, Principal Consultant at Filling the Gap and Member of State Board of
Education
Weaver Room
Equity in education gallery walk
White Oak Room and Social Lounge
D​emographic forces shaping North Carolina’s attainment
Rebecca Tippett, ​Director at Carolina Demography
Weaver Room
Break
Redesigning the school experience: North Phillips School of
Innovation​
E​rin Swanson, ​Director of Innovation Edgecombe County Public Schools
Jenny O’Meara,​Phillips Middle School Principal​
Donnell Cannon, N​orth Edgecombe High School Principal​
Valerie Bridges, Superintendent of Edgecombe County Schools
North Phillips scholars and teachers
Weaver Room
Gathering and networking
Transportation to the O.Henry Hotel will be provided from the Proximity Hotel lobby
D​inner
The O.Henry Hotel
SUNDAY, APRIL 28
12:00 - 2:00 PM
2:00 PM
2:15 PM
2:30 PM
2:45 PM
3:30 PM
4:00 PM
4:30 PM
5:30 PM
6:45 PM

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The role of philanthropy in educational equity​
Tracey Greene-Washington, Founder of CoThink
Dorian Burton, ​Program Officer at Kenan Charitable Trust
Alfred Mays, Program Officer at Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Moderated by James Ford, Principal Consultant at Filling the Gap and Member of
State Board of Education
The O.Henry Hotel
The role of local government in educational equity
Newell Clark, ​Mayor of Lexington
The O.Henry Hotel
Breakfast
Weaver Room
Guilford County’s educational continuum​
Dennis and Nancy King Quaintance, Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels
Weaver Room
Field trips: Interactive experiences in Guilford County’s educational continuum
Depart from Proximity Hotel Lobby
Lunch and panel: Systems change at state and district level
John White, ​Louisiana State Superintendent of Education
Lynn Moody, ​Superintendent of Rowan-Salisbury Schools​
Moderated by Keith Poston, President and Executive Director at Public School
Forum of NC
Weaver Room
The work of the myFutureNC and Leandro Commissions
Jack Cecil and David Mounts, m​yFutureNC Commission
Brad Wilson, ​Leandro Commission
Moderated by Jeremy Anderson, President of Education Commission of the States
Weaver Room
Break
Policy spotlight breakout sessions
The policy spotlights are described below
School leadership matters
Brenda Berg, President and CEO at BEST NC
Revolution Room
Postsecondary attainment
Courtney Brown, Vice President of Strategic Impact at Lumina
Foundation
White Oak Room
MONDAY, APRIL 29
7:30 PM
8:15 PM
7:00 - 8:45 AM
8:45 AM
9:15 AM
12:00 PM
1:00 PM
1:45 PM
2:00 PM

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Building better early childhood systems: Cross-sector, birth-to-eight collab-
oration among NC’s early childhood initiatives
Rebecca Planchard, Senior Early Childhood Policy Advisor at NC
Department of Health and Human Services, and
Mandy Ableidinger, Policy and Practice Leader at North Carolina Early Child-
hood Foundation
Latham Room
Break and refreshments
Readiness and attainment through a legislative lens
North Carolina Rep. Craig Horn and former Sen. Michael Lee
White Oak Room
Challenges and opportunities around readiness and attainment
Mark Johnson, Superintendent of Department of Public Instruction
Eric Davis, Chair of State Board of Education
Peter Hans, President of North Carolina Community College System
Hope Williams, President of North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities
Moderated by Sonja Gantt, Executive Director of Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Schools Foundation​
White Oak Room
Gathering and networking
Social Lounge
D​inner and panel discussion: How Tennessee built support to create policy
change
David Mansouri, ​CEO of TN SCORE
Drew Kim, ​President of P3Consulting
​Moderated by Courtney Brown, Vice President of Strategic Impact at Lumina
Foundation
Weaver Room
Lt. Governor Dan Forest reflects on education as a student, parent, and policy-
maker
Weaver Room
Breakfast
Weaver Room
Student success: Meeting basic needs insecurities
Sarah Crawford, National Education Director for Single Stop
White Oak Room
B​right spots: S.T.E.P. (Strategic Twin-Counties Education Partnership)
Anita Brown-Graham, D​irector of ncImpact
Pamela Gould, E​xecutive Director of S.T.E.P.
White Oak Room
3:00 PM
4:00 PM
4:30 PM
5:30 PM
6:30 PM
7:45 PM
7:00 - 8:15 AM
8:15 AM
8:30 AM
TUESDAY, APRIL 30

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Reconnecting to economic opportunity​
Leslie Boney, ​Director of Institute for Emerging Issues
White Oak Room
​Break
Bright spots: Made in Durham
Anita Brown-Graham, D​irector of ncImpact​
Casey Steinbacher, ​Executive Director of Made in Durham
White Oak Room
Lead with leaders: NC Leadership Forum models engagement on education
issues
Leslie Winner, C​o-Chair of the NC Leadership Forum​
John Hood, ​Co-Chair of the NC Leadership Forum and President of John William
Pope Foundation
White Oak Room
Break
Bright spots: Profound Gentlemen
Anita Brown-Graham, D​irector of ncImpact
Jason Terrell, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Profound Gentlemen
White Oak Room
Bright spots: Lessons learned
Anita Brown-Graham,​Director of ncImpact​
P​amela Gould, E​xecutive Director of S.T.E.P
Casey Steinbacher, Executive Director of Made in Durham
Jason Terrell, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Profound Gentlemen
White Oak Room
Bridge reflection​
F​acilitated by EdNC’s EdAmbassadors
White Oak Room
Lunch and panel discussion: The role of government and philanthropy in
advancing education
Introductions by Gerry Hancock, Co-Founder of EducationNC
Tom Lambeth,​Director Emeritus of the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation
Joel Fleishman, Professor of Law and Public Policy at Duke University
Moderated by Ferrel Guillory, ​Professor of the Practice at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill and Co-Founder of EducationNC
Weaver Room
Bridge wrap: Surprise!
8:50 AM
9:15 AM
9:30 AM
9:45 AM
10:15 AM
10:30 AM
10:45 AM
11:25 AM
12:00 PM
12:45 PM

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Field Trips
Allen Jay Elementary
Allen Jay Elementary lies adjacent to Randolph County,
serving over 470 students from PreK to 5th grade. It is
a neighborhood school serving southern High Point and
Archdale. AJE students attend Southern Guilford Middle
and Southern Guilford High School in Greensboro. Allen
Jay offers two dual language programs, English-Spanish
and English-Urdu for students in the kindergarten. This
program will expand a grade level per year. Almost 50%
of their student population receives ESL direct services.
They are an Arts Integration Academy where teachers
integrate the arts into the content areas.
Allen Jay Prep Academy
Allen Jay Prep Academy is a full district magnet that
emphasizes leadership development and college
preparation. They have 400 scholars in grades 5-8
and focus on five key pillars: character and service,
academic challenge, innovative instruction, leadership
development, and effort and commitment. AJ Prep has
exceeded growth for multiple years including the top
growing middle school in the county last year and in
the top 5% for growth in the state. They partner with
the Ellison Foundation and the Phillips Foundation who
support their scholars’ trips to universities and target
support for scholars needing additional tutoring in
reading and math.
The STEM Early College at NC A&T
The STEM Early College at NC A&T is designed to serve
highly motivated, high-performing students with an
interest in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Rich in diverse cultures, perspectives, and ideas, the
STEM Early College employs a real-world and problem-
based method to help students develop critical and
unique thinking skills. A key point of the STEM experience
is participation in the capstone research project during
the freshman and sophomore years. Students engage
in the engineering design process to develop and test
different ideas and solutions to problems facing engineers
in today’s world.

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The Middle College at NC A&T
In 2003, The Middle College at North Carolina A&T
opened its doors as the first all-male public high school.
The Middle College at A&T is a collaborative effort of
Guilford County Schools and North Carolina A&T State
University. The school strives for excellence by providing
male students an opportunity for success through the
use of 21st century teaching and learning and provides
a nurturing environment with small classes which
allows students to boost their self-esteem. Students are
encouraged to take university classes while attending
high school with the opportunity of earning up to 2 years
of transferable college credit. With consecutive years of
a 100% graduation rate and 100% university acceptance,
The Middle College at A&T continues to produce young
men ready for life and any endeavor they choose.
Aviation Campus at Guilford Technical
Community College
The T.H. Davis Aviation Center, also known as Aviation
I, opened in 1989 to accommodate the growing Aviation
Maintenance, Management, and Avionics Programs
that had been running since 1970 at a smaller facility.
This campus has 36,000 square feet of classroom and
lab space, along with a 12,000 square foot hangar tied
to the airport movement area. The facility serves over
two hundred students per day in various aviation degree
programs. Aviation II is an additional facility on campus
that contains 7 classrooms, 14 specialty laboratories, as
well as faculty office space. The campus serves as primary
home for the Aviation Electronic (Avionics) Program, the
QMC (Quick Manufacturing Careers) programs, but also
supports sheet metal, composites, and NDT labs for all
programs. The campus serves over 100 students per day.

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Thank you
Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels
Proximity Hotel / Print Works Bistro
O.Henry Hotel / Green Valley Grill
John M Belk Endowment
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Dennis and Nancy King Quaintance
Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation