MDC is the managing partner for Achieving the Dream and the lead agency for data facilitation. Data facilitators help Achieving the Dream institutions build a culture of inquiry and evidence, using disaggregated student outcome data to drive policy and programmatic decision making.

MDC History

MDC was established in 1967 by the North Carolina Fund, with the support of the state's civic and business leadership and the Ford Foundation, to help the state transition from a segregated, agricultural work force to an integrated, industrial work force. The North Carolina Fund was established in 1963 by then-Gov. Terry Sanford as a five-year program to address the root causes of poverty in the state through the creation of 11 community action agencies and other community initiatives. During the summers of 1964 and 1965, the North Carolina Volunteers Program created teams of African American and white college students to work together and show that communities could be stronger if their members reached across lines of race and class to solve problems of poverty. Both the North Carolina Fund and the federal Office of Economic Opportunity insisted that the people being served by the programs be involved in community program decisions.

The North Carolina Fund made final grants in 1969 and created MDC as one of three spin off corporations.

MDC Strategies

Research and Analysis

  MDC pursues an applied research agenda of synthesizing information, communicating it in an accessible way, and disseminating it aggressively.

  MDC identifies and analyzes economic, social, and political trends that affect the well-being of the South - especially its disadvantaged people and communities.

  MDC identifies and assesses the efficacy of strategies that overcome barriers, ease trauma, and exploit opportunities.

  MDC translates findings into comprehensible and actionable language, communicates it through a wide variety of means, including the media; print and electronic publications; and video, multimedia, and in-person presentations.

Policy Development and Implementation

  MDC translates its research findings and experiences in demonstration programs into actionable policy recommendations and communicates them to local, state, and national decision-makers.

  MDC organizes leadership constituency groups or identifies preexisting constituency groups to develop and implement policies and programs that reflect our findings and experience.

  MDC works intensively over the long term on a small number of promising issues where potential for institutionalization is high.

Demonstration Programs

  MDC works in partnerships with institutions and communities to tap indigenous knowledge and leadership abilities, transfer new knowledge, and build capacity to address multidimensional economic and workforce challenges over time.

  Key elements of MDC's approach are detailed in "Building Communities of Conscience," a research-based conceptual framework to guide program and policy development, aid in creating a leadership cadre to develop and implement strategies, create a multiyear plan for strategic action, and organize indigenous learning communities to apply knowledge to difficult problems.

  MDC trains other institutions to undertake this technical assistance.

Communications

  MDC informs the public dialogue to influence decision-makers.

  MDC strategically targets audiences to whom we convey our messages, using a variety of communication vehicles to convey the messages, and cultivates the audiences over an extended period of time.

  MDC cultivates a strong culture and formal systems of learning, both internally and externally.

  MDC maximizes the impact of our work by documenting our experience and disseminating the lessons learned to key audiences.