Director’s Log | April 2023

Onward and Upward

As I was brainstorming ideas for this month’s Director’s Log, it dawned on me that I wrote my first message as interim director exactly one year ago this month. Time certainly does fly, especially when you work with an amazing team of thought leaders and community champions who are committed to supporting a brighter economic future for North Carolina.

Speaking of our team, I want to take this opportunity to put the spotlight on one of our colleagues who is moving onward and upward: our Hunt Intern, Hannah Braun! 

Hannah will graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in public policy. Hannah has been a part of Team IEI for two years: first as the student lead for our PILOT21 program during her junior year, and then as our Hunt Intern her senior year. Throughout her time at IEI, Hannah has contributed to multiple programs and initiatives, including conducting in depth research for our program of work focused on financial resilience, assisting at the 2023 Emerging Issues Forum, connecting with local agriculture experts at Farm Aid, and much more. You can read about her many contributions to IEI in this spotlight piece from the NC State School of Public and International Affairs. Congratulations, Hannah!

We’ve also been honored to host three other NC State students this year who will stay on with IEI in the coming months: Brodie Smith, Hyung Khee (HK) Eun and Crystal Leung. These students have enriched our team and helped shape our work in important ways. We’re grateful for their continued support and excellent contributions to IEI! 

Keeping with the theme of moving onward and upward, earlier this month I had the privilege of meeting with our Educational Attainment cohort as they gathered in person at the Hunt Library. This group of five community-based organizations from across the state have worked together since before the 2022 Emerging Issues Forum to help close the educational attainment gap in North Carolina. At the meeting, the cohort members shared successes and brainstormed solutions so they can support students at all levels in their communities. These experts are moving mountains locally and I want to thank them for their work and dedication to ensuring North Carolinians are prepared to fill the jobs of the future! We’ll be sharing updates on their work in the coming months. For now, you can read about each organization in our series of community stories from 2022.

Finally, I want to share a few brief organizational updates from our team. Earlier this month, we held our first dedicated organizational and professional development week for IEI staff. As a growing organization, it was important to me to bring everyone together to learn from, and with, each other about how we can improve our processes – both individually and as a whole – to better serve and connect communities in North Carolina. This will be an ongoing process as our team continues to grow. Speaking of growing, I’m excited to share that we’ll have new job opportunities on our operations and policy teams in the coming months. There’s never been a better time to be a part of Team IEI. Stay tuned!