First in Future: Where Emerging Ideas Take Flight

One of the most complicated challenges the Coronavirus has been the need for more broadband. It has been a challenge that the Institute for Emerging Issues has been working on for awhile. We have been working with the state Broadband Infrastructure Office to get grants out to school systems, nonprofits, and communities. Our First in Future guest this episode is Jess George, who represents one of the critical private investors in infrastructure, Google Fiber. Jess is their government and community affairs representative.

As of April this year, 45% of people were self-reporting that their mental health had declined. A survey found 70% of people were screening for mental health challenges, with the highest increases among the 18-44 year olds. Our First in Future guest on this episode is Dr. Lindsey Haynes-Maslow. She has written a remarkable first-person summary of her ongoing battle with bulimia, an eating disorder, and what it has been like for her during this pandemic. Dr. Maslow is an associate professor and extension specialist at NC State in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Department of Ag and Human Sciences.

Three years ago myFutureNC looked at NC’s future economy and came to the conclusion that to meet the needs of the future, we need more people with some sort of meaningful credential beyond high school. The Institute for Emerging Issues has been looking at this issue over the past few months, and we’re bringing together a big discussion of all those issues in a few days. This episode features the head of the nonprofit myFutureNC, Cecilia Holden and their research director, Jeni Corn.

myFutureNC looked at NC’s future economy and came to the conclusion that to meet the needs of the future, we need 2 million more people in our state in the next decade with some sort of meaningful credential beyond high school. And that if we do nothing, we will fall 300,000 people short of that goal. The pandemic has caused 1.2 million North Carolinians to be laid off, disproportionately those without high school degrees. They may need to come back to college, but how can they afford it? The Institute for Emerging Issues has been looking at this issue over the past few months, and we’re bringing together a big discussion of all those issues in a few days. This episode features IEI Senior Policy and Program Manager Sarah Hall, who’s been putting together the webinar and expounds on what we will be hearing from and the sessions we will have.

Host Leslie Boney, Director of the Institute for Emerging Issues, talks with special guests William Lassiter (Deputy Secretary, Juvenile Justice, NCDPS), Dave Richard (Deputy Secretary for NC Medicaid) and Elizabeth Simpson (Associate Director, Emancipate NC).

This First in Future episode features Dr. Rupert Nacoste, author of the new book "To Live Woke: Thoughts to Carry in Our Struggle to Save the Soul of America". Dr. Nacoste is a native of Louisiana, but for the past 32 years has been a professor of psychology at NC State. Dr. Nacoste’s research and public service efforts have focused on developing a systematic understanding of the social psychology of social change, and using that scholarly understanding to help people manage the social changes that are influencing their everyday lives.

In celebration of 19th amendment that secured all women the right to vote over 100 years ago, this episode of First in Future, we are joined by Dr. Katherine Mellen Charron, Associate Professor of history at NC State. We explore what the amendment meant and did not mean and about how Tennessee passed it and NC did not.

The Institute for Emerging Issues is hosting a series of conversations around early childhood learning focused on how we develop stronger systems in the midst of ongoing uncertainty. This episode (COVID-19 and Child Trauma: Where do we go from here?) with guest host Patrick Cronin (IEI Assistant Director) and guests Sharon Hirsch (President & CEO, Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina), Jennie Kristiansen (Director, Department of Social Services, Chatham County) and Dr. Charlene Wong (Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Public Policy, Duke University).

Wit Tuttell is Executive Director of Visit NC and VP of Tourism and Marketing for EDPNC

Back to school is back, but this year it is complicated. Universities are trying to have at least face-to-face classes, but it’s not clear that’s going to work out. About 70% of public school students are starting their year totally online. It’s been a rollercoaster few months for folks across the world, around the country and throughout North Carolina, as we ask them to figure out how to move big chunks of their lives online from their homes. Figure out how you can take care of your health from home. Figure out how you can work from home. Figure out how you can learn from home. Our guests on this episode are two people working on two very different parts of the problem. Amy Huffman is the Digital Inclusion Manager for the state Broadband Infrastructure Office. Her job is to figure out how to overcome the challenges we have getting every student, every adult worker, every senior citizen online. Dr. Dawn Gibson is the founder of Peletah Ministries in Craven County. Among a lot of other projects, she’s trying to figure out how to get individuals able to take full advantage of the Internet.

Host Leslie Boney, Director, Institute for Emerging Issues, talks with special guests Eric Davis (Chair, State Board of Education), Eliz Colbert, Ed.D., (Executive Director, NC Virtual Public Schools), Terry Stoops, Ph.D., (Director of Education Studies, John Locke Foundation) and Tabari Wallace (Principal, West Craven High School and NC 2018 Principal of the Year) as they discuss the current state of learning within the K-12 space and what will need to happen to ensure students are receiving a high quality education this fall, despite some of the obvious challenges.

The rural part of our state were already facing a broad range of challenges before the pandemic with shaky economies and health care challenges. Our First in Future guests on this episode is Calvin Allen, the first Rural Forward NC director and we hear his thoughts on these issues and so much more.

The Institute for Emerging Issues is hosting a series of conversations around early childhood learning focused on how we develop stronger systems in the midst of ongoing uncertainty. This episode (From Crisis to Opportunity in Child Care) with guest host Patrick Cronin (IEI Assistant Director) and guests Sheila Arias (Campaign Associate, MomsRising), Marsha Basloe (President, Child Care Services Association), Rhonda Rivers (Regional Director of Curriculum and Training, LeafSpring Schools - Charlotte), and Sepi Saidi (President/CEO, SEPI, Inc.)

Leslie Boney, the Director of the Institute for Emerging Issues, hosts a special virtual conversations discussing "Racial Equity in Criminal Justice" with guests Justice Anita Earls and Attorney General Josh Stein.

The Institute for Emerging Issues is spending a lot of time focusing on the future of education and work. That is the main focus of the interview with this episode's guest, Tom Looney. Tom Looney solved a huge challenge in the early 2000s—how to help a Chinese company called Lenovo set up a new global headquarters in RTP and take over IBM’s PC business. Since then he has retired and become a mega volunteer, serving as board chair for the NC School of Science and Math and on board of Coastal Federation and EDPNC. We hear about his idea called CS4NC, computer science for NC. CS4NC, with support from NCDPI, NC School Districts, NCSU’s Friday Institute, Career and Technical Education, wants to raise up 3,200 more computer science teachers throughout North Carolina.