Our Mission

LEAD NC exist to seek out, encourage and cultivate a new generation of community and civic leaders for North Carolina. We focus on leadership development for North Carolinians who strongly support the following ideals:

• All of North Carolina’s children deserve access to a quality and equitable public education that is adequately funded, as guaranteed by the state Constitution.
• Both private enterprise and government are essential for creating opportunity and growth, and our economy should work for everyone, not just those at the top.
• In order to provide energy that is critical to North Carolina’s economic growth and well-being, we must develop cleaner, more renewable forms of energy while protecting our natural resources and ensuring a healthy and safe environment for current and future generations.
• North Carolina citizens have the right to accessible and fair elections free of unnecessary obstacles and intimidation.
• Women have the right to decide if and when they will have a child, and everyone has the right to parent the children they already have in safe environments and healthy communities.
• The unique mission and purpose of government is to promote the public interest and help create a high quality of life and community well-being.

Our Values

LEAD NC seeks to cultivate leaders who adhere to the following principles:

Inclusiveness: ability to work with diverse communities, across race, class, sexual orientation and gender identities

Integrity: ability to discern between right and wrong, a willingness to act on that discernment even at personal cost and to openly/publicly stand for that which they believe to be right

Transparency: ability to be honest, to consistently keep commitments and to be held accountable

Altruism: willingness to take action on behalf of others even at great personal cost

Our Commitment to Equity

LEAD NC is committed to creating a non-partisan leadership development model that works to address structural and racial inequities. This commitment includes not only LEAD NC’s responsibility to recruit and train a cohort of leaders that reflect the changing demographics of North Carolina, but also to develop a greater understanding among civic leaders of inequalities based on race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and citizenship.