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: the 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: the 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.