NC Project Lead

🌟 Friday Business Spotlight: Novant Health 🌟 We're honored to feature Novant Health, a leading healthcare network with over 850 locations across the Carolinas, including in Wilmington! Known for quality, innovation, and a compassionate approach, Novant Health provided over $1.6 billion in community benefits in 2023 alone. Their support of NC Project Lead’s mission to address social determinants of health in underserved communities exemplifies their commitment to making healthcare accessible for all. Thank you, Novant Health!  #NCProjectLead #WilmingtonNC #GivingSeason

NC Project LEAD is proud to spotlight Attorney Reggie Shuford for his hard work and dedication to Wilmington, NC, and the community.  Reggie Shuford joined the NC Justice Center as Executive Director in February 2023 following an eleven-year tenure as Executive Director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. Before leading the ACLU of PA, he spent over fifteen years at the ACLU national office in New York City where he was Staff Attorney and Senior Staff Attorney. During his time at the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the organization doubled its membership and won landmark lawsuits to defeat a restrictive voter ID law and overturn Pennsylvania’s Defense of Marriage Act. Under his leadership, the ACLU of PA also beat back efforts to expand mandatory minimum sentencing, advocated for policies that led the state’s prison system to decrease its population by 20 percent, and laid the groundwork that led to a gubernatorial moratorium on executions that started in 2015 and still stands today. For the organization’s efforts and his leadership, Shuford was recognized by a wide array of public interest and media organizations. The Philadelphia Tribune, one of the nation’s oldest Black newspapers, recognized Shuford five times with its Most Influential African American Leader Award, and, in 2021, the news outlet City & State PA included Shuford among its Philadelphia Power 100, a list of the most influential people in Philadelphia politics. The Philadelphia Bar Association also honored him with the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Diversity Award and the Bar Star Award. Shuford has received UNC Law School’s Distinguished Alumnus Award and has served as a Harvard Law School Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow and an Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity. Shuford is from Wilmington, NC, and is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law. Watch this clip of our interview with Attorney Reggie Shuford: 

We at NC Project LEAD would like to thank our sponsor First Citizens Bank for the support and contributions to our organization and the work we are doing in the state of NC. Founded in North Carolina, First Citizens Bank was originally the Bank of Smithfield with only $10,000 of capital to it's name. Serving primarily agricultural customers, after 17 years of business, First Citizens Bank expanded from Smithfield to Raliegh and into the Eastern North Carolina. By 1970, the bank had become such a success that the company decided to move their headquarters from Smithfield to Raleigh and their assets surpassed $1 billion. By the early 1990s, First Citizens Bank had new locations built in West Virgina and Georgia, continuing to expand their remarkable legacy! With their merger with CIT in 2022, First Citizens Bank was named one of the top 20 US banks based on asset size. Today, they have been in business for 125 years, and we are incredibly grateful that they have supported us here at NC Project LEAD. #northcarolina #localbusiness #ncprojectlead #economicdevelopment #wilmington #bank #banking #firstcitizensbank

NC Project LEAD would like to spotlight Elton Daniels for his hard work and dedication to his community! Assistant City Manager Elton Daniels recently became president of the N.C. City and County Management Association. Daniels’ served a few years as manager of Sharpsburg’s municipal government before serving more than 2½ years as an assistant manager of Franklin County’s government. Daniels has been a member of the NCCCMA for more than a decade. He joined the city of Rocky Mount as parks and recreation director in February 2019. He has served as assistant city manager since November 2019. Daniels, who was born and raised in the Wilmington area, played football for Furman University, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Furman and earned a master’s degree in public administration from UNC-Wilmington.

🌟 Event Spotlight: Policy Luncheon Forum - "The Next Four Years" 🌟 Join us on February 7th, 2025, at the CFCC Union Station Conference Center for the Policy Luncheon Forum: "The Next Four Years." Hosted by the Economic Club of Southeastern North Carolina and powered by NC Project LEAD, this luncheon will bring together influential community and business leaders to discuss critical issues impacting economic, social, and public policy in our region. The event will feature a keynote speaker, two panel discussions, and sponsorship opportunities for businesses to engage with leaders shaping our community's future. Tickets include lunch and start at $50. 💼 Interested in becoming a sponsor? Options range from $5,000 Presenting Sponsor to $400 Table Supporter. Let’s work together to address the socioeconomic determinants of health that impact our communities. For more info, contact Juanita Harper at jbharper101@yahoo.com. #CommunityLeadership #NCProjectLead #WilmingtonNC

NC Project LEAD is happy to spotlight Sherwin K. Bryant, PHD for his hard work and dedication to his community!  Dr. Sherwin K. Bryant is a scholar of the African Diaspora whose work addresses the histories of slavery, race and colonial rule stretching from the North Andean territories of modern-day Colombia and Ecuador to the coastal lowlands of North Carolina's lower Cape Fear region that comprise Brunswick and New Hanover Counties.  Bryant's first book, Rivers of Gold, Lives of Bondage: Governing through Slavery in Colonial Quito (UNC Press, 2014) explored the political importance of slavery, showcasing the ways that enslaved Africans and their descendants confronted and challenged Spanish colonials efforts to elaborate Atlantic slavery as a system of race governance. To date, his work has informed debates about how enslaved rebels and litigants alike influenced and shaped law and jurisprudence in Latin America.  Bryant was the 2021-22 ACLS-Mellon Scholar and Society Fellow, whose work with the African American Heritage Foundation of Southeastern North Carolina (AAHFSNC) has led to Just Beyond the River: A Black Black Humanities Initiative , an ongoing, community-engaged research project that includes the forthcoming film Just Across the River. The film reveals aspects of Black community life and history along the Gullah-Geechee corridor of southeastern North Carolina and the AAHFSNC's efforts to collect oral histories across the region. Bryant's work has been funded by the Fulbright and the Ford Foundation, appearing in journals such as The Americas and Colonial Latin American Review. In addition to the film and his ongoing work addressing histories of community formation in Brunswick County, North Carolina, Bryant is currently at work on a book addressing slavery and sovereignty in the Afro-Pacific lowlands of Colombia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

🌟 Friday Business Spotlight: Immersive Concepts 🌟 For three years, Immersive Concepts has proudly sponsored NC Project Lead in supporting our mission to drive social and economic change in underserved communities. As a provider of integrative technology and integration services, Immersive Concepts believes in the power of progress, whether through groundbreaking technology solutions or community partnerships. Together with Immersive Concepts, we are building a future where opportunity and innovation know no bounds.  #NCProjectLead #WilmingtonNC #GivingSeason

NC Project LEAD is happy to spotlight Sherwin K. Bryant, PHD for his hard work and dedication to his community!  Dr. Sherwin K. Bryant is a scholar of the African Diaspora whose work addresses the histories of slavery, race and colonial rule stretching from the North Andean territories of modern-day Colombia and Ecuador to the coastal lowlands of North Carolina's lower Cape Fear region that comprise Brunswick and New Hanover Counties.  Bryant's first book, Rivers of Gold, Lives of Bondage: Governing through Slavery in Colonial Quito (UNC Press, 2014) explored the political importance of slavery, showcasing the ways that enslaved Africans and their descendants confronted and challenged Spanish colonials efforts to elaborate Atlantic slavery as a system of race governance. To date, his work has informed debates about how enslaved rebels and litigants alike influenced and shaped law and jurisprudence in Latin America.  Bryant was the 2021-22 ACLS-Mellon Scholar and Society Fellow, whose work with the African American Heritage Foundation of Southeastern North Carolina (AAHFSNC) has led to Just Beyond the River: A Black Black Humanities Initiative , an ongoing, community-engaged research project that includes the forthcoming film Just Across the River. The film reveals aspects of Black community life and history along the Gullah-Geechee corridor of southeastern North Carolina and the AAHFSNC's efforts to collect oral histories across the region. Bryant's work has been funded by the Fulbright and the Ford Foundation, appearing in journals such as The Americas and Colonial Latin American Review. In addition to the film and his ongoing work addressing histories of community formation in Brunswick County, North Carolina, Bryant is currently at work on a book addressing slavery and sovereignty in the Afro-Pacific lowlands of Colombia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

We at NC Project LEAD would like to thank our sponsor North State Bank for the support and contributions to our organization and the work we are doing in the state of NC. Founded June 1st, 2000; North State Bank made their presence known in Raleigh, NC. They are a true community bank and, thanks to a partnership with the Small Business Administration (SBA), can offer loans for businesses with flexibility and great terms! North State Bank prioritizes integrity, hard work, fairness, teamwork, and consistency above all else. You can trust that your money and future are in good hands.  To learn more about North State Bank visit: https://lnkd.in/e5Z8NefT...    #bank #banking #northcarolina #localbusiness #ncprojectlead #economicdevelopment #northstatebank

NC Project LEAD is happy to spotlight Stacy Owens-Howard for her dedication and hard work in her community! Stacey Owens-Howard is an award-winning educator, trainer, and entrepreneur. Ms. Owens-Howard’s educational career began in 1994, as a third-grade teacher. During her teaching tenure, she became a National Board-Certified Teacher, obtained Teacher of the Year, and was the 2000 State Level finalist for the Presidential Award for Elementary Teaching in Math and Science. In 2009, Ms. Owens-Howard started Z.E.C.A., Inc. (Zero to Eighteen Education Concept Academy) a community initiative designed to provide comprehensive services to children from the ages of birth to eighteen. Under Ms. Owens-Howard’s leadership, Z.E.C.A Inc. opened ZECA School of Arts and Technology, a K–8 Public Charter School. For more information on Stacey Owens please watch the clip of our interview with her: