First in Future: Where Emerging Ideas Take Flight

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In this episode, we focus on "After the Flood Waters Recede" with guests Jim Fox, former Director of NEMAC; Mayor Zeb Smathers of Canton NC; Jeff Howell, Yancey EMC; and NC House of Representatives Majority Leader, John Bell. Find this also on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube, as well as Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn+Alexa.

In this episode, we focus on the "Power of Local Support of Educational Attainment" with guests Dale Jenkins, former CEO Curi and co-chair, myFutureNC Commission; Dr. Laura Leatherwood, President Blue Ridge Community College; Rev. James Gailliard, Senior Pastor Word Tabernacle and member, NC House of Representatives. Find this also on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.

In this episode, we focus on the "Power of Affordability In Increasing Attainment" with guests Toni Blount - Regional Impact Manager, myFutureNC; Abdur-Raqib Gant - NCA&T student, and Martha Quillin - News and Observer reporter. Find this also on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.

In this episode, we focus on the "Power of Sports" with guests David Joyner of the Rocky Mount Events Center, Hill Carrow of the 2027 World University Games and Gabbi Cunningham - NCSU Alum and 100M Hurdles Olympian. Find this also on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.

In this episode, we focus on the "Power of STEM" with guests Peter Harries - Dean of NCSU Graduate School, Jamila Simpson of NCSU College of Science and Thomas Redd of NCA&T State. Find this also on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.

In this episode, we focus on the "Power of Historical Fiction" with guests Carole Boston Weatherford, Authorof “Freedom on The Menu”; John Hood, Author of “Mountain Folk”, and A.J. Mayhew, Author of “Tomorrow's Bread”. Find this also on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.

In this episode, we focus on the "Role of Counties in Recovery" with guests Rep. Dean Arp, R-Union; Kevin Leonard, Exec. Dir. NCACC; Paige Worsham, Assoc. General Council, NCACC. Pandemic financial relief is coming from the federal government. We discuss about how do we make sure we use it wisely to make a full recovery, and possibly even come back stronger than we were before the pandemic? Find this also on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.

In this episode, we focus on "Back to Business: The NC Small Business Recovery" with guests Byron Hicks of the Small Business and Technology Development Center, Dr. Henry McKoy of NC Central University and Kevin Price of National Institute of Minority Economic Development. Find this also on Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube.

In this First in Future episode, we focus on the return to school resembling something normal, and how do we get our kids back on track and recover from what they lost? Our guests are Michael Maher, Executive Director of the Office of Learning Recovery and Acceleration at the state Department of Public Instruction, and Rev. Dr. Dawn Baldwin Gibson, Superintendent of the Peletah Center for Academic Excellence in eastern NC.

The Institute for Emerging Issues, in a four part series, will be focusing on the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities – a group of 10 colleges and universities stretching across the state formed to ensure that African Americans had access to higher education. This episode is with Dr. Johnson Akinleye and Dr. Deepak Kumar of North Carolina Central University.

The Institute for Emerging Issues, in a four part series, will be focusing on the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities – a group of 10 colleges and universities stretching across the state formed to ensure that African Americans had access to higher education. This episode is with Dr. Paulette Dillard, President of Shaw University and Suzanne Walsh, President of Bennett College.

The Institute for Emerging Issues, in a four part series, will be focusing on the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities – a group of 10 colleges and universities stretching across the state formed to ensure that African Americans had access to higher education. This episode is with Dr. Karrie Dixon and Dr. Kuldeep Rawat of Elizabeth City State University.

The Institute for Emerging Issues, in a four part series, will be focusing on the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities – a group of 10 colleges and universities stretching across the state formed to ensure that African Americans had access to higher education. This episode is with Dr. Harold L. Martin Sr., Chancellor of NC A&T State University.

In this First in Future episode, our guests represent two different groups that have been looking at reforms to make our justice systems work better. First the co-chairs of a task force appointed by the Governor, the “Task Force on Racial Equity in Criminal Justice,” Associate Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls and Attorney General Josh Stein, and next the co-chair of the House Select Committee on Community Relations, Law Enforcement and Justice, Rep. John Szoka.

Twenty years ago, three Latino couples, made up of an engineer, a scientist, an IT professional and three teachers, took a look at what was going on with Latino education in the state, and didn’t like what they saw. About half of the students were dropping out of high school and they saw that was going to cause big problems for them, and the state. That is when this episode’s First in Future guest Marco Zarate, his wife and others stepped up and assisted in forming the North Carolina Society of Hispanic Professionals, a nonprofit focused on “promoting education among Hispanic youth,” with a special focus on increasing high school graduation rates. North Carolina Society of Hispanic Professionals have raised corporate contributions, brought in members and volunteers, and through it all Marco has stayed with the organization, as president on a voluntary basis.

Last year, we did a two part First in Future series called “the lost speeches of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,” focusing on two speeches Dr. King gave in North Carolina. Both stories involve NC State Professor of English Dr. Jason Miller, to whom we revisit the conversation. This First in Future episode we hear a different story about the second speech, which is remarkable, because we know almost nothing about what he said. Coming up soon we are going to convert First in Future to a live format show featured on YouTube and Facebook live!

A year ago we did a two part First in Future series called “the lost speeches of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,” focusing on two speeches Dr. King gave in North Carolina. The first was remarkable because we only recently discovered what he said, the other was remarkable because we know almost nothing about what he said. Both stories involve NC State Professor of English Dr. Jason Miller, to whom we revisit the conversation. This First in Future episode, “King’s first dream”, tells the story of the first time Dr. King used the phrase I have a dream – in Rocky Mount in 1962. We now know exactly what he said that day because, believe it or not, of Dr. Millers long time obsession with African American poet Langston Hughes.

February is Black History Month, a month where you hear more than you normally do about some of the bridgebuilders in the African American community, people you may not know enough about. This episode of First in Future, we revisit our conversation with Dr. Rupert Nacoste. He is the author of several books and his latest is "To Live Woke: Thoughts to Carry in our struggle to Save the Soul of America". Dr. Nacoste is retiring this year after 32 years as a professor of psychology at NC State, but he has also lived some important parts of Black History.

The pandemic is affecting everyone in our country. Almost any indicator you look at, the impacts have been greater on people of color in the state. The infection rates are 3x higher among African Americans than whites, and death rates are 6x higher. According to CDC data, COVID hospitalization rates are 5 x higher for American Indians and African Americans and 4x higher in the LatinX community. So you would think that when it comes to vaccinations, people of color might be receiving priority treatment. Not initially, says our First in Future guest, Dr. Jim Johnson. He looked at data from six states that are reporting COVID vaccination rates by race, and found that North Carolina has the widest gap in race and ethnic disparity.