Bennett College News November 30, 2022 Bennett College students, faculty, staff and colleagues from North Carolina's 10 HBCUs recently attended the first NC10 HBCU Conference, themed "Partners in Progress." The conference, hosted by the Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED), was held at St. Augustine's University in Raleigh. NC10 participants heard from a distinguished panel of presenters, including Bennett's Dr. Santiba Campbell, Associate Professor/ Director of Academic Special Initiatives. Discussions focused on shared values and the mission to create partnerships. Last year, the 10 institutions made a presentation to four nonprofits - Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED<https://www.creed-nc.org/>), the Hunt Institute<https://hunt-institute.org/>, myFutureNC<https://www.myfuturenc.org/>, and EdNC<http://ednc.org/> - during a listening tour. When that effort culminated in a "Listening to the NC10<https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f68eb9cb662f642afcb0e2b/t/618b3ba0e62651085efb24d8/1636514729055/Listening+to+the+NC10+Report+%7C+Web+2.pdf>" convening at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham one year ago, leaders from the NC10<https://www.creed-nc.org/thenc10> decided to keep going. On Wednesday, about 100 gathered at St. Augustine's University<https://www.st-aug.edu/sau-hosts-inaugural-nc10-conference/> in Raleigh to celebrate a formal beginning for that work. The first NC10 HBCU Conference, themed "Partners in Progress," was hosted by CREED. There's a unique window of opportunity, CREED Executive Director James E. Ford said, to increase the state's focus on the NC10's value - including the importance of their success and contributions to the state's culture and need for a diverse talent pipeline. "Individuals committed to collaboration on that day," Ford said of the convening last year. "They formed an advisory council working group, selected a mission and vision statement, identified goals, and now are hosting their first conference to operationalize those ideas." The NC10's shared goals are to: 1. Implement development strategies for supporting North Carolina's HBCUs. 2. Make the economic case for the impact of those HBCUs. 3. Adopt practices for on-time graduation. 4. Devise recruitment and retention strategies for students and faculty. Attendees heard strategies aligned with these goals - including support for serving students, growing leadership, and impacting policy. They also heard about Mary McLeod Bethune. Bethune was an educator, philanthropist, and civil rights activist. On Wednesday, during her keynote address at the NC10 HBCU Conference, storyteller Crystal A. deGregory<http://crystaldegregory.com/> told attendees about Bethune's improbable journey from learning in a one-room schoolhouse to graduating from Scotia Seminary (now Barber-Scotia College in Concord) to receiving the NAACP's prestigious Spingarn Medal and induction to the National Women's Hall of Fame. But deGregory didn't evoke Bethune just to celebrate the accomplishments of an extraordinary Black woman. She paid tribute to Bethune's vision of partnership. Bethune partnered with philanthropists and Booker T. Washington to secure a flight program at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama - laying the foundation for the Tuskegee Airmen. She partnered with the Cookman Institute for Black boys to merge her school for Black girls and co-found Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach. Bethune partnered with Frederick Douglass Patterson and William J. Trent to co-found the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). The power of partnership, deGregory said, is the idea she wants the NC10 to pursue. "What would all of our foremothers and forefathers do?" she asked as she closed her remarks. "I hope that when we look at ourselves, we see a bit of the best of them in us. And so then when we partner, we will partner not only in progress, but we'll partner in power." While the conference focused on providing actionable strategies and support to the NC10, it also offered an opportunity for networking and vision sharing. St. Augustine's President Christine Johnson McPhail asked that this spirit of community continue to grow. "I think that whoever decided that we're going to bring all of these institutions together had a wonderful idea," she said. "Let's don't disappoint them by limiting our progress and what we can do with our imagination. Let's reimagine, and let's dream big." For more information and to see a summary of what attendees learned, follow this link: https://www.ednc.org/2022-11-18-hbcu-nc10-black-colleges-universities-partnership-conference-north-carolina-progress-creed/ LaTasha Denard Executive Assistant HBCU Library Alliance (678) 210-5801 ext. 102 http://www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> ldenard@hbculibraries.org<mailto:ldenard@hbculibraries.org> "Transforming for Tomorrow while Preserving the Past." Sandra M. Phoenix, Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance 678-210-5801 ext. 101 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> Seek justice, honor the ancestors, honor the children and those yet to come. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" 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