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Allen Mebane formed Mebane Charitable Foundation with a goal to afford every child an opportunity to improve his or her education to the place where they can live outside poverty. It’s the Foundation’s belief that for this to be a reality each child leaving third grade must be able to read and understand what he or she is reading. The vision is that eventually every gifted and underprivileged child will be given the opportunity to advance their level of knowledge above the ordinary level of education. Mr. Mebane believed that in order for our educational system to overcome its problems, you must start in the beginning and create a strong foundation, and in this case that foundation is the ability of our children to read at grade level and beyond.
By no means do we claim to have all the answers as to how to create the greatest and most successful learning environment. Beginning in early 2002, the Foundation, in partnership with the Davie County School administration, put into action a well thought out, focused, and aggressive plan that was intended to not only offer the children of Davie County a better education, but was to bring together all constituents in the county that needed to take ownership of the program for it to become a reality and to sustain itself. We refuse to simply inject capital into a system and hope that it works, instead we require buy-in from the entire community, thus, insuring sustainability and offering a successful model for others to follow.
The education system and its future is a very complex issue that has been plaguing our leaders for years, yet, while much is written about what needs to be done and the many theories on the latest and greatest educational models, it appears very little collaborative, action-oriented movements are taking root. The Mebane Charitable Foundation has set out to take action and to attack the issue at its very core.
Unlike the efforts of some educational experts and other philanthropic organizations, that appear to fund individual projects in our education system in isolation from one another, Mr. Mebane decided the Foundation would partner with school systems that are willing to approach the problems in a more holistic manner; with a start and finish in mind. In this case the start has been a strong partnership with The Hill Center in Durham, North Carolina, which tailored reading programs and teaching methodologies for students and teachers in Pre-K schools throughout the county. A continuum of that program was funded, developed and implemented in all elementary and middle schools in the county to insure all children were afforded the opportunity to read and forming a strong foundation for success. Also, through the process interactive technology has been introduced in 100% of the classrooms in Davie County in K-12.
In the spring of 2008, as a result of the early success with the integration of interactive technology, we took on another exciting program which will be referred to as the Mebane Masters Plan. The program brought together 16 teachers from the school system with Appalachian State University’s Reich College of Education faculty. At the end of three years these Davie County teachers will receive a Masters Degree and will have helped mold a unique advanced degree that will address the needs of 21st Century students and teachers and they will have been, and will continue to be invaluable assets to our children’s futures.
A couple of the programs that we have funded over the years have failed, but through the process we have learned from each experience. The Foundation insists upon having the “complete support” of the community before it moves forward; this includes the school administration, teachers, parents, elected county officials and the taxpayers. It is not our goal to fund the school system; instead it is to be a partner and a catalyst for positive change.
At this time we feel very good about our progress, but recognize there is still much work and possible collaboration with other groups ahead of us. It’s the hope of the Foundation that in future years other municipalities, counties and states will take what we’ve learned and incorporate many of the same strategies into their educational systems.