The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools have appointed Graig Meyer to the new position of Director of Student Equity and Volunteer Services. Meyer has been the coordinator of the district’s Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate (BRMA) program since 1998. In this new role, he will continue to oversee BRMA and the district’s new Parent University program. Upon the retirement of veteran administrator Mary Bushnell later this fall, Meyer will oversee the Office of Volunteers and Partners for Education. The position also formalizes Meyer’s leadership responsibilities for the district’s racial equity initiative.
As part of the equity leadership, Meyer will develop, implement and monitor district programs and processes that promote and sustain diversity and equity throughout the district. He will also supervise the implementation of district diversity and equity workshops, presentations, learning opportunities and other strategies to help promote diversity. Meyer will provide coaching and help design and deliver workshops. He will also work with school personnel and outside agencies to assess the effectiveness of district equity programs.
"The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools are pleased and excited about promoting Graig Meyer to a leadership position where he will be able to optimize his expertise and skills in the areas of equity and volunteerism," said Superintendent Thomas A. Forcella. "It is our hope if we are able to forge strong relationships in the areas of equity, volunteerism and our current focus on classroom instruction, then we will be able to realize significant gains in reducing the achievement gap."
Under Meyer's leadership, the BRMA program has been acknowledged for excellence at local, state and national levels. The BRMA program has grown to serve over 200 students each year through its mentoring program, the Youth Leadership Institute (YLI), and tutorial programming at the Hargraves Community Center. Meyer has worked to generate over $1 million in grant and donor-based funding for the BRMA mentoring programs and over $400,000 for student scholarship funds. BRMA has a 95 percent high school graduation rate and has sent 100 percent of its high school graduates on to post-secondary education.
Meyer is also a national presenter on mentoring and racial identity. Earlier this summer, he was a keynote speaker at the 2012 School Innovation Improvement Summit, where he also received an Education Innovation Award by the School Improvement Network. Meyer and BRMA are also featured in a new edition of Bonnie Davis’ groundbreaking book, How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You.
Back to CHCCS website
