Community-Based Organizations Dinner Series and Deep Dive
MELC Dinner Series
Dinner Series – Harris Alumni House – UNC Charlotte – 8688 Johnson Alumni Way, Charlotte, NC 28223
Join us for dinner, conversation, and networking at our MELC Dinner Series for organizations supporting literacy efforts in the community. This series will guide a community-wide discussion on measuring what matters in the nonprofit sector.
Register Here: MELC Dinner Series
Dates:
- Wednesday, September 9, 2026 – CBO Measurement Framework
- Thursday, October 15, 2026 – Define your program
- Thursday, November 19, 2026 – Measures
- Thursday, January 14, 2027 – Bring it all together
All dinner series meetings take place from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Description: A series of 4 two-hour monthly dinners with time for networking, learning, eating, and discussing:
- Welcoming and social time
- Speaker(s)
- Buffet Dinner
- Discussion and reflections on the presentation (15 mins)
Purpose: The purpose of the dinner series is to:
- Promote connections and partnerships between CBOs, district leaders, funders, and MELC
- Introduce core concepts from measurement framework, generate discussion, promote reflection
- Support deeper understanding of how literacy is a multifaceted construct and requires multifaceted support and multifaceted measurement
Outcomes: Attendees will:
- Feel a stronger sense of community membership and belonging across organizations;
- Consider how research-supported concepts might strengthen their organizations’ work.
Audience: Community-based organization (CBO) leaders, district and school leaders, funders, Mebane Early Literacy Center faculty and staff
Hosted by: The dinner series is hosted by the Mebane Early Literacy Center with support from Read Charlotte
Register Here: MELC Dinner Series
Deep Dives – Registration Coming Soon
Deep Dives – Mebane Hall – UNC Charlotte
Join a deep dive session to discover and plan how your organization can measure the impact of its efforts.
Dates:
- Wednesday, September 23, 2026 – 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
- Wednesday, October 28, 2026 – 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
- Wednesday, December 2, 2026 – 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Description: A single 3-hour professional development workshop for CBOs to complete a road map to update or develop their logic model. Session content includes discussions and activities about their mission, vision, goals, program components, and measures of immediate/direct and longer term or generalized impact. Participants will be provided time to work with their team to complete the steps of the logic model throughout the session. This session will be repeated three times over the fall semester and organizations may choose to attend once, multiple times, or not at all.
Purpose: To provide support for CBOs to identify and define the types of programs they provide and determine ways to measure their program’s impact.
Outcomes: Participants will leave with a completed logic model that includes defined program components with aligned measures that directly measure impact.
Who: Community-based organizations interested in refining or creating a logic model that aligns program components with measures of impact. Organizations are encouraged to bring a team of 2-3 people with at least one person who implements their program.