Over the last 6 months, I’ve attempted to track a protest group named Aim Higher NC. Little public information is available, as the NC Secretary of State only has a name reservation on file for them. Aim Higher has refused to name who funds and runs them. I inquired with NCAE and Organize2020, both said they were not behind the group, which may be technically true, but they are indeed supplying help and resources to Aim Higher. So is Progress NC – in fact, after looking at a recent email from Aim Higher, Progress NC appears to be very involved. Related Read:@AimHigherNC Still A Mystery
An email went out from a woman at Aim Higher named Kate Fellman. The email says she is the field director for Aim Higher. She’s also been involved with Durham People’s Alliance (DPA). DPA is a participant of Moral Monday and essentially is Left leaning outfit concerned with social justice. Fellman even wrote about DPA’s Moral Monday involvement, although the title wasn’t spell checked: “Stories from Moral Monday: Durahm PA Bus”
Fellman is a self-proclaimed “Progressive Community Activist and Organizer“. Fellman also worked for the Paul Wellstone campaign where she professed “I’m working as an organizer for a progressive community based organization that fights for social and economic justice.”.
A copy of the email from Fellman and Aim Higher is down below, pay attention to the hyperlinks in it.
When you hover your mouse over the links, the address that pops up is: “http://act.progressnc.org/go/153?t=1&akid=312.172295.Ec7xw6”.
When you click it, it redirects here:
http://aimhighernownc.com/take-action/week-of-action?akid=312.172295.Ec7xw6&rd=1&t=1#skip
From these links, it appears Progress NC is driving Aim Higher to some degree.
By the way, when you hit the events page link, addresses for event locations are listed and I’ve compiled them.
- North Wake Office – 3900 Merton Drive, Suite 100, Raleigh (more)
- Morrisville Office – 112 B Pheasant Wood Ct, Morrisville
- Buncombe County Office – 141 Asheland Ave. Asheville, 28801
Two of the listings are nondescript buildings in an office park or industrial area. The first one, however is the NCAE’s Wake Branch Office.
Here’s the email — Back To School Week Of Action! Scroll down below the Aim Higher Email, Progress Action needs help funding something…
Kate Fellman
Field Director, Aim Higher Now NC
Progress NC wants money for the 
Friend,
One thing is clear from the headlines in recent days – teachers aren’t buying the bogus claims and political spin coming from politicians in Raleigh. Lawmakers claimed their teacher raise was the “biggest in NC history” and that no teacher assistant positions would be cut.
Turns out, neither one of those is true. For many of our most experienced teachers, raises this year will be less than 2% and local school districts are already reporting funding shortfalls for teacher assistants, as well as other critical areas, because of the budget.
The politicians tried to mislead the public and now teachers are speaking out about what’s really going on in North Carolina classrooms.
We’re helping host a series of events across North Carolina that we’re calling the Teacher Truth Tour. This week we’ll be making four stops in three days; Asheville on Wednesday, Raleigh and Sanford on Thursday, and Greensboro on Friday.
Click here to chip in $5, $10 or $25 to help support the Teacher Truth Tour!
At each stop we’ll hear first hand from teachers and parents about what’s really happening with teacher raises, teacher assistant cuts, and funding for vital classroom resources such as textbooks, which has been slashed 78% since Republicans took over the legislature.
We want to make sure the politicians who voted for this budget can’t rewrite history. The bottom line is that this budget does almost nothing to improve ourabysmal ranking of 46th in the country in per pupil spending and only encourages veteran teachers to leave the state. This budget isn’t about investing in public education; it’s about getting through the next election. We can’t let them get away with it.
I’ll be on the road this week for our tour, but I’ll try to send updates from our events. Thanks again for helping us host the Teacher Truth Tour and cut through the spin from politicians in Raleigh.
Thank you,
Gerrick Brenner
Executive Director, Progress NC Action
LL1885 
“Lawmakers claimed their teacher raise was the “biggest in NC history” and that no teacher assistant positions would be cut.
Turns out, neither one of those is true.”
Have you done any research to confirm whether the two claims are true or false? BTW, I cannot imagine some TA positions not being cut somewhere for reasons in no way associated with budgets, but by changes in student population. Wasn’t the state education budget increased?
LikeLike
It appears to be the biggest raise – by republicans perhaps. Not overall.
No TA positions were cut — that are already filled. Where I believe that “cutting TA” claim comes from is that if a position was vacant it was cut. I am still verifying that.
I will likely have to do a write up on this over the weekend to counter the spin out there right now that is only telling half the story.
LikeLike
This is a good place to start
http://lockerroom.johnlocke.org/2014/08/13/why-are-some-teachers-griping-about-their-hefty-pay-raise/
LikeLike