North Carolina’s Office of Strategic Partnerships was launched at the end of 2018 under Governor Roy Cooper with a mission to enhance partnerships between state government and North Carolina’s research and philanthropic sectors. As its website notes, “This includes elevating the State’s internal capacity to use and generate evidence in its policy and programmatic functions.” The office is situated within the state’s Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM), within the Governor’s Office. OSBM’s priorities include data-driven and evidence-based decision making.
To learn more, we are joined by the office’s founding director, Jenni Owen (@jenniowen). She was previously the Governor’s Policy Director and, before that, was on the faculty and the director of policy engagement at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University.