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MDC: Op-Ed Series
Project type
Research, Writing and Press Strategy: Making Policy Personal.
Date
March 2026
g the Student Debt Crisis a Human Face
MDC is a Durham-based research and policy organisation that has spent more than 50 years tracking who gets left behind in the American South. The brief was to translate their research on student debt into a three-part op-ed series, accessible, emotionally resonant, and authored in the distinct voices of three senior MDC staff members.
I carried out the research, conducted interviews, and wrote each piece, with Senior Program Director Jenna Bryant co-writing and editing throughout. The challenge was threefold: staying true to MDC's rigorous research, writing credibly in three different voices, and making policy feel personal without losing its precision.
The three pieces, published under Jenna Bryant, Sabrina McGee, and Phillip Sheldon respectively, cover:
1. The Debt That Started Before You Were Born: the information gap that traps borrowers before they understand what they have signed, the wage and debt mismatch facing social workers and teachers, and the psychological toll of unresolvable debt.
2. The Student Debt Crisis Is Not Just for the Young: Parent PLUS loans, older borrowers whose Social Security is being garnished, and what happens when debt follows families into retirement.
3. Who's Keeping the South Alive: And What It's Costing Them: the racial wealth gap, the absence of a Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights across the Deep South, and why the five states with the highest delinquency rates are also the states where getting out is most expensive.
MDC is a Durham-based research and policy organisation that has spent more than 50 years tracking who gets left behind in the American South. Working through Literal Humans, I researched, wrote, and pitched a three-part op-ed series on how student debt drains families across generations, authored in the distinct voices of three senior MDC staff members. Alongside the series, I supported press and event pitching to amplify MDC's work to a wider audience.
