Students turned out with signs during the CMS board's 2016 student assignment review. A new national coalition that includes some of North Carolina’s largest school districts says integrating public schools offers a divided nation hope for racial equity and equal opportunity. For Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, a 2022 student assignment review will provide a chance to try new diversity strategies. The October debut of the Bridges Collaborative was mostly overshadowed by the pandemic. The group was convened by The Century Foundation, a self-described progressive think tank headquartered in New York and Washington, D.C. "We were hearing calls from folks around the country who were saying, ‘Look, we see segregation as a big issue. We see it as part of this broader conversation our country is having right now around systemic racial injustice. But we don’t see a lot of folks doing anything about it and we want to be part of broader systemic change efforts,' " said Stefan Lallinger, director of the Bridges Collaborative.