Our Membership 2

OUR MEMBERSHIP 2

Simon Green Atkins CDC, Inc, Belhaven Chamber of Commerce, Winston‐Salem Belhaven Haliwa‐Saponi Tribe, Inc, Hollister Community Developers of Beaufort‐ The Youth Empowerment Rescue Hyde, Belhaven Center, Scotland Neck MARTHAS, Belhaven Blue Springs/Hoke County CDC, Totsland Preschool, Belhaven Raeford The Ware Creek Community Dev. Brick Capital CDC, Sanford Program, Blounts Creek Lakewood CDC, Charlotte Boys & Girls Club of Beaufort The Center for Applied Leadership, County, Washington Charlotte Cornerstone FUN Program, Choanoke Area Development Washington Association, Rich Square Eagle's Wings: Christian Love in Uhuru CDC, Rich Square Neuse River CDC , New Bern Action, Washington EmPOWERment, Inc, Chapel Hill Cumberland Regional Improvement Higher Heights Human Services, Inc, River City CDC, Elizabeth City Olive Hill CDC, Morganton Corp, Fayetteville Washington Lumbee Revitalization & Prosperity Unlimited, Inc, Kannapolis Kingdom CDC, Fayetteville Community Development, Love Inc of Down East, Washington Northeastern CDC, Camden Outer Banks CDC, Kill Devil Hills New Focus Human Service, Pembroke East Carolina Community Developers, Inner Banks Hotline‐Hyde, Manteo Washington Robeson County CDC, Rowland Beaufort Inner Banks Hotline‐Tyrrell, Manteo Tyrrell Action Group Inc, Columbia Brunswick Housing Opportunity, Clinton’s Corner of Catawba, Inc, Durham Regional CDC, Durham Bolivia Hickory Land Loss Prevention Project, Durham Tyrrell County CDC, Columbia Eagle Market CDC, Asheville Cleveland County CDC, Shelby NC Institute of Minority Economic Monroe Union County CDC, Monroe Mountain Housing Opportunities, Columbus County DREAM Center, Inc, Development, Durham Operation Spring Plant, Henderson Asheville Whiteville NC Minority Support Center, Durham DHIC, Inc, Raleigh Blue Ridge Community Action, Inc, Neuse River CDC , New Bern UDI CDC, Durham NC Community Development Morganton Cumberland Regional Improvement Opportunities Industrialization Center, Initiative, Raleigh Corp, Fayetteville Inc, Rocky Mount Passage Home CDC, Raleigh Columbus County DREAM Center, Inc, Rocky Mount/Edgecombe CDC, Rocky Restoration CDC, Inc, Rolesville Mount Whiteville Warren Family Institute, Warrenton Goler CDC, Winston‐Salem

“Strengthening Communities, Increasing Opportunities” A MEMBER AT WORK 3 Rocky Mount/Edgecombe CDC, Rocky Mount, NC: $29M in leveraged investment; Paid $442K in city & county taxes Jobs Community & Economic Investment Created Impacts 24 units of elderly housing and 12K sq‐ft of Mixed‐Use Development $2.5M 59 office space Tenant outcomes $317M –NC Revenue ‐ Taxes collected Business/Industrial Incubator $2.7M 233 $14M – Employee wages $190M –Connectinc‐ Customer wages Mixed‐Use Development $1.2M 60 Up zoning of greenfield site; $246K of Crossing at 64 (under construction) (to date) (to date) additional leveraged investment

Revitalization of historic downtown Neighborhood Redevelopment $7.8M 152 business district; $500K of additional Douglas Block (under construction) leveraged investment

Housing Development $13.7M 7,040 199 affordable housing units developed

“Strengthening Communities, Increasing Opportunities”

OUR PROGRAMS 4

“Strengthening Communities, Increasing Opportunities” IMPACT MEASURES 2009-10 5

“Strengthening Communities, Increasing Opportunities”

FORECLOSURE & MEASUREMENT STRATEGY 6

“Strengthening Communities, Increasing Opportunities” BENEFITS TO THE STATE 7

Forecasting economic threats and/or opportunities to develop innovative responses

Leadership, preparation, and coordination of effective statewide delivery network

Development and implementation of local/regional/state economic recovery models

Protecting public and private investment in NC communities

“Strengthening Communities, Increasing Opportunities” The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill WGED MEETING SUMMARY Working Group September 23, 2010 on Economic Development

The UNC-Chapel Hill Working Group Workforce housing impacts in on Economic Development is a network of Carolina faculty, the asheville metropolitan region administrators, and staff pursuing engaged scholarship and public service on Dr. William M. Rohe economic development issues with Center for Urban and Regional Studies relevance to North Carolina. UNC-Chapel Hill [email protected] The goals of the working group are threefold: • To explore and highlight Carolina’s community economic development At its first meeting of the 2010 academic year, the resources, activities, and interests Working Group on Economic Development (WGED) • To create and maintain dialogue among looked at the issue of workforce housing in Asheville and business, community, government, and higher education partners Buncombe County, North Carolina. Susan Perry Cole, • To strengthen Carolina’s core mission of President and CEO of the North Carolina Association education, research, and service of Community Development Corporations (NCACDC),

The Working Group on Economic gave an overview of community development efforts in Development is co-sponsored by the North Carolina and the challenges facing public offi- Dr. William M. Rohe UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Economic cials, policymakers, and communities across the state. Dr. and Business Development, the Carolina Center for Public Service, the Center for William Rohe, Director of the Center for Urban and Global Initiatives, and the H.W. Odum Regional Studies (CURS) at UNC-Chapel Hill, pre- Institute for Research in Social Science. sented findings from the Center’s most recent report on

For more information, please contact the workforce housing in Buncombe County, A Long Way Office of Economic and Business from Home (May 2010). Scott Dedman, Executive Di- Development at (919) 843-5453 or rector of Mountain Housing Opportunities, a nonprofit [email protected]. community development corporation based in Asheville, recounted his group’s efforts to sustain and build communities in Buncombe County over the last two decades.

Susan Perry Cole’s introductory comments looked

Office of Economic and Business Development back on the NCACDC’s thirty years of work to create 1700 MLK Jr. Blvd, RM 150 CB 7409 prosperous and vibrant communities across the state. Chapel Hill, NC 27517 While in the past community development advocates Jesse L. White, Jr, Ph.D, Director tended to see housing as a separate issue, Mrs. Cole WGED Meeting Summary page 2

Workforce Map 1: Regional Housing Impacts Commuting Patterns continued

Madison noted that today CDCs take a more Approximately 50,000 1,623 holistic approach, seeing housing needs individuals work within as just one in a series of interconnected seven miles of downtown problems to be addressed. In addition, Asheville and earn $48,000 Cole noted the importance today of a year or less. Among partnering with the academy to develop these workers, forty-seven 2,321 26,796 16,002 data-driven policies and solutions in percent live outside the Haywood Buncombe order to build sustainable communities. seven mile ring and must make daily commutes from Dr. Rohe gave a summary of his work outer Buncombe County and those of his colleagues at UNC’s or Haywood, Madison, or 3,830 Center for Urban and Regional Stud- Henderson County. Henderson ies on the Center’s most recent report,

A Long Way From Home: The Im- pacts of a Limited Supply of Workfroce NC Boundary Housing in the Asheville Metropolitan Asheville MSA Area. Currently there exists a substantial County Boundary 7 Mile Ring mismatch between the location of jobs Commuting Pattern and the location of housing units in the Asheville metropolitan area. CURS $4,600 in transportation costs; (3) reduce In response to a question about the ef- researchers developed an innovative CO2 emissions by 350 tons; and (4) gain fect of centralized workforce housing on methodology for assessing how well- approximately 200 hours of personal surrounding rural counties, both Scott located workforce housing can decrease time formerly spent on commuting. Dedman and Susan Perry Cole remarked pollution, improve the local economy, that in their experience these counties and enhance the quality of life in the Mountain Housing Opportunities had little interest in creating more com- Asheville area. (MHO) Executive Director Scott Ded- muters, and instead were more focused man explained the work that his non- on bringing new employers into their The CURS study found that high land profit CDC has done to provide afford- own communities. Another participant values, neighborhood and environmen- able housing solutions to low-income wondered if it would be more realistic tal group opposition, city and county families and individuals in the greater to focus on attracting young adults to development review processes, and Asheville area. Dedman also noted that new workforce housing developments in insufficient public subsidies have been the CURS study helped to demonstrate “gentrifying” areas of the city. Dr. Rohe the main obstacles to developing addi- that increased access to affordable hous- allowed that the CURS study did show tional workforce housing in the area. Yet ing can have environmental as well as some greater willingness among younger the CURS researchers also found that economic benefits. He explained that people to relocate for workforce hous- sixty-two percent of a sample of lower- proper zoning regulations have played ing, but perhaps not as much as one income employees in the Asheville area a key role in developing multi-family might think. Scott Dedman commented who commute more than fifteen miles housing developments over the last de- that he has seen very little evidence of to work each way are willing to consider cade, and said that public officials in the racial fears among the “new urbanites” moving closer to work. Furthermore, region are beginning to view workforce in Asheville. Nevertheless, he said that the study found that if each employee housing as a key component in creating it was important to build vibrant and in the study was willing to move to jobs. Dedman also spoke to the im- attractive new communities, and that well-located workforce housing, he or portance of partnering with university “synergies” were needed between these she would, on average: (1) reduce yearly faculty to bring the best of current aca- new residence areas and nearby com- miles driven by 8,770 miles; (2) save demic research to the development of mercial districts. housing policies and regulations.

Twin Counties Competitive Assessment

James H. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D.

Allan Parnell, Ph.D.

Terry L. Johnson, M.A.

Pamela Santos, MBA

Catherine McClain, IMBA

Urban Investment Strategies Center

Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

December 2010

TWIN COUNTIES COMPETITIVENESS REPORT

Executive Summary

Using a conceptual model anchored in recent research on community competitiveness and information culled from a twenty year survey of several electronic databases, the Twin Counties Region’s ability to compete in the new economy is evaluated by assessing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats inherent in its existing stock of polity, financial, physical, human, cultural, and social capital.

The findings suggest strongly that, given its locational advantages and natural attributes as well local officials’ deep commitment to regional collaboration, the Twin Counties Region has the opportunity to become a highly attractive place to live and do business. There are, however, major challenges which must be overcome if the region is to become highly competitive in the 21st century knowledge-based economy.

Leveraging an array of state and local financial incentives as well as investments in the region’s education, training, and transportation infrastructure, local officials have experienced moderate success in recruiting new industry and retaining some of the long-standing major employers in the Twin Counties Region. But this conventional approach to economic development has done little to eliminate geographical disparities that exist between Edgecombe and Nash counties, racial disparities that exist between the region’s whites and non-whites, and region-wide disparities in health and social-well being.

To address these issues and improve the attractiveness of the region as a place to live and do business, we offer the following six recommendations:

Recommendation #1: Develop strategies to rebrand the Twin Counties Region as a sustainable community.

Local officials must move beyond the conventional approach to economic development, which focuses largely on industrial recruitment, and embrace strategies that fall under the broader rubric of sustainable community economic development. Communities that embrace this broader approach take seriously not only the profit motive (i.e., recruiting companies that are capable of thriving and prospering locally) and environmental considerations (i.e., recruiting companies and supporting homegrown entrepreneurial ventures that create high tech and green jobs that do not adversely impact the natural environment), but also issues of social justice and

equity (i.e., striving to build individual and community assets especially for the region’s most disenfranchised elements). Few communities do sustainable community economic development well. But, if the political will exists ample tools and resources are available to pursue community economic development through a triple bottom line sustainability lens.

Recommendation #2: Make talent recruitment a core element of the sustainable community economic development rebranding effort.

Augment efforts to recruit plants with strategies to recruit people who can help propel the region forward. Homegrown talent that moved away and have done well should be the initial targets of this people-based recruitment strategy. For those who have aging parents and grandparents in the region, now may be an opportune time to consider returning home given that they will likely have elder care responsibilities. Some “home place” migration as it is called is already taking place. As with industrial recruitment, local officials should devise incentive packages for home grown talent to return and use their creative talents and entrepreneurial acumen to develop viable businesses and sustainable jobs in the Twin Counties Region.

Recommendation #3: Re-engineer K-20 education so that the system better equips the current and future workforce with the skills they will need to thrive and prosper in the highly volatile global economy of the 21st century.

Workers, including those who have either experienced or are at substantial risks of economic dislocation, will have to demonstrate greater entrepreneurial acumen in responding to unanticipated economic crises and opportunities in the years ahead. K-20 education leaders in the Twin Counties Region must therefore develop an appreciation of and demonstrate a major commitment to “intellectual entrepreneurship” and develop strategies, initiatives, and multiple delivery channels to address the entrepreneurial education needs of the local population. Creating an entrepreneurial class and culture will reduce the region’s reliance on industrial recruitment as the primary economic development and job creation strategy.

Recommendation # 4: Nurture and grow the local elder care economy.

As the Twin Counties Regions’ population continues to age, a diverse array of age- appropriate products and services will be needed to serve the pre-boomers (born before 1945) and boomers (born between 1945 and 1964). Unlimited opportunities

7 exist for entrepreneurs who might be interested in figuring out how to design, build, and/or renovate commercial and residential properties as well as package and label goods and services that cater to the needs, cultural preferences, and consumer purchasing behaviors of the Twin Counties Region’s “greying” population. Local official will have to create and/or recruit angel and venture capital networks whose investments can jumpstart, nurture, and grow commercially viable businesses in the elder care marketplace.

Recommendation #5: Reform Utilities Rate Structures.

Utility costs in the Twin Counties Region, especially in the city of Rocky Mount, are too high and the policies and procedures undergirding utilities rate settings are gravely in need of reform. Local officials must move quickly and aggressively to address this issue if the Twin Counties Region is going to successfully compete for business and talent in the years ahead. Failure to address this issue head on is a sure prescription for continued capital flight and loss of critical talent needed to propel the Twin Counties Region forward in the foreseeable future.

Recommendation #6: Leverage the power, influence, and global reach of the World Wide Web to promote the new Twin Counties Region’s brand in the economic development marketplace.

An effective web-based marketing strategy will require all of the region’s websites to be better coordinated and linked with timely, consistent, and up to date information. Government, business, city, tourist, and economic development organizations--all need to come together to create a unified vision of and marketing strategy for the Twin Counties Region that is consistent with the triple bottom line principles of sustainability.