NORTH CAROLINA’S Economic Imperative Building an Infrastructure of Opportunity A REPORT FOR THE JOHN M. BELK ENDOWMENT Stalled upward economic mobility is persistent across North Carolina, not only in pockets of rural poverty but in the most dynamic urban areas. The imperative is clear: we need to build an infrastructure of opportunity to ensure all our citizens have a clear path to family-supporting work, that employers have the workforce they need to grow and innovate, and that our civic culture is one that supports prosperity for all. ABOUT THE JOHN M. BELK ENDOWMENT The John M. Belk Endowment is a private family foundation committed to creating a stronger North Carolina by improving access to postsecondary education for all students, increasing the number of students who complete postsecondary degrees and credentials, and ensuring that graduates can secure lifelong, family- sustaining employment. Founded in 1995 by John M. John M. Belk Endowment and MDC would like to thank Belk and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the those who served on the Advisory Panel for this report. The Endowment funds and partners with organizations that Your participation in discussing the issues was critical to helping us are leading the way for systemic change to better align understand the challenge of economic mobility in North Carolina education with workforce needs in a global economy and in your communities. Having multiple points of view from through collaboration with educators, policymakers, the public, private, and nonprofit sectors gave us insights into the employers and communities. For more information, complexity of the issues across the state and a better perspective on please visit www.jmbendowment.org. the promising efforts now underway. We also would like to thank the more than 100 community leaders we interviewed across the state to develop the community profiles included in this report (see Appendix B for a full list). Their insight allowed us to build a picture of what’s happening in their diverse regions. Without their help, this report would not be as rich as it is. In the most recent State of the South report, MDC called attention to “the distressing fact that it is harder in the South than anywhere else in the nation for someone born at the bottom of the income ABOUT MDC ladder to make it higher up the ladder as an adult.” This report was MDC, a nonprofit based in Durham, N.C., brings together motivated by a desire to better understand the implications of those foundations, nonprofits, and leaders from government, alarming trends in North Carolina, but throughout this process business and the grassroots to build equity in the we have also been inspired by the state’s incredible resources and South through courageous conversations and systemic people who already are working to improve access to opportunity. community solutions. Its approach—well-honed over We are fortunate in North Carolina to have a remarkable nearly 50 years—uses research, consensus-building, and infrastructure of institutions—from our local school systems and programs that bring together education, employment, workforce development groups, to our 58 community colleges, and economic security. That work helps communities to the 16 campuses of the University of North Carolina system, as create an “Infrastructure of Opportunity”—the aligned well as private colleges and universities—that are all dedicated to systems and supports that can boost everyone, improving the lives of our people and the economies of the state, particularly those who’ve been left behind, to higher its regions, and our communities. It has taken many years to get rungs on the economic ladder and contribute to local to where we are, and in order to prepare for the new economy, we prosperity. For 20 years, MDC has published State of must connect the dots between systems, institutions, and people to the South reports to further its mission of helping build a true infrastructure of opportunity. communities, organizations, and leaders close the gaps We hope this report encourages dialogue and action among that separate people from opportunity. Learn more at leaders across the state, helping them see the challenges and work www.mdcinc.org. together to improve our economy and all of our citizens’ ability to move up the economic ladder. Kristy Teskey David Dodson Executive Director, President, John M. Belk Endowment MDC The Advisory Panel David Belcher Chancellor Western Carolina University Brenda Berg President and CEO BEST NC TABLE OF CONTENTS George S. Dewey, IV Board Member 4 Executive Summary John M. Belk Endowment 6 Introduction: An Economic Imperative 7 Mobility in North Carolina Dan Gerlach 17 Building an Infrastructure of President Opportunity in North Carolina Golden LEAF Foundation 27 Taking Action: Priorities and First Steps Maurice Green COMMUNITY PROFILES Former Superintendent Guilford County Schools 32 Introduction 34 Guilford County Andrea Harris 41 Wilkes County Founder & Senior Fellow 48 Fayetteville The Institute 55 Vance, Granville, Franklin, and Warren counties 63 Monroe Mike Marlowe 69 Wilmington Managing Director and 76 Western North Carolina Director of Government Relations 84 Pitt County Automation Federation APPENDICES Catherine Moga Bryant Director of Governance and Strategic Planning 92 Appendix A: Prosperity Zone Data Division of Workforce Solutions 94 Appendix B: Community Interviewees and Contributors North Carolina Department of Commerce 97 Appendix C: Acknowledgements Steve Partridge Former President/CEO Charlotte Works COPYRIGHT © 2016 MDC Stelfanie Williams This material may be reproduced and distributed in whole or in part, in any President medium physical or electronic, with the following credit: Reprinted from the Vance-Granville Community College MDC report “North Carolina’s Economic Imperative: Building an Infrastructure of Opportunity.” Please indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests MDC or JMBE endorses you or your use. Commercial use of this material is not permitted. For permission requests, email [email protected]. 4 // INTRODUCTION North Carolina’s Economic Imperative: Building an Infrastructure of Opportunity EXECUTIVE SUMMARY along racial and ethnic lines. All of our young people must be seen as assets for the state’s future economic prosperity and are well-trained for work in North Carolina so that work doesn’t move orth Carolina prides itself on being a beacon: from creating outside of the state. the nation’s first public university and one of its earliest community college systems, to pioneering the concept of Building an Infrastructure of Opportunity Nresearch parks that bridge education and industry, to honing a civic The causes of economic immobility do not exist in a vacuum, but are culture that stressed foresight and moderation during flashpoints part of systems that can both ease and impede individuals’ access in Southern history, our state has been, at its best, a place that has to opportunities. Improved access can often give them more control invested for the future to build platforms of opportunity for wide over economic outcomes for their families and, in many cases, break numbers of residents to thrive. Yet, far too many people in our state the cycle of intergenerational poverty. The education-to-career are struggling to make ends meet. Even in our most economically continuum is a linkage of several systems within an infrastructure dynamic places, people who grow up in low-income families are of opportunity like secondary and postsecondary schools, local more likely to stay there as adults than almost anywhere else workforce agencies, and industry. Many communities are already in the nation, and only small numbers make it to the middle- or working toward better alignment. A strong education-to-career upper-income levels despite thriving labor markets that seem full continuum connects more people to the necessary postsecondary of opportunity. These issues should not just be seen as a challenge credentials and family-supporting employment needed for facing those who do not have access to economic opportunity. If individuals, their communities and the state to thrive. North Carolina’s business and industry is to thrive, it is imperative If North Carolina is to strengthen this education-to-career that our citizenry have the skills and training necessary for them to continuum it first needs to identify the barriers that impede thrive, too. progress toward family-supporting work, the structures and In this report, we examined patterns of economic mobility interventions that encourage full participation in the community’s and educational progress in North Carolina by demography and economy, and the environmental forces that contribute to and work geography to determine who is being successfully prepared for against postsecondary and economic success. Since this progress entry and success in the most economically rewarding sectors of the has to happen for individuals where they are—in our rural towns and state’s economy. Our analysis focuses on the education-to-career our metropolitan centers—we profiled eight communities across continuum, a critical piece of an infrastructure of opportunity—the the state, looking for evidence of vision and practices that generate myriad systems that must be improved and aligned to prepare forward motion for individuals and communities. We saw efforts ever larger numbers of North Carolinians for family-supporting that were inspiring