First Stop for Regional Sessions: Kannapolis

Regional Sessions Begin to Inform the North Carolina Strategic Economic Development Plan

On September 19, 2019, the ncIMPACT Initiative hosted the first of eight Regional Sessions to Inform the North Carolina Strategic Economic Development Plan on behalf of the North Carolina Department of Commerce. A session is available in each of the state’s prosperity zones. Please click here to see a complete list of regional sessions and register for the one you choose to attend.

For more information about this project and what you can expect at the regional sessions, please watch this brief video.

The regional sessions will be critical to creating the state’s new strategic economic development plan, which will guide policymakers and practitioners in their work to generate more economic prosperity to the state. We want to hear from you about what works in your region and what additional supports from the state could maximize opportunities. We expect rich discussions with a gathering of diverse stakeholders.

We started our first session in the beautiful Laureate Center with an inspiring message from Mayor Darrell Hinnant of Kannapolis.
We described the process and proposed themes for the plan, then provided a regional data profile for the Southwest Region and received very helpful feedback. One interesting data piece that elicited a lot of conversation was the rate of eligible children not being served with childcare assistance.

These numbers by county can be found here: https://www.ncearlyeducationcoalition.org/issues/child-care-availability/

We are grateful to local leaders in the Southwest Region who participated. To register for one of the remaining regional sessions, please follow this link: go.unc.edu/Hy43R