N.C. Small Towns Economic Prosperity Program

Background

NC STEP and the Small Towns Initiative grew out of the recognition that North Carolina’s smallest places serve a major role in the economic, social and cultural well being of the state as a whole. Even with the rapid growth of urban centers, North Carolina remains a state of small towns: 476 towns have populations of fewer than 10,000 people. These small towns account for 86 percent of the state's municipalities. It's also noteworthy that 226 towns have populations of fewer than 1,000. The great majority of small towns are located in the state’s 85 rural counties.

Together these small towns contain tremendous assets. Nearly 1 million people have chosen to live, work, raise their families and retire in the state’s small towns, and thousands more live in nearby rural communities. Small towns account for more than 1,300 square miles of land area and have an assessed private property value of more than $83 billion. Many serve as hubs of commerce, springboards of entrepreneurship, distribution centers and seats of government. They provide outlets for recreation and give focus to civic and cultural life. Small towns pull together and help define what it is to be a community.

Yet, North Carolina’s small towns have suffered serious economic blows in recent years. Many lost their economic base as manufacturing plants closed, the number of small farms declined, and locally owned businesses, including main street stores, disappeared. Hurricanes, floods and winter storms destroyed homes and businesses, and state budget shortfalls led to additional loss of revenues. The hardest hit small towns have seen their tax bases erode, making it difficult to provide basic services and nearly impossible to plan for new growth and development.

As a result of these combined pressures, the future of many small towns appears bleak.

Rural Center's earlier work with small towns

For two decades, the Rural Center has worked with North Carolina's small towns to increase their capacity to meet economic challenges through investments in water and sewer infrastructure, business capital, information technology, leadership development, workforce training, strategic planning and community-based organizations.

In recent years, the center also led the Sustainable Communities Initiative, an outgrowth of work by the N.C. Rural Prosperity Task Force. Between 2000 and 2005, Sustainable Communities funneled assistance to distressed rural communities in three ways:

The Leadership Opportunities Fund provided needs-based scholarships for training programs focusing on community collaboration and comprehensive economic development. Rural leaders received scholarships to the Rural Center's Rural Economic Development Institute, mediation training, organic agriculture certification training, community development training, board development training and workshops on grant writing or fund-raising.

The N.C. Community Solutions Network -- developed in partnership with MDC Inc. and other organizations -- helps rural communities undertake collaborative and comprehensive planning to solve problems and to connect to an array of resources and services. The network has worked with communities on educational reform and on economic and community development issues.

The Civic Ventures Fund provided grants to help communities implement projects that addressed multiple, integrated issues and resulted in sustainable enterprises and communities. Funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission and Golden Leaf, the model program focused on western North Carolina, providing grants for 18 small town projects, six county projects and three regional projects.

Development of data on small towns

As a further step, the Rural Center sought to create an accurate and comprehensive picture of the state of Small Town, N.C. Towards that end, the center:

-- created an inventory of incorporated places, Census-designated places and unincorporated communities with a ZIP code designation, to gain a better understanding of the towns and town-like clusters of settlement across the state.

-- compiled and analyzed demographic, social and economic data on incorporated communities, with a special emphasis on the distinguishing characteristics of communities smaller than 10,000.

-- conducted focus groups with local elected officials, town staff, local nonprofit representatives and other civic leaders who live and work in and around small towns, to better understand the unique assets, challenges and needs of small towns.

-- compiled small-town case studies highlighting what towns are doing to restore vitality in their communities.

This research, summarized in the State of Small Towns section of this website and in the Small Towns Fact Book, was the focus of the 2005 Rural Partners Forum. Its findings show the great diversity of North Carolina's small towns. Many towns near urban centers or in retirement or resort areas are prospering. Their greatest challenges lie in trying to manage growth, build capacity ahead of the demand for services and retain community cohesion. Elsewhere, especially in rural communities, the picture is starkly different. There, storefronts sit vacant, and factories lie idle. Nearly a third of small towns lost population between 1970 and 2000.

With its multipronged strategies, the Small Towns Initiative addressed the needs of all types of small towns, with particular emphasis on those with the greatest challenges and fewest resources. NC STEP continues to lend a helping hand to those communities.