News

Center hosts state’s first Entrepreneurship Policy Summit
North Carolina’s leading business service providers and public policy experts came together this week for the state’s first policy summit on entrepreneurship. The April 19th event drew more than 200 participants to the Friday Center in Chapel Hill, where they heard from speakers that included Thomas Sullivan, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s chief counsel for advocacy, North Carolina Public Schools Superintendent June Atkinson, N.C. Community College System President Martin Lancaster, N.C. Secretary of Commerce Jim Fain, and several entrepreneurs. Participants examined the critical role of entrepreneurship in state and local economies, discussed how the state can more fully invest in entrepreneurship as a viable economic development strategy, and set a course to strengthen the foundational system that underpins entrepreneurship on the state and local level. At day’s end, participants formed work groups that will meet over the next year to develop strategies and recommendations for boosting entrepreneurship in North Carolina – an effort that will culminate in an Entrepreneurial Policy Agenda that the center and its partners will present to lawmakers and business leaders in 2007. The summit was hosted by the Rural Entrepreneurship Development System Project – a Rural Center-led team working to create a comprehensive entrepreneurship development system to serve rural and minority entrepreneurs in low-wealth areas of the state – as well as the N.C. Business Resource Alliance and the N.C. Entrepreneurial Association. Funding for the event was provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and North Carolina’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. For more information, contact Leslie Scott or Michelle Hall at the Rural Center at (919) 250-4314.

With short session in sight, lawmakers ready bills to put clean water bond referendum on November ballot
The Rural Center released findings from its Water 2030 Initiative at a February 23 conference attended by state leaders and water resource professionals. Conference participants learned of North Carolina’s $16.6 billion in capital needs for water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure, as well as a proposed $1 billion bond issue sought by the Rural Center to help communities pay for clean water projects. Wayne County Sen. John Kerr III and Pasquotank Rep. Bill Owens said they would introduce bills in the upcoming short session to put a $1 billion bond referendum before state voters this fall. Both lawmakers, who co-authored the 1998 Clean Water Bond Act, say they’ve written similar pieces of legislation and are ready to introduce the bills when lawmakers return to Raleigh on May 9. Kerr and Owens say that the bonds would not raise taxes or endanger the state’s Triple A bond rating. Rural Center President Billy Ray Hall is currently traveling throughout the state holding public outreach meetings to share regional water resource information with local leaders and residents. The dates for the remaining meetings are April 26 in Asheville and May 4 in Goldsboro. For more information on the meetings, including times and locations, visit the center’s website at www.ncruralcenter.org.

Rep. Bob Etheridge, Rural Center launch second phase of Project New Start in Harnett and Johnston counties
North Carolina Congressman Bob Etheridge joined Rural Center president Billy Ray Hall in launching the second phase of the center’s jobs assistance program for dislocated workers, Project New Start, in Lillington on Monday. Etheridge called the federal funds he helped secure from the U.S. Department of Labor ‘money well spent.’ Etheridge spoke to employment and human service officials from Harnett and Johnston counties who are ready to begin helping dislocated workers in the two-county region map out an employment transition plan, search for a new job, receive basic education and job training skills and obtain the emergency and support services they need to achieve their goals. Randolph County is also launching its Project New Start program in April, and Wilson County has been working on its local effort since January. During Phase I, the program served more than 600 dislocated workers in Vance, Wilson, Transylvania and Buncombe counties, helping secure new jobs for more than 240 workers. Funding for the program’s second phase is being provided by the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, the U.S. Department of Labor and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina. Congressman Howard Coble helped secure federal funds along with Rep. Etheridge. To find out more about Project New Start, contact project director Anne Scharff Bacon at (919) 250-4314.

House panel approves health care recommendations aimed at making health care more affordable, accessible
Earlier this month a state House committee approved a set of recommendations aimed at making health insurance more affordable in North Carolina, where 1.2 million people are currently uninsured. The panel’s 12-point plan, which includes a recommendation for incentives to help small businesses provide coverage for their employees, will go before lawmakers when they convene for the short session on May 9. The plan also includes provisions to cap county expenses for Medicaid and to improve the state employee health insurance plan. The Rural Center has long been active in health coverage issues as they affect rural workers and families. In 2004, the center published a findings report that examined the rising cost of health insurance and its effect on some 92,000 rural small businesses in the state. Among the report’s findings: less than half of the state’s small businesses provide coverage, and nearly all of them cite spiraling health care costs as one of – if not the – biggest problem facing them today. The implications of those findings are far-reaching in rural North Carolina, where some 95 percent of the working population is employed by a small business.

Reports and Research

MDC, Inc. releases new report on the pathways into and out of rural poverty
In its latest study, Chapel Hill-based MDC, Inc. examines the factors that pull families into poverty and those that help them find a way out. For the study – completed last summer in Gates, Beaufort, Burke and Vance counties – researchers held a series of community forums to identify community definitions of poverty and then interviewed 312 disadvantaged families. The families told the research teams details of their experiences over the past 10 years, including the factors responsible for their descent into poverty or escape from it. Among the study’s findings: though North Carolina’s poverty rates have remained fairly consistent in the last decade, poverty itself is not static. More than one-third of the families polled either fell into poverty or improved their economic well-being over the last decade. Further, the study finds that no one factor is responsible for the path to or from poverty, but rather four main factors: job status, health related issues, family factors and budgeting. To read the full study, along with a brief summary of its findings, click here.

Report finds global competition put 1.5 million rural American out of work in last six years
A report just released from the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute finds global competition has changed the nature of work in many rural areas of the country. For its study, researchers analyzed job displacement figures from around the country from 1997 through 2003. That research revealed 1.5 million rural Americans lost their jobs due to increasing global competition during those years, with the rural South suffering the most in terms of job losses. Not surprisingly, the manufacturing sector experienced the heaviest job losses of any industry sector. About 42 percent of the rural workers who lost jobs due to global competition between 2001 and 2003 lived in the South, and 47 percent of the jobs lost during the period came from the manufacturing sector. The report concludes with a list of policy recommendations to help prevent widespread economic losses in rural communities in the future, including innovative, community-based economic development approaches. To read the study in its entirety, click here.

Publication chronicles rural communities response to natural disasters, large-scale layoffs and economic instability
In its newest edition of Rural Voices, the Housing Assistance Council includes several articles documenting rural communities response to a sampling of natural and economic disasters that have threatened rural communities across the nation in the last few years. Rural Voices, which features articles on communities in Alaska, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Mississippi and Texas, is free and can be accessed here.

top of page

Meetings and Events

Small Business Expo to be held April 28 at Isothermal Community College in Rutherfordton
Foothills Connect and Isothermal Community College are teaming up to host a Small Business Expo at the college on April 28. The all-day event, which is free to small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, will feature panel discussions and workshops with experts and service providers. Workshop sessions will include information on sales and marketing, financing, tax laws, web design and entrepreneurship training opportunities. The event will be held at the college’s Foundation Center, located just off Highway 74 Bypass. To find out more, visit the website at www.rsbexpo.com, or call Isothermal Community College at (828) 288-1650.

National Small Business Innovation Research conference to be held May 17-19 in Louisville
Kentucky will host the 2006 Spring National SBIR Conference on May 15-18, 2006, in Louisville. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) are federal grant programs designed to stimulate technological innovation and provide opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The programs provide over $2 billion to small businesses through federal programs to help entrepreneurs take their ideas from conception to reality. The event, which will take place at the Louisville Marriott Downtown, will give participants multiple opportunities to meet and network with federal SBIR and STTR program managers, fellow attendees including SBIR/STTR award winners, and successful entrepreneurs from around the country. This year’s conference will attract some of the nation’s brightest innovators and researchers, cutting edge entrepreneurs and the federal government’s small business grant makers. For further details on the conference, or to register, contact Mahendra Jain (mjain@kstc.com) at (859) 255-3613 x 230.

2nd annual American Indian Business Development Summit & Expo to be held in Raleigh April 27-29
The N.C. Indian Economic Development Initiative, Inc. will sponsor the 2nd annual American Indian Business Development Summit and Expo April 27-29 in Raleigh at the Crabtree Marriott hotel. The event will feature a business resource and arts and crafts expo as well as business development workshops on starting a business, securing financing, conducting marketing, and how to successfully do business with the government and corporate America. For more information or to register, call (910) 486-6555.

Global economic challenges the focus of annual economic developers association meeting to be held June 5-9 in Charlotte
ACCRA, a national association of economic developers, will hold its annual conference in Charlotte June 5-9. Participants will learn strategies for competing in the global economy. Specifically, participants will learn about three key economic drivers – financial services, tourism, and motor sports – that are well entrenched in the Charlotte region. Participants will also learn how to think regionally, that is, about the importance of regional collaborations that cross state boundaries and appeal to fast-growing entrepreneurial companies. Workshops will include creative new analytic techniques for economic developers, along with the latest data sources and research tools. For more information on registration fees, accommodations, directions and to download a registration application, click here.

Southern Innovation Summit to be held June 4-6 in New Orleans
This year, the Southern Growth Policies Board will host its Southern Innovation Summit June 4-6 in New Orleans. The conference will focus on the creation, accumulation and application of knowledge for the South's businesses, universities, citizens and governments, and develop strategies for increasing innovation as part of the South's economic growth policies. In addition, the conference will feature the release of the 2006 Report on the Future of the South, with keynotes and panel discussions featuring Southern Growth Chairman Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Southern Technology Chairman Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, among other notable figures. Register by May 8th and save up to $40 on conference registration fees. To register online, or to download registration forms, visit click here.

Rural Center to hold second E² Energizing Entrepreneurship workshop June 27-29 in Ridgecrest
The Rural Center’s Institute for Rural Entrepreneurship will lead a team of business service providers in adapting a national curriculum on stimulating rural entrepreneurship for rural North Carolina communities during a three-day conference at the Lifeway Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ridgecrest. “Energizing Entrepreneurship in Rural North Carolina,” which will be held June 27-29, is part of a two-year initiative by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to build an effective entrepreneurship development system in the state. The center held the first E² workshop in eastern North Carolina last fall, where participants found the training highly valuable for their communities. Communities will recruit a diverse team of four-to-eight people who will work together to learn about comprehensive entrepreneurship development strategies and then take that knowledge home and help put it into action. The fee to register is $400 and includes meals, housing and course materials. To find out more or to register for the training, contact Michelle Hall at the Rural Center, (919) 250-4314.

Funding Sources

Entrepreneurial incubator grant applications due to the Rural Center by May 19
A grant program that offers ‘bricks and mortar’ funding to help get entrepreneurial incubators up and running in small cities and towns will accept grant applications through May 19. Offered through the N.C. Department of Commerce’s Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Program, the grants will give local governments and their partners an opportunity to secure up to $350,000 in funds for the construction or expansion of entrepreneurial incubator facilities. Such facilities help entrepreneurial start-ups survive in the business’s early days and improve its chances of long-term success. Grant awards will be announced in August. For questions concerning applicant eligibility, rules and other matters, contact George Sherrill at (919) 715-6559, or by e-mail, gsherrill@nccommerce.com. To submit an application, contact Leslie Scott at the center at (919) 250-4314.

From the N.C. Press

Fayetteville Observer: Early lottery demographics show ticket sales highest in poor counties
North Carolina's poorest counties have had a disproportionately high number of ticket sales in the new lottery, according to an analysis by the Fayetteville Observer. Among the top 25 counties with highest per capita sales in the first week, twelve were among the poorest in the state, the newspaper reported Tuesday. The Observer compared lottery sales and the population of adults – those 18 and older are eligible to play the lottery – in each county to calculate per-capita spending. Wilson County ranked highest with $12.09 spent per adult. The analysis then compared the 25 top-spending counties with poverty statistics from the 2000 census. The three poorest counties were among the top 25. In Halifax County, where nearly a quarter of residents live in poverty, residents spent an average of $7.16 on tickets. Bertie County residents spent $6.84 per person, and Tyrrell County residents spent $6.47 per capita. Poor counties, which generally are rural with fewer residents and stores, took in far less money overall from the lottery than more wealthy, populous counties. Total sales among the 25 poorest counties were about $5.5 million, compared to $14 million spent by players in the 25 richest. Lottery spokeswoman Pam Walker noted the difference in sales totals in the counties, and also pointed out that any county's sales could include buyers from elsewhere. "Just because somebody purchases tickets in one county doesn't mean they live there," she said.

Daily Advance: Blackwater USA to move division to Camden County
Blackwater USA has confirmed that it plans to move its aviation division from Florida to Camden County – a move that involves adding two new runways, nearly two dozen more aircraft and 20 additional employees at the security firm's local facilities. Chris Taylor, Blackwater's vice president for strategic initiatives, said the Moyock-based company was consolidating its aviation services at one site for business reasons. The decision, he said, is further proof of the company's commitment to helping the local economy. The Camden Planning Board plans to consider Blackwater's request to build a 2,150 foot-long runway and hangar at its meeting on April 19. If the company is successful gaining approval for that runway, it plans to follow it up with a request to build a second runway of about 6,000 feet.

North Carolina Associated Press: Myrick says N.C. need immigration court now
North Carolina has more illegal immigrants than 42 other states in the union. Yet it has no courtroom from which to deport them. U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick and four of her Republican colleagues from the state held a news conference last week to renew calls for an immigration court to be put in North Carolina. Currently, both illegal immigrant suspects and legal immigrants with related court matters must drive to Atlanta for their cases. Myrick has twice written the U.S. Department of Justice asking for a court in Charlotte, her home district. Twice, she has been rejected. The agency first wrote that cities with higher caseloads must come first. Then, officials thanked Myrick for her interest but committed to nothing. "I'm tired of getting a standard form letter," Myrick said at the news conference. She was joined by U.S. Reps. Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, Walter Jones and Charles Taylor. A Pew Research Center study released last summer found that North Carolina has an estimated 395,000 illegal immigrants. It has the fastest-growing foreign-born population in the country. Of the 10 states with the largest estimated populations of illegal immigrants, North Carolina is the only one without an immigration court, Myrick said.

Virginian-Pilot: County’s tab nearing $100,000 in Currituck Lighthouse dispute
The dispute over the Currituck Beach Lighthouse with Outer Bank Conservationists has cost Currituck County almost $100,000 in legal fees and drawn criticism for being too expensive and too lengthy. Last year, Currituck sued the nonprofit and the state in an effort to require the nonprofit to provide adequate parking and restrooms and obtain the necessary permit to run a gift shop at the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. According to Currituck County Commissioner Paul Martin, if the nonprofit wins, the case could set a precedent for new owners of former federal property to ignore local ordinances. Outer Banks Conservationists won a bitter competition over the county in 2003 when the federal government offered the lighthouse as part of a program to turn over ownership of about 300 lighthouses nationwide. Recently the case went to the federal court system, and the county included the federal government in the lawsuit. From county records, County Attorney Katherine Mckenzie calculated the legal fees for the lighthouse case at $97,422.25, from Nov. 2001 through Feb. 2006.

top of page

Copyright by N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, Inc. 2002. We encourage you to share this UPDATE with interested individuals, organizations, or agencies. Material may be reproduced in electronic or print form. We ask that you please cite the Rural Center as the source.

Your subscription to this electronic newsletter is for Rural Center use only. We will not distribute or share your email identification with others. To be removed from this mailing list, please send an email to ruralpartners@ncruralcenter.org with unsubscribe in the subject line.

The mission of the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center is to develop, promote, and implement sound economic strategies that improve the quality of life of rural North Carolinians, with a special focus on individuals with low to moderate incomes and communities with limited resources.

N.C. Rural Economic Development Center
Michelle Taylor, UPDATE editor
Courtney Kilpatrick, UPDATE production manager
Elaine Matthews, vice president for communications and development
4021 Carya Drive, Raleigh, NC 27610
(919) 250-4314 Fax: (919) 250-4325
www.ncruralcenter.org