News

Don’t miss the 2008 Entrepreneurship Summit Feb. 26 in Greensboro
North Carolina has sharpened its focus on entrepreneurship and homegrown jobs in recent years, launching new initiatives to stimulate the growth, development and long-term viability of small businesses in communities throughout North Carolina. Find out how North Carolina is progressing on its mission to become “The Entrepreneurial State” at the 2008 Entrepreneurship Summit. This year’s summit, “Doorways to Entrepreneurial Communities,” will be held Feb. 26 at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex. The Rural Center is among a network of partners co-hosting the event. The summit will feature presentations from communities in North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and West Virginia that have been successful in building a business climate supportive of entrepreneurship. Participants also will learn about new entrepreneurship policy directions and get an update on initiatives announced at the 2007 summit. Serial entrepreneur and High Point University President Nido Qubein will present the keynote address. The center is joined in hosting this year’s summit by the N.C. Business Resource Alliance, which includes the N.C. Small Business and Technology Development Center, the Small Business Center Network, the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. REAL and others. The fee to attend is $95. To find out more or to register, visit www.ncentresummit.org, or contact Beth Williams at the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, (336) 387-8323.

Rural Venture Fund to announce first investments
The center’s Rural Venture Fund will announce its first round of investments Feb. 26 during the 2008 Entrepreneurship Summit. The fund, currently capitalized at $6.8 million, is the only rural-focused venture capital fund in the United States today. Announced in late 2007 as part of a broader effort to boost entrepreneurship in North Carolina, the fund is based on the premise that successful rural businesses with the potential to grow, create jobs and strengthen rural economies do not have the same opportunity to secure venture capital as do larger firms in urban areas. Generally, that’s because venture capital firms prefer to make large investments with the expectation of a fast and highly profitable return – five to 10 times the initial investment, or more, within five years. The Rural Venture Fund is designed for companies with more modest capital needs, in the range of $50,000 to $350,000. The fund targets existing rural businesses that have both a history of sound management and the potential to strengthen economically distressed, Tier 1 counties. Investments carry the expectation of a return, but on less demanding terms than required by traditional venture capital. Investment decisions are made by the Rural Center with input from its investment committee, a six-member panel versed in business operations and capital finance issues. After the summit, the Rural Center will hold information sessions on the Rural Venture Fund in the western part of the state. Sessions will be held Feb. 27 at 9 a.m. at Western Piedmont Community College in Morganton and at 3:30 p.m. at the King Public Library in King. The sessions run about two hours and are free. For more information, contact Ashley Crane in the center’s business development office at (919) 250-4314.

N.C. delegation plays key role in debate over dislocated worker program
Sen. Elizabeth Dole is expected to play a leading role in the push for a stronger Trade Adjustment Assistance package for dislocated workers when the U.S. Senate resumes deliberations this spring. As a former U.S. secretary of labor, Dole has special credibility on workforce issues. North Carolina Congressmen Mike McIntyre and Robin Hayes helped secure passage of TAA reform legislation in the U.S. House last fall and are likely to take part in conference negotiations if the final House and Senate versions differ. TAA offers workers who have lost jobs because of foreign trade a host of benefits and services to get them back on their feet, from extended unemployment benefits to long-term job training and help paying health insurance premiums. Nearly 72,000 workers in North Carolina have been certified for TAA services since 2002 – more than in any other state. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is expected to begin debate this spring on a bill that would expand and streamline elements of the program. Under the bill authored by Montana Sen. Max Baucus and co-sponsored by Dole, workers in certain industries, such as textiles and apparel, would automatically be certified for benefits. The bill also would increase the health care tax credit and spend substantially more each year to retrain workers, up from $220 million a year to about $440 million. TAA’s authorization expired in late December 2007. It is being operated under a temporary funding measure through September of this year.

Meetings and Events

North Carolina’s biodiesel industry the focus of March 5 conference in Clayton
The N.C. Community College System’s BioNetwork and its partners announce the third in a series of conferences on the rapidly developing biodiesel industry in North Carolina. Join industry experts, educators, investors, suppliers and others for this event, to be held March 5 at the Johnston Community College Workforce Development Center in Clayton. Presentations will center on biodiesel feedstock issues, new policy directions on renewable fuels, research on emerging crops, and biodiesel additives and blends. The fee to attend is $30. To find out more or to register online, click here.

R.E.A.P. to host annual conference March 10-12 in Chapel Hill
The North Carolina Re-entry Action Project is set to host a two-day conference in Chapel Hill that will focus on strategies for keeping the more than 27,000 people who leave state prisons each year from re-entering the system. According to R.E.A.P.’s website, about half of North Carolina’s incarcerated men and women will return to prison within three years of their release. The Beyond Freedom Conference will give participants practical tools and information on how they and the organizations they represent can help remove barriers to affordable housing, employment and the educational system – barriers that state experts say most often contribute to an ex-offender’s returning to prison. Conference participants also will have an opportunity to become part of a statewide re-entry network whose aim will be to strengthen programs that help ex-offenders adapt to life outside prison and become productive members of their communities. The conference will be held March 10-12 at the Friday Center. The fee to register is $100 before March 3 and $150 after that date. For more information or to register online, visit the website www.ncreap.com.

N.C. Sustainable Energy Conference to be held April 8-9 in Raleigh
The 5th annual North Carolina Sustainable Energy Conference will be held April 8-9 at N.C. State University’s McKimmon Center in Raleigh. The conference will focus on energy efficiency and alternative energy, the role of infrastructure and carbon emissions in the energy debate, and how new technology is making sustainable energy resources available and affordable. Breakout sessions on April 8 will cover public buildings, mass transit and infrastructure, new trends and issues in residential efficiency, and using schools to further energy sustainability. The April 9 agenda features technical sessions for public agencies and industry. To find out more or to register, visit http://www.energync.net/conference.

Southeast ICT Symposium to focus on municipal broadband deployment
The e-NC Authority will host its fifth annual southeastern technology conference April 16-17 at the Hilton RDU in Durham. The 2008 Southeast Information and Communication Technology Symposium will focus on the new and evolving technical, political, legal and financial issues surrounding municipal broadband deployment. Top industry experts and community leaders will share their expertise in using wireless and broadband infrastructure to deliver vital community services. This year’s symposium will feature sessions on new media centers and will include webcasting/podcasting workshops. The fee to register is $125 prior to Feb. 28 and $175 after that date. To find out more, contact Cary Edgar at the e-NC Authority at (919) 250-4314. To register online, click here.

Reports and Research

Tobacco use on the decline in N.C., but obesity on the rise
The nonprofit group NC Prevention Partners has released its 2008 Prevention Report Card, a publication that gauges North Carolina’s progress on some of its biggest health-related challenges, namely – obesity and poor nutrition, tobacco use, and sedentary lifestyles. The organization’s last report card was published in 2005. Since that time, North Carolina has made progress in its efforts to cut tobacco use, both among adults and teens, though NC Prevention Partners estimates there are still 1.5 million adult smokers in the state today. But the report points to obesity as North Carolina’s biggest health challenge in 2008. About two-thirds of adults in the Tar Heel state are overweight or obese, and last year North Carolina’s youth obesity rate was ranked fifth worst in the nation. The report finds that workers who are overweight file twice as many workers’ compensation claims, rack up nearly seven times the medical claims costs as healthy-weight workers and miss 13 times more work days, on average. North Carolina employers spend $18,000 per employee on health-related costs, according to the report. To read the report in its entirety, click here.

U.S. Department of Commerce develops recommendations for measuring innovation
Innovation is vital to the U.S. economic engine – that much has long been acknowledged. But ask an economist or business analyst to define and measure innovation, and you’re likely to come up empty. In September 2006, the U.S. Department of Commerce set out to address the need to measure innovation by convening the Committee on Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economy. After more than a year of work, the committee has released recommendations for government, the business community, and government and private sector researchers. Each of these entities will play an important role in fostering innovation by measuring it appropriately, according to the committee. Among the committee’s recommendations: boost acceptance of qualitative and subjective measurements, tie data collection to the effectiveness of innovative practices at the company level, and increase awareness as to the impact of legislation and regulations on innovation. Read the full report here.

Funding Sources

Worker training grants available for careers in the energy, construction and skilled trades
Regional partnerships looking to boost economic opportunity may be eligible for a new worker training grant program through the Employment and Training Administration. The federal agency recently announced the availability of $10 million in grants to train workers for careers in the energy and construction industries. Grants of up to $1 million will be awarded to regional partnerships that demonstrate an ability to address industry-specific workforce challenges and to prepare workers for good jobs with career pathways in the energy and construction industries. Grant applications are due March 25. To find out more or to download an application, click here.

From the N.C. Press

Asheville Citizen-Times: Western developers, homeowners to meet this spring on voluntary growth guidelines
Western North Carolina developers, government managers and property owners plan to meet this spring to develop voluntary guidelines for development in the state's seven westernmost counties. The effort is a pilot project of The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina's Mountain Landscapes Initiative, a growth management effort organizers hope will spread to all 18 western counties. The initiative marks the first time people in a rural, multicounty area have agreed to take a serious look at growth together, said Bill Gibson, director of the Southwestern Commission, the state's regional planning and economic development council for the westernmost counties. The commission is helping coordinate the project. The foundation is backing the project with a $100,000 grant. Most of the money will be used to hire a team of consultants to lead a multiday meeting aimed at creating a “toolbox” for growth management. The initiative comes as the region grapples with rapid population growth and development.

Winston-Salem Journal: Western portion of Yadkin County receives state designation giving it leeway in development, incentives
An area in western Yadkin County with a poverty rate of more than 20 percent has been chosen by the state to become an “agrarian growth zone,” giving it an edge in attracting new business and industry by offering tax incentives. The zone means that the county can work with the state to offer businesses tax credits to offset up to 50 percent of their state income tax. “It allows the county and the state to go above and beyond any tax breaks or funding it would give for a business to come there,” said Joel Cornelius, the vice chairman of the board of county commissioners. Lexington and Thomasville in Davidson County are pursuing a similar designation for urban areas. The Yadkin County agrarian growth zone is a 10.4-square-mile area west of Yadkinville with a population of 1,057. Officials said that 20.1 percent of the residents within the zone are poor. Part of the criteria is that counties don't have cities or towns with a population of more than 10,000, and the poverty rate in the zone has to be more than 20 percent.

Copyright by N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, Inc. 2008. 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.

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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
Cynthia Spencer, UPDATE production manager
Elaine Matthews, senior vice president
4021 Carya Drive, Raleigh, NC 27610
(919) 250-4314 Fax: (919) 250-4325
www.ncruralcenter.org