News

Rural Center, Department of Commerce announce $600,000 in grants to grow small business, boost entrepreneurship
The Rural Center and the Department of Commerce announced last week 10 community-based grants to boost entrepreneurship, create jobs and initiate a new era of small business growth and development in North Carolina. The projects – ranging from $100,000 to $29,500 – will benefit 23 communities throughout the state with a range of services for local entrepreneurs, including business incubators, mentoring, marketing assistance, and access to business loans. The Department of Commerce provided $500,000 in federal Community Development Block Grants and the Rural Center provided the remaining $100,000 for the project. To find out more about the 10 community projects awarded funding, click here.

Small businesses get boost with funding for technology centers, creation of small business ombudsman office
As many as four new business and technology centers will be created in North Carolina in an effort by lawmakers to step up job growth in the state’s rural and low-wealth counties. The N.C. General Assembly set aside $2 million in funding to create the 'telecenters’ before adjourning last month. The state’s existing telecenters, located in Alleghany, Cherokee, Duplin, and Martin counties, have been successful in bringing advanced technology to rural areas stymied by a lack of technology infrastructure. In addition to serving as business incubators, telecenters provide public high-speed Internet access, leased office space for area entrepreneurs, and community-based job training and educational programs. The e-NC Authority invested $3.8 million to get the four original telecenters up and running, and considers expanding the facilities among its highest priorities for the next year. The authority is housed within the Rural Center. The Legislature also created a new office within the state Department of Commerce to deal directly with small business owners in an effort to speed up delivery of information and services to the state’s vital small business sector. The office of Small Business Ombudsman will work with small businesses to ensure they receive timely answers to questions and a quick resolution of issues involving state government.

Easley sets aside nearly $12 million to ease funding disparities in poor schools
One week after Gov. Mike Easley vowed to comply with a judge’s ruling on funding disparities in poor, mostly rural school districts, the governor set aside up to $12 million to boost education spending in the state’s poorest counties. The move stems from a two-year-old court ruling that found the state must step in with additional education dollars for students when poor school districts are unable to provide an adequate education for them. Judge Howard Manning ordered the state to address the problem after the Legislature adjourned last month without setting aside the $22 million state education leaders said was needed to comply with the judge’s ruling. Easley’s executive order establishes the Disadvantaged Students Supplemental Fund, aimed at raising student performance and improving teacher retention in districts with higher-than-average rates of poverty, low test scores and high teacher turnover. The Department of Public Instruction and state Board of Education will administer the fund. The funding will come from money left over in the state’s General Fund when the fiscal year ended June 30.

Congressional committee begins work on tobacco buyout compromise, Senate and House-backed plans differ
The U.S. Senate passed its version of a tobacco buyout July 16, approving a ten-year, $12 billion spending package that puts more regulatory control over tobacco in the government’s hands and passes the cost of the buyout along to cigarette manufacturers. Now it is up to a conference committee to begin working out the differences between the Senate plan and a $9 billion House-backed plan that would be paid out over five years and be funded by taxpayers. Another striking difference between the two is that the Senate plan would maintain limits on how much tobacco a grower could harvest, while the House version would do away with those limits altogether. Whether or not a compromise bill has time to become law is in doubt, since Congress is currently wrapping up its major business for the year.

Reports and Research

New report measures economic impact of child care industry in North Carolina
The child care industry in North Carolina generates $1.5 billion annually and provides more than 46,000 jobs in the state, according to a new report series by the National Economic Development and Law Center (NEDLC). The series is aimed at shoring up support for the child care industry both nationally and on the state level, as well as support for early childhood education programs such as Smart Start. The NEDLC is working with states across the nation to produce reports and recommendations on the economic impact of the child care industry. The report series is funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. To read the full report on North Carolina, click here.

USDA releases annual Rural Poverty at a Glance report
The Economic Research Service (ERS) division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released its annual report, Rural Poverty at a Glance, offering the latest information on poverty trends and demographic characteristics of the rural poor. The rate of poverty is not only an important social indicator of the well-being of the least well off, but it is also widely used as an input in shaping federal policies and targeting program benefits, according to ERS researchers. While metro and non-metro areas have shared similar patterns of reductions and increases in poverty rates over time, an ever-present gap between non-metro and metro poverty rates remains, according to the data. The report also documents large metro and non-metro gaps when comparing poverty by race, ethnicity, age, and family structure. To read the full report click here.

New report on keeping North Carolina’s economy strong in an ever-changing global marketplace
The North Carolina Institute for Emerging Issues has announced the release of its report, "Answering Global Challenges: Ideas for Action in North Carolina." The report draws on the Emerging Issues Forum held at N.C. State University in February, and contains key recommendations for future action, including building a base of information for state government that will allow leaders to respond to economic challenges with greater efficiency, and encouraging businesses to seek out and understand specialized markets in order to better adapt to a globally competitive marketplace. To read the report online, click here. To receive a printed copy click here .

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Meetings and Events

Center to hold meetings Aug. 20 and Aug. 23 on grant programs to improve water-sewer facilities and reuse vacant buildings
The Rural Center is set to hold meetings Aug. 20 and 23 on two grant programs that together will pump $17 million into the rural economy. The grants are part of a $20 million North Carolina Infrastructure Program approved by lawmakers in June, which includes $14 million in water and sewer investments, $3 million to restore and reuse abandoned buildings and manufacturing plants in small towns in, $1 million to expand the number of business and technology centers in rural and low-wealth areas, and $2 million for research and demonstration grants. To inform local leaders about the grant guidelines for the water and sewer grants program, the center will hold two informational meetings on Aug. 20 from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The center will also hold informational meetings on Aug. 23 for small towns interested in the building reuse and restoration grants, from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Preference for those grants will be given to small towns with fewer than 5,000 residents. To find out more about the water and sewer grants program, contact Julie Haigler at the Rural Center, (919) 250-4314. To find out more about the building reuse and restoration grants fund, contact Nam Douglass at the center, (919) 250-4314.

Center to hold annual Rural Partners Forum Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2004 in Raleigh
The Rural Center will hold its annual Rural Partners Forum Sept. 30 through Oct. 1 at the North Raleigh Hilton. The theme for this year’s forum will be "A New Day Dawning for North Carolina's Rural Workers, Communities and Small Businesses." Participants will hear from top state and national speakers, who will share their ideas for creating home grown jobs in the changing rural economy, and will participate in workshops focusing on promising community solutions. The center will also be releasing new reports and reference guides on small business. Plenary discussions include: creating home-grown jobs in the global marketplace; and embracing entrepreneurship as a rural economic strategy. The cost for the two-day event is $125, which includes meals. To register online, click here .

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Funding Sources

Community environmental grants up to $10,000 available in North Carolina, deadline to apply Sept. 10
The Environmental Support Center’s Leadership and Enhanced Assistance Program awards grants of up to $10,000 for capacity building to grassroots environmental and community groups in 24 states, including North Carolina. The deadline for the next round of grant funding is September 10. To find out more, visit the website at www.envsc.org for general information. Click here to read the grant program guidelines, or call (202) 331-9700.

From the N.C. Press

Asheboro Courier-Tribune: Asheboro city officials, county approve incentives for plastics manufacturer
County commissioners authorized $315,000 in economic incentives to keep Technimark in Randolph County Monday. The deal was part of a package worked out with the city of Asheboro, which will also pay $315,000 to the plastics manufacturer. The decision came in a special hearing just prior to the regular monthly meeting in which commissioners dodged a heated discussion over a proposed rezoning request in Seagrove. In the request, developers proposed to build a recreational facility that might also serve alcohol. Developers pulled the request in the face of overwhelming community opposition. The $630,000 deal to keep Technimark was accepted without opposition. According to Bonnie Renfro, executive president of the Randolph County Economic Development Corp. (EDC), the money will be used to help create 79 new jobs and construct a new 31,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. "This was one of those times when it was an 'either/or' situation," said Asheboro Councilman Keith Crisco. "Either we were going to approve the better economic package or the expansion was going to go to Cumberland County where Technimark also has a facility."

Kinston Free Press: Greene County signs 40-year water deal with city of Greenville
It's official: Greene County will buy water from Greenville for the next 40 years. The Greene County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Monday night to approve a contract drawn up between the county and the Greenville Utilities Commission that will take effect in 2008. The plan is to use Greenville's excess water to help the county meet strict new groundwater rules passed by the state that also take effect in 2008. The rules could force the county to cut its dependence on well water by 75 percent by the end of the next decade to save the region's shrinking underground water supplies. The county will use water it can produce itself to meet state guidelines and buy the rest. Van Lewis, an engineer who worked closely with the county in formulating the agreement, projected that Greene County may depend on Greenville for 80 percent of its water supply by 2048. The county will be allowed to purchase water from Greenville 90 percent of the time. It can buy water at increased rates the other 10 percent of the time if local wells are, for whatever reason, incapable of meeting daily demand.

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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.

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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
Kelly Tucker Griffin, 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