NC Rural Center President & CEO Patrick Woodie has spent more than 30 years engaged with the organization he now leads. Patrick was introduced to the Rural Center through some of its founding board members and graduated from its Rural Economic Development Institute in the 1990s. He later served as a board member and was then hired as vice president of programs before rising to the president’s office in 2013.
Patrick’s commitment to rural North Carolina extends beyond the Rural Center. A Piney Creek native, Patrick values his rural roots and acknowledges the benefits of growing up in a tight-knit community. He also served as executive director of the Alleghany County Chamber of Commerce and was elected to the County Board of Commissioners in 2000.
As the Rural Center approaches its 40th anniversary in January, Kensi Laube has joined us as an archivist to document the organization’s history. To construct this special narrative, she sat down with Patrick to discuss his personal relationship with the Rural Center and the communities it serves. Along the way, she’s found several photos of Patrick’s long career at the Center that accompany this post.
Karla Gomez, the Rural Center’s communications associate, provided the accompanying video.
“As I think back on it, everything that I needed for a really good life for myself was present in Piney Creek. I think that’s true of most rural places.”
NC Rural Center President & CEO Patrick Woodie
Kensi: I’m interested about your rural background and how that influences you as a leader of the Rural Center. What is your personal connection to rural communities?
Patrick: I grew up in a very rural community, Piney Creek in Alleghany County. I have nothing but fond memories of growing up and knowing all the neighbors. When I graduated from Alleghany High School, I ended up going to Wake Forest. I picked Wake Forest because it was a small school.
It was my third year of law school when I realized I had to get serious about what I was going to do with my life. I came to a realization that I had a desire to go home and to make a difference that would be meaningful in the place I had good memories of, a place that invested in me as I was growing up.
I was not interested in doing a traditional small town law practice. I was very fortunate that I had known the Fifth District congressman, his name was Steve Neal, for many years. … And during that time, he arranged for me to meet Tom Lambeth, Valeria Lee, and Joe Kilpatrick [former Rural Center board members] at Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. This is where serendipity really finds its way into your life if you’re open to it.
Just in talking with them, they got me thinking about nonprofits. They got me thinking about rural economic community development. They told me about this nonprofit that had been established called the North Carolina Rural Center.
Kensi: What was the meaning of rural to you as you were living in those communities? Has it changed since you’ve been part of this leadership?
Patrick: It was a really high quality of life. It was that feeling of knowing everybody and everybody knew you. That feeling of feeling nurtured and supported by the community. As I think back on it, everything that I needed for a really good life for myself was present in Piney Creek. I think that’s true of most rural places. …
When traveling for the Rural Center, I really started noticing when you talk to rural people in their communities, they will kind of make apologies for the place that they’re from. Like, “Oh, you wouldn’t know, you’ve never heard of it.” I probably did the same thing about Piney Creek.
Kensi: I really resonate with that.
Karla: When you started traveling to rural communities throughout your journey here in rural North Carolina. What did you start noticing about others in the way they express themselves about where they’re from?
Patrick: Very common things started happening as I interacted with rural people all over this state. I always generally, in any conversation, if I’m meeting somebody new, I want to know where they’re from and where they grew up. And I noticed that a lot of people would say, oh, you wouldn’t know the community I grew up in, and it’s in the middle of nowhere. And that just, over time, kind of stuck with me and struck me. And I started responding to everybody with, no, it is not the middle of nowhere. It is the center of the universe for the people that live there. It is the most important place in the universe for the people that call it home. And I think, you know, we think of these little places, and we think we know there’s not a lot of people there. We know they’re sparsely populated, and we tend to think they’re off the beaten path.
But the thing that strikes me is, it really is the center of the universe for the people that call it home. And they love it like no other place on the planet. And so, that’s what I started telling them.
“We have a real responsibility to be out and about in the state and to be present in rural communities as much as we can. As we look to the future, we’ll do more of that, and we’ll be doing it in ways we haven’t done before.”
Patrick Woodie
Kensi: The Rural Center is in Raleigh, but are there any ways you try to keep it connected and grounded in rural?
Patrick: Absolutely.
We have a real responsibility to be out and about in the state and to be present in rural communities as much as we can. As we look to the future, we’ll do more of that, and we’ll be doing it in ways we haven’t done before.
People are really glad to see you if you show up in town and you’re from the Rural Center. We have deep relationships. People come and go, and they don’t stay in the same roles forever. However, our network overall is a network that we’ve been pretty deeply connected to over long periods of time. And it’s because of the way this organization has gone about doing our work.
It’s a long way to Andrews, but if you’re in Andrews, it’s a long way to Raleigh. It’s no longer for me to go to them as it is for them to come here. We have a responsibility to meet people in the community where they are. We get a lot of credit for that. I think people look at us as we understand. We know what it’s like to live in a small place. We help them think about life in a small place and how to make it better. The goodwill this organization has built over 40 years is just our greatest asset, without question.
“The greatest satisfaction for me is being able to chart that course and find our way to a future where we’re a sustainable organization and have the potential to do more than perhaps we’ve ever done.”
Patrick Woodie
Kensi: Looking ahead with the 40th anniversary, what are you most proud of since you’ve been at the Rural Center?
Patrick: I think what I’m most proud of is that we’ve been able to build a new business model that is not relying upon state funding. That allows us to build stronger, bipartisan relationships with all leadership in this state. It allows us to represent, speak on behalf of, and work for the things that will benefit rural North Carolina in a very transparent way.
It’s not connected to our ability to survive. It’s connected to what truly do rural communities need in order to make life better. It’s been incredibly hard work. It’s taken time to really have that new business model come together. …
The greatest satisfaction for me is being able to chart that course and find our way to a future where we’re a sustainable organization and have the potential to do more than perhaps we’ve ever done. I feel really good about that. I feel like I’ve done justice to all those great people that I admire so much that established this place.