The state recently released a letter notifying NC cities and counties of an opportunity to access a relatively inexpensive source of money: Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds (QECBs).  Through QECBs, the federal government will provide a cash subsidy for 70% of the taxable interest rate. This subsi … Read more

Libby Hodges recently received her Masters in Public Administration from UNC and is currently serving as a CCP intern working with the Town of Yanceyville in Caswell County, NC. This post reports on one of the promising programs funded by the North Carolina Small Town Economic Prosperity (STEP) prog … Read more

Rick Morse is a School of Government faculty member. While cross-sectoral and cross-jurisdictional partnerships are often key to successful community and economic development, the fact remains that there are many real obstacles to collaboration, including time, turf, and trust. People naturally resi … Read more

Jonathan Morgan is a School of Government faculty member. In the face of lean budgets and an uneven economic recovery, public officials are keenly interested in understanding how well their jurisdiction’s economic development programs are performing.  In these tough times, much is riding on the succ … Read more

There are quite a few energy efficiency projects that pay themselves back in energy savings in a matter of years, sometimes months.  According to my freshman college environmental studies professor, these projects are better than a free lunch;  they’re “a lunch that you’re paid to eat.” Yet, if a pr … Read more

Will Lambe is the Director of the Community & Economic Development Program and the Community-Campus Partnership. Triangle North, formerly known as the Kerr-Tar Hub, is an economic development partnership between four counties north of the Research Triangle Park (including Granville, Vance, Frank … Read more

Eileen Youens is a School of Government faculty member. Community and economic development professionals often rely upon Community Development Block Grants or other federal grants to pay for goods and services. Although no two grants seem to have the same requirements, there is a set of regulations … Read more

Emil Malizia is a professor and chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning at UNC-Chapel Hill and CCP small-grant recipient working in Lenoir County. “Fostering Resilient Places: Sources of Economic Strength in Nonmetropolitan North Carolina” is a CCP small-grant funded project that aims … Read more

Jeff Hughes is Director of the UNC Environmental Finance Center and a School of Government faculty member. The corporation that owns the business at the end of Main Street has decided to close the business down rather than reinvest in needed new equipment. The corporation is willing to sell the busi … Read more

Rick Morse is a School of Government faculty member. Economic development is a classic example of a boundary-crossing problem. Local economies are impacted by the actions of multiple jurisdictions (e.g. neighboring municipalities, county government, etc.), as well as the actions of private and nonpr … Read more