“One-Stoplight Town Seeks Just One Mayor” is the title of an article published last month in the New York Times. The quote that would send chills down the spine of anyone who cares for their small rural community is, “Nobody wants to be the mayor.” Identifying future leaders in rural areas is a very … Read more

When baby boomers delay retirement, do younger workers suffer? — This is the key question (and title) of the September issue brief put forth by the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project. The brief explores whether the “lump-of-labor theory” — the notion that younger workers are engaged … Read more

What are the characteristics of high performance economic development organizations? What do the top performers actually do to promote economic development? What types of activities do they emphasize?  What outcomes do they measure?  The topic of economic development performance measures is discusse … Read more

An earlier post of mine discussed citizens academies as an investment by local governments in various forms of community capital. In a conversation with a coordinator of one of these programs the question of background checks came up. Should applicants to citizens academies be subjected to some kind … Read more

In recent decades, levels of civic and political participation have declined dramatically. In order to supplement traditional public engagement techniques, some planners and public officials are turning to the internet. Whether it is advertising the planning process through social media or engaging … Read more

There is much being discussed about the impact of the “silver tsunami.”  Baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) now make up 45 percent of the workforce, and “matures” (people born before 1946), 10 percent. The proportion of older workers (defined as those fifty-five years old and up) is pr … Read more

When we speak of community development, we often gloss over the conceptual fuzziness of the term “community” (let alone “community development”). At a very simple level, when we speak of community development we are speaking descriptively of communities of place, whether they be neighborhoods, villa … Read more

In a recent blog posting, Jonathan Morgan highlighted an article that discussed job creation strategies in several communities and regions across the US. Such examples are welcomed success stories given the precarious nature of today’s economy. The Center for Economic and Policy Research published a … Read more

Despite the tepid economic recovery, many communities and regions in the U.S. are having some degree of success with their job creation efforts.  Inquiring minds probably would like to know what magic formula these places are using.  What exactly are they doing and how?  What factors account for the … Read more

Counties in North Carolina carry out economic development activities through a variety of different organizational structures. Some counties create a department within the unit of local government to implement economic development activities.  On the other hand, some counties delegate completely the … Read more