Vaughn Mamlin Upshaw is a Lecturer in Public Administration and Governance at the UNC School of Government. In a previous post, I offered seven strategies for creating a successful economic development advisory board. This post continues that discussion by expanding on the importance of clarifying e … Read more

Vaughn Mamlin Upshaw is a Lecturer in Public Administration and Governance at the UNC School of Government. Almost monthly there’s a news report about an elected board being out of step with one of its appointed boards. Most recently the complaint was that a county board of commissioners had little … Read more

Kelley O’Brien is the Director of the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium, a program of the School of Government and one of the five North Carolina Civic Health Index partner organizations. This is a third in a series of blog posts about the 2010 North Carolina Civic Health Index, a study that … Read more

Kelley O’Brien is the Director of the North Carolina Civic Education Consortium, a program of the School of Government and one of the five North Carolina Civic Health Index partner organizations. This is a second in a series of blog posts (click here for first post) about the 2010 North Carolina Civ … Read more

Notes from the fourth conversation – – There are not really any community wealth building or individual asset building strategies that are not anti-poverty strategies – Stay in regular contact with the Rural Center – UNC-TV produced a documentary called “NC Rising” and they are doing town hall meeti … Read more

Here are notes from the third conversation – – Something to think about is poverty, its causes, and how much is related to land – Land ownership is power – political, economic, social – Issues around policies in relation to institutionalized racism and depressing property values – i.e. home appraisa … Read more

Here are notes from the second conversation – – Worry that waiting to decide criteria after looking at strategies will lead in the wrong direction – Question the ability of strategies to create living wage incomes – it all comes down to living wages/incomes, or at least the possibility for living wa … Read more

Over the next few months I will be posting notes from conversations with advisory board members for the Rural Center project.  The notes will not name names, but will, we hope, give everyone an idea of what others are saying, keep you informed, and spark other thoughts and discussions.  Here are the … Read more