How can we build on our existing assets to revitalize our downtown? How can we attract new residents and entrepreneurs into distressed areas? How can we encourage the kind of culture and vitality that keeps young professionals in our downtown? Many North Carolina towns are asking themselves these qu … Read more

I spent part of this past October weekend among a huge crowd of families enjoying a wonderful combination of North Carolina fall weather, fun, food, entertainment, educational activities, and adventure activities.  Must have been the NC State Fair, right? Actually while the description may hold, the … Read more

Vacant buildings, condemned residences, underutilized commercial property – all are familiar characteristics of many downtowns throughout eastern North Carolina’s small towns.  Ironically, these characteristics are becoming all too familiar in towns experiencing tremendous growth. Within one North C … Read more

The work of community development is very much tied to place. Even though today we speak of virtual communities or communities of practice that are disconnected from place, when we speak of community development we are talking about developing the capacity of local communities–neighborhoods, towns, … Read more

Interested in innovation, community development, and education? The US Environmental Protection Agency seems to receive a lot of attention these days for their regulatory role, but they also play an important role in research with numerous programs supporting investigation into new ways of protectin … 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

Jeff Hughes is a Director of the School of Government’s Environmental Finance Center and a School of Government Faculty Member Four dollars happens to be about the price of a gallon of gasoline these days, but it’s also what each student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill pays each semes … Read more

Jonathan Morgan is a School of Government faculty member. This is a continuation of the series of blog posts focused on “What Works” in economic development.  Two previous posts (Part I, Part II)  identified some effective strategies for incubating small start-up businesses. This post highlights a r … Read more

Judith Meece is a School of Education faculty member. National Public Radio recently featured a series of reports on the high cost of high school dropout. Only one of the six reports focused on students in rural communities. The lack of focus on the needs of rural schools and youth is not unexpected … Read more

Norma Houston is a School of Government faculty member. North Carolina is no stranger to disasters.  Natural events such as hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, winter storms, mudslides, and floods have assailed every corner of our state.  Man-made events such as chemical plant explosions, natural gas … Read more