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What’s Going On with ARP Infrastructure Investment in North Carolina?

April 18, 2023

A significant benefit of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) for North Carolina CED professionals is the availability of funding for investment in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure though the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRS). Where and how is that local govern … Continued

CED through Local and Regional Food Systems: The Latest Resources

January 17, 2023

In the past year, activity around local food systems increased dramatically. Government has been involved in supporting food systems for decades, but primarily through programs adopted at the federal level to both promote food production and protect the health of consumers. But having government wor … Continued

CED and Affordable Housing: How Does Manufactured Housing Fit In?

October 18, 2022

This headline from last week would naturally grab the attention of any CED professional: “Affordable mobile homes are disappearing in Asheville; code change could bring some back.” Housing is a basic issue for anyone interested in CED. Behind the headline are a host of issues that both foster hope i … Continued

How the Census Undercounts Will Impact CED Work

April 19, 2022

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released its coverage estimates for the 2020 Census. While the Census was seen as a success – at least in terms of not over- or undercounting the national population, when researchers examined census results for specific groups, the results were different. For the nex … Continued

Customer Service in CED – The New Push to Improve What We Do

January 18, 2022

CED officials prioritize good service. But are they undercutting their own efforts, increasing service availability on one hand but making it difficult to actively use the services on the other? A number of recent national reports, commentaries and even teaching case studies have raised the issue of … Continued

Evidence to Support CED programs: The Growing Talk About RCTs

October 19, 2021

Whether you work in community or economic development, there has always been pressure to measure your success. CED professionals are very familiar with having to explain what type of impact they hope to have with their initiatives.  It is even harder to document success. Evidence-based decision-maki … Continued

Practical Tools for CED: What Social Network Maps Can Offer

January 19, 2021

Last May, the following message went out over the Food Policy Network’s (FPN) listserv. “We are working to put together a process for network mapping one of our local food policy councils’ COVID response efforts. (The) purposes are to document the networks that were developed and the associated outc … Continued

What @sog_ced is reading online: July 2020

July 31, 2020

The following are articles and reports on the web that the Community and Economic Development Program at the UNC School of Government shared through social media over the past month. Follow us on twitter or facebook to receive regular updates. Items of interest related to CED in North Carolina: US D … Continued

A Lesson for CED Professionals on The Tipping Point: When Local Partners Pull Out of Fed and State Programs

October 15, 2019

Why would you, as a local CED professional, hesitate to bring in a federal or state program to your community? Why do some federal and state programs struggle to recruit and maintain local partnerships? Many federal and state programs rely on community-based partners to implement and/or deliver serv … Continued

CED and Planning vs Income Inequality Part 1: When Communities Pay the Price

April 16, 2019

Income inequality is not a new issue for CED professionals. In November 2011, the Federal Reserve Board of San Francisco devoted an issue of its publication, Community Investments,to how income inequality was impacting community development. A Federal Reserve Board governor is quoted in the report, … Continued