Friends: It was great to be with so many of you (and virtually with you, for those of you who were watching via our livestream or the broadcast on Public Media NC’s North Carolina Channel) at our Emerging Issues Forum, ReCONNECT to Economic Opportunity, in Charlotte earlier this month. Thanks to the great work of forum manager Alicia James and our operations and communications teams, it was a day to listen to and learn from smart people doing great thinking and doing with a group that I called “the invisible generation” – our 25-54 year-old population. 

Over the next month, we’ll be putting together some of the key recommendations lifted up during the Forum in an “impact report,” but while we’re doing that, I’ll just share three quick observations about some of what we learned.  

IEI Director Leslie Boney and IEI staff take a humorous approach to recapping the ReCONNECT to Economic Opportunity Forum that was held on October 15 in Charlotte.

Click here or the video image below.

You can also visit our economic opportunity forum recap page to see UNC-TV video highlights, photos and presenter slides from the forum.

See more »

On the heels of the Institute for Emerging Issues Forum on economic opportunity, Service Year NC convened a group of representatives of non-profits and government agencies for a conversation about scaling service years in North Carolina and how service years impact communities. Individuals left the conversation with a better understanding of what a service year is and the multiple ways they are adding value to NC communities.

The Institute for Emerging Issues welcomed over 50 rural faith leaders to our ReCONNECT to Economic Opportunity Forum on October 15. From shout-outs on stage to our faith leader dinner where we asked each other “what’s the American Dream?”, faith leaders considered the big questions and challenges of rural economic opportunities.

Over the past 18 months, the Catawba Partnership for Children, Chowan CARES, Inspired Randolph Collaborative, and the Rockingham Partnership for Children have participated in our KidsReadyNC initiative. This is an initiative designed to help these selected Tier 1 or Tier 2 communities strengthen leadership capacity within their local early childhood development systems.

Help us spread the word! The Institute for Emerging Issues is seeking applications from NC “communities” that are actively working to best leverage high speed broadband for economic growth and community improvement. Selected communities will join IEI’s ReCONNECT to Technological Opportunity community cohort. Application deadline is November 12!

ReCONNECT to Technological Opportunity
Monday, February 10, 2020
McKimmon Conference and Training Center, Raleigh

Registration Opens November 6!
Click here to learn more

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Rural Works! Program
NC State's Rural Works! summer internship program connects employers in rural communities with talented NC State students. Rural Works! welcomes private, public, government, and non-profit organizations in rural communities to host an intern for summer 2020.
Click here to learn more

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