OCT. 19, 2011 – Leaders of North Carolina’s community economic development sector reconvened Oct. 17-18 for a second Leadership Institute to share ideas and strategies for retooling and attracting new sources of funds to support their work.
The October gathering followed a May Leadership Institute of the sector’s many players – public, private, academic and nonprofit – to grapple with strategies for responding to unprecedented economic challenges, new public spending priorities and a widening wealth and income gap between the poorest and wealthiest people and communities.
The October workshop sessions examined:
- Organizational Self-Assessment and Asset Mapping Framework – tools to help organizations examine their viability and compile an inventory of industry assets.
- Messaging and Branding – developing unified core messages to communicate the industry’s value, challenges and results.
- Financial and Operational Efficiency Options – maximizing capacity and decreasing organizational costs.
- New Lines of Business – innovations that capitalize on the industry’s flexibility, responsiveness and strategies for catalyzing economic growth.
The leadership institutes are co-hosted by the Initiative, N.C. Association of Community Development Corporations and N.C. Rural Economic Development Center as part of an ongoing effort, dubbed Transform NC, to examine the critical challenges facing the state’s low-income and minority communities and how to catalyze economic growth and prosperity.
For more information or to get involved, visit http://ncinitiative.org/resources/transformnc or contact the Initiative at (919) 828-5655.