Source: Jason Parker, WRAL TECHWIRE, 7/12/18


Editor’s note: The conference “Energizing Rural North Carolina: The Building Blocks of Successful Economic Development,” opening today in Pinehurst, will explore how infrastructure, workforce, education, health, and leadership—the five building blocks—shape economic outcomes in rural communities, according to the event organizers from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), which is headquartered in Cary.


INFRASTRUCTURE
“New businesses require infrastructure,” says Frank Emory, Jr., chairman of the EDPNC board of directors. “There is currently an imbalance of infrastructure availability, particularly in rural North Carolina.” Yet the term infrastructure can mean so many different things, said Hawkins, so the organizing committee elected to focus on one critical component that impacts the state’s ability to compete globally: broadband access and affordability.

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