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


Editor's Note: The conference “Energizing Rural North Carolina: The Building Blocks of Successful Economic Development,” 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). The conference takes place Thursday and Friday in Pinehurst.

HEALTH AND LEADERSHIP
“These building blocks relate to economic development,” said Mike Hawkins, Transylvania County Commissioner and EDPNC board member. “They will alter the current paradigms.” Consider public health, which is rarely thought of as an economic development issue, said Hawkins. When a county, especially a rural county, can improve public health measures, that translates into more of the workforce participating more actively in the region’s economic growth, said Hawkins.

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