Rural Planning
Part of the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center, the Rural Planning program works with local governments and other organizations in rural areas to provide strategic economic development planning and implementation services, technical support, and training. Such services help communities prepare for and respond to economic growth opportunities in ways that improve quality of life and prosperity, build community capacity, and maintain rural character.
Services
Rural Planning program staff located in North Carolina’s eight Prosperity Zones facilitate economic development planning for communities and have developed relationships with local leaders in all 100 counties.
Prosperity Zone planners work in all state regions:
- Western (Waynesville)
- Northwest (West Jefferson)
- Piedmont-Triad (Mount Airy)
- North Central (Clayton)
- Northeast (Washington)
- Southeast (Leland)
- Sandhills/South Central (Fayetteville)
- Southwest (Lincolnton)
The map below shows contact information for Prosperity Zone planners. Other Rural Planning program staff are based in Asheville.
Liz Parham
Director, NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center
Raleigh, NC
Email: lparham@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (919) 805-2067
Karen Smith, AICP
Program Manager, Rural Planning Program
Asheville, NC
Email: ksmith@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (828) 747-1585
Glen Locascio
GIS Analyst
Asheville, NC
Email: glocascio@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (828) 962-2841
Ann Bass
Western Prosperity Zone
ARC Community Economic Development Planner
Waynesville, NC
Email: ann.bass@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (828) 508-0107
Phil Boggan
Northwest Prosperity Zone
ARC Community Economic Development Planner
West Jefferson, NC
Email: phil.boggan@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (828) 962-2805
Lizzie Morrison
Piedmont-Triad Prosperity Zone
Community Economic Development Planner
Mount Airy, NC
Email: lizzie.morrison@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (919) 971-5744
Bruce Naegelen
North Central Prosperity Zone
Community Economic Development Planner
Clayton, NC
Email: bruce.naegelen@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (984) 365-0279
Sharon Smith
Northeast Prosperity Zone
Community Economic Development Planner
Washington, NC
Email: sharon.smith@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (919) 923-3212
Samantha Darlington
Southeast Prosperity Zone
Community Economic Development Planner
Leland, NC
Email: samantha.darlington@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (984) 365-5868
Grace Lawrence
Sandhills (South Central) Prosperity Zone
Community Economic Development Planner
Fayetteville, NC
Email: grace.lawrence@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (910) 391-1298
Jeff Emory
Southwest Prosperity Zone
Community Economic Development Planner
Lincolnton, NC
Email: jeff.emory@commerce.nc.gov
Cell: (704) 984-3666
Strategic Economic Development Planning & Implementation Services
- Creating Outdoor Recreation Economies (CORE)
- Community Economic Development Assessments
- Five-Year Economic Development Strategic Plans and Program Development
- One-Day Action Planning Workshops
- Community Economic Recovery and Resiliency Initiative (CERRI)
- Plan Implementation Assistance
Creating Outdoor Recreation Economies (CORE)
Click on link in bulleted list, above, to go to CORE tab for more information.
Community Economic Development Assessment Program (CEDAP)
Purpose: The CEDAP is a short-term, efficient assessment to "jump-start" communities' economic development efforts by providing action items. These action items help communities achieve tangible outputs and outcomes in a short period of time, at minimal cost.
Process: A CEDAP is developed based on needs identified from meetings, visits, and telephone calls with the town, city, or county unit of government (local government). Staff from the Rural Planning Program (RPP) of the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center will conduct the assessment. Typically, three community visits will be needed, with participation by the local government staff and an established local work group. All meetings, including a community tour, can be held remotely (via teleconference). The RPP is available for technical assistance, facilitation, and other services the community may need as it implements CEDAP action items.
Deliverables: The local government will receive a final report containing data and information, such as a community economic snapshot, considered during the assessment. The report will summarize results of activities conducted during the assessment including community asset mapping, identification of economic drivers, SWOT analysis, stakeholder interviews, business questionnaires, and local work group discussions. The report will also provide action items the community can achieve within a one- to two-year timeframe. The community can build upon the CEDAP to formulate and achieve additional goals in future years.
Outcomes and Impacts: The CEDAP adds value to a community’s economic development efforts by developing consensus around the most important issues to be addressed and by creating specific actions on how they will be addressed and by whom. Examples of measurable impacts of such actions may include economic investment (public/private), jobs created/retained, new businesses recruited/started, and/or new (or expansion of existing) economic development programs or initiatives started.
For more information about the Rural Planning program's services or to discuss your community's specific needs, please contact Karen Smith, Rural Planning Program Manager, at ksmith@commerce.nc.gov, or the Prosperity Zone planner assigned to your region.
Five-Year Economic Development Strategic Plans (EDSP) and Program Development
Purpose: The Five-Year EDSP is a longer-term guide that reflects a community’s goals for building and growing its economy and establishes a path for doing so. The EDSP timeframe is five years, and the plan should include a visioning (economic positioning) statement, strategies with goals, objectives, and actions, an implementation plan, and a monitoring and evaluation process.
Process: Staff of the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center’s Rural Planning Program (RPP) will facilitate the EDSP development process with participation by the town, city, or county unit of government (local government) and an established local work group. The planning process will include presentations of economic and other data as well as activities such as asset mapping, identification of economic drivers, SWOT analysis, stakeholder interviews, business questionnaires, and local work group discussions. Typically, the process takes three to five meetings, and works best if the local work group meets regularly to maintain the interest and focus of its members. All meetings, including a community tour, can be held remotely (via teleconference). The RPP is available for technical assistance, facilitation, and other services the community may need as it develops and implements its plan.
Deliverables: The local government will receive a Five-Year EDSP, with a community vision (economic positioning statement), strategies, goals, and objectives, plus a One-Year Implementation Plan with actions the community intends to take over a 12-month period to ensure the goals and objectives are reached. The RPP recommends the community establish a monitoring and evaluation process to track plan implementation progress.
Outcomes and Impacts: The EDSP adds value to a community’s economic development efforts by developing consensus around the most important issues to be addressed and by creating specific actions on how they will be addressed and by whom. Measurable outcomes from a successfully implemented EDSP may include economic investment (public/private), jobs created/retained, new businesses recruited/started, and/or new (or expansion of existing) economic development programs or initiatives started.
For more information about the Rural Planning program's services or to discuss your community's specific needs, please contact Karen Smith, Rural Planning Program Manager, at ksmith@commerce.nc.gov, or the Prosperity Zone planner assigned to your region.
One-Day Action Planning Workshops
Purpose: A One-Day Action Planning Workshop facilitates a conversation between local economic development leaders to identify and prioritize areas of focus, develop consensus around goals, and create implementation actions. It works best in communities that have an established economic development program with identified leaders interested in developing consensus on goals and actions for a specified period. It is not intended to be comprehensive or long-range, or to address community services beyond economic development.
Process: Staff of the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center’s Rural Planning Program (RPP) will facilitate a one day (four to six-hour) strategic action planning session with local economic development leaders and stakeholders. The Action Planning Workshop can be held remotely (via teleconference). The RPP is available for technical assistance and other services the community may need as it develops and implements its Action Plan.
Deliverables: The community will receive a report summarizing the Action Planning Workshop and an Economic Development Action Plan outlining short-term focus areas, goals, and implementation actions. The RPP recommends the community monitor and evaluate its Action Plan implementation progress.
Outcomes and Impacts: The One-Day Action Planning Workshop adds value to a community’s economic development program by helping it develop consensus around short-term actions to maintain a strong, diverse local economy which provides job opportunities, enhances the local tax base, and improves quality of life. Measurable outcomes from a One-Day Action Planning Workshop and implementation of the resulting Action Plan include economic investment (public/private), jobs created/retained, new businesses recruited/started, and/or new (or expansion of existing) economic development programs or initiatives started.
For more information about the Rural Planning program's services or to discuss your community's specific needs, please contact Karen Smith, Rural Planning Program Manager, at ksmith@commerce.nc.gov, or the Prosperity Zone planner assigned to your region.
Community Economic Recovery and Resiliency Initiative (CERRI)
Click on link in bulleted list, above, to go to CERRI tab for more information.
Technical Assistance
The Rural Planning program provides technical assistance to local governments and their partners, including local, regional, state, federal, public-private and non-profit agencies, organizations, and institutions, to support community economic development planning and decision-making.
- Community Economic Opportunities Mapping and Analysis
- Local Policy and Ordinance Review Related to Economic Opportunities
- Planning Assistance Related to Economic Development
- GIS Mapping and Analysis
Training & Education
- Community-Specific Training for Project Development and Implementation
- Rural Solutions Workshop Series (Regional Training)
- NC Main Street Conference
- Leverage NC
Rural Solutions Workshop Series
The NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center’s Rural Planning program developed its Rural Solutions Workshop Series - Best Practices for Small Town Economic Development to provide the state’s smaller and resource-limited rural communities with information and tools to help them grow their local economies.
The first workshop in the series, Recruiting Retail Businesses, offered tools and tips on evaluating local markets, identifying types of businesses to attract, locating appropriate land for development, and communicating with prospective businesses, including regional and national chains. Biscoe hosted the workshop in January 2019 and Smithfield hosted it in Setpember 2019. Thanks to the support of partners, from knowledgeable workshop speakers to generous host communities, the Rural Planning program was able to offer the workshops at no cost to participants.
Below are materials from the Recruiting Retail Businesses workshop held in Smithfield in September 2019.
|
Workshop |
Date |
Materials |
|---|---|---|
|
09/26/2019 |
Presentation Slides (1 per page) Presentation Slides (2 per page) NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center - Rural Planning Program Overview |
Funding Opportunities
NC Department of Commerce: Rural Economic Development Division (REDD)
Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC)
ARC supports economic development activities in 31 North Carolina counties: Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Davie, Forsyth, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Stokes, Surry, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yadkin, and Yancey counties.
Community Development Block Grants (CDBG)
The Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) team, part of our Rural Economic Development Division, administers several federally-funded grant programs: Building Reuse program, using CDBG-Economic Development funds, Public Infrastructure grants, also from CDBG-Economic Development funds, Demolition grants, Disaster Recovery funds, including support to help communities deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus, Community Housing Grants
NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center
The NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center works in regions, counties, cities, towns, downtown districts, and in designated North Carolina Main Street communities, to inspire placemaking through building asset-based economic development strategies that achieve measurable results such as investment, business growth, and jobs. The NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center maintains a comprehensive grant funding and resources guide, available below.
Comprehensive Grant Funding and Resource Guide
Rural Grant Programs
The Rural Grant Programs team, part of our Rural Economic Development Division, administers several state-funded grant programs: The state Rural Building Reuse program, state Public Infrastructure grants, state Demolition grants, special, legislatively directed grants to local governments for downtown revitalization and economic development from 2017, 2018 and 2019, 2016 Disaster Recovery funds, Rural Housing Recovery Infrastructure Program.
Rural Transformation Grant Fund (NEW)
The Rural Transformation Grant Fund provides local governments with grants and expert guidance to improve economic vitality and overcome the unique challenges many rural communities face. Open to local governments in the state's Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties, as well as qualified census tracts in Tier 3 counties.
Rural Transformation Grants can support:
- Main Street and downtown investment and revitalization efforts;
- Initiatives that help create resilient neighborhoods;
- Community enhancements that spur economic growth;
- Professional development and education programs to build local government capacity
Utility Account
The Utility Account assists local governments in counties that have one of the 80 most distressed rankings under G.S. 143B-437.08 after adjustments are applied for creating jobs in eligible industries. Funds are provided as incentives for job creation and investment to benefit industries eligible to participate in the Article 3J tax credit program.
NC Department of Commerce
County Distress Ranking (Tiers)
The North Carolina Department of Commerce annually ranks the state’s 100 counties based on economic well-being and assigns each a Tier designation. This Tier system is incorporated into various state programs to encourage economic activity in the less prosperous areas of the state. County Tiers are calculated using four factors: average unemployment rate, median household income, percentage growth in population, adjusted property tax base per capita.
Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG)
The Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) is a performance-based, discretionary incentive program that provides cash grants directly to new and expanding companies to help offset the cost of locating or expanding a facility in the state.
One North Carolina Fund
The One North Carolina Fund (OneNC) is a discretionary cash-grant program that allows the Governor to respond quickly to competitive job-creation projects. The North Carolina Department of Commerce administers OneNC on behalf of the Governor. Awards are based on the number of jobs created, level of investment, location of the project, economic impact of the project and the importance of the project to the state and region.
Shell Buildings
Loans for industrial shell buildings are available from the Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) based on the projected number of jobs to be created and the level of distress in the community. These loans will be at a 2% interest rate with a maximum term of 5 years. Principle payments are deferred for the first two years of the loan. A dollar-for-dollar match is required by the local government applicant for an industrial shell building.
Resources
COVID-19 Resources
Planning for Healthy Communities
Consistent with its mission, the NC Department of Commerce sponsored preparation of a guidebook on integrating healthy planning principles into local comprehensive plans. The Guidebook on Local Planning for Healthy Communities, published in 2013, has statewide applicability and provides technical assistance to municipalities and counties in solving local planning problems. Its focus is on multiple dimensions of healthy community planning, but it goes further to serve as a resource guide for towns, cities, and counties in preparing a variety of local plans in addition to comprehensive plans.
Community Economic Recovery & Resiliency Initiative (CERRI)
Background
In response to the economic challenges communities have faced because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center's Rural Planning program (RPP) developed the Community Economic Recovery & Resiliency Initiative (CERRI). The initiative, launched in January 2021, is intended to help small towns and rural communities recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic and build local economies that are more resilient to future crises. Through CERRI, the RPP provides participating communities with a planning process to develop local economic recovery strategies and technical assistance to implement them. Key CERRI services offered by the RPP include conducting a community assessment; facilitating development of an economic recovery plan of work to build local economic resiliency and support small businesses; and providing guidance and assistance, as needed, with plan of work implementation.
The RPP has engaged 28 communities in CERRI: the first 12 in 2021 (shown as "Initial" on the map) and 16 more in 2022 (shown as "New" on the map).
Quarterly Impact Reports
The RPP prepares CERRI Impact Reports on a quarterly basis. Links to available reports are shown below.
| CERRI Quarterly Impact Reports | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Quarter 1 | Quarter 2 | Quarter 3 | Quarter 4 |
| 2022 | Quarter 1 | |||
CERRI Contacts
For more information about CERRI, please contact Karen Smith, Rural Planning Program Manager, at ksmith@commerce.nc.gov, or the Prosperity Zone planner assigned to your region.
Creating Outdoor Recreation Economies (CORE)
In January 2023, the N.C. Department of Commerce, Rural Economic Development Division, announced that 34 communities from across the state would participate in the Creating Outdoor Recreation Economies (CORE) program. The CORE program, which is funded by a U.S. Economic Development Administration State Tourism Grant, offers strategic planning and technical assistance to help rural North Carolina communities leverage the state’s abundant outdoor recreation assets to support local economic growth.
Outdoor recreation is a significant economic driver in North Carolina. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, outdoor recreation contributed over $16.1 billion to the state’s gross domestic product in 2023 and accounted for more than 145,000 jobs and more than $7.7 billion in employee compensation.
The 34 communities that will engage in the CORE program are shown on the map, below.
CORE Strategic Plans
Rural planners from the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center’s Rural Planning program and the NC Appalachian Regional Commission program facilitate strategic planning processes with CORE communities and stakeholders to identify outdoor recreation assets that present economic growth opportunities and to create strategies to develop them. For the CORE program, outdoor recreation is defined as all recreational activities undertaken for leisure that occur outdoors, with an emphasis on those that involve some level of intentional physical exertion and occur in nature-based environments. Other community assets and economic institutions that benefit from or complement the outdoor recreation economy are also addressed.
The strategic planning process is tailored to meet each community’s specific needs, goals, and opportunities. Strategies focus on actions and projects communities can do to increase tourism, encourage small business development, enhance quality of life for residents, plan for asset and infrastructure development, and/or position themselves to grow and attract outdoor gear manufacturing industries. The CORE program also provides technical assistance and training to help communities to implement their strategies.
Below are links to strategic plans completed by CORE communities to date.
Ashe County CORE Strategic Plan
Black Mountain CORE Strategic Plan
Bladen County CORE Strategic Plan
Martin County CORE Strategic Plan (includes Hamilton)
Rockingham County CORE Strategic Plan
Scotland Neck CORE Strategic Plan
Seven Springs CORE Strategic Plan
Warren County CORE Strategic Plan
CORE Training and Technical Assistance Support
The CORE program will provide participating local governments (CORE communities) with opportunities and financial support to attend training and/or to receive technical assistance related to the development of rural outdoor recreation economies. The following documents provide details about training and technical assistance support, and all required forms are listed below. Please contact the CORE program administrators to discuss the financial assistance that maybe available to support training and technical assistance opportunities of interest to your CORE community.
CORE Training-Technical Assistance Support Pre-Approval Request Form (April 2025)
CORE Training-Technical Assistance Expenses Reimbursement Form (April 2025)
CORE Training-Technical Assistance Reimbursement Sample Invoice (April 2025)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
May 2025 – NC MS&RP Center - Outdoor Recreation Economy Related Funding and Resources Guide
CORE Program Contacts
David McRae
ARC and SCRC Assistant Program Manager
North Carolina Department of Commerce
984-365-0853 mobile
david.mcrae@commerce.nc.gov
Karen Smith, AICP
Rural Planning Program Manager
NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center
828-747-1585 mobile
ksmith@commerce.nc.gov
Additional Information and Resources
This page was last modified on 05/16/2025