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Current Center for Competitive Economies (C3E) Projects
Center for Competitive Economies's (C3E) current projects include:
Proposed projects include exploring options for new job creation in tobacco-dependent communities and Orange County cluster development.
Mini-hub feasibility study
C3E is conducting a study for the Research Triangle Regional Partnership in North Carolina to determine the feasibility of developing a series of enhanced business and industrial parks, or "mini-hubs," in rural areas of the region as an economic development tool. C3E will examine land use, economic development, financing and management aspects of the mini-hub concept and recommend a direction for the region to take in trying to develop them in outlying areas that have lagged behind the prosperity of the urban core.
Environmental Finance Center
C3E and UNC-Chapel Hill's Institute of Government partner to operate the UNC Environmental Finance Center . It is one of nine national environmental finance centers (EFCs) funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. EFCs provide technical assistance, resources and tools for local governments to finance water and solid waste improvements, acquire open spaces, redevelop brown fields and acquire other environmental services.
Workforce investment area consolidation
C3E developed alternatives for the North Carolina Commission on Workforce Development to reconfigure the state's 25 local workforce investment areas. Each area maintains its own JobLink Career Center, staff, and resources. The commission believes a smaller number of administrative units could deliver the programs of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) more efficiently and bring greater benefit to customers of these centers.
Multi-jurisdictional water source protection
The Environmental Finance Center is working with water systems and local governments in selected jurisdictions within North Carolina to develop a source water protection plan for surface water and groundwater. The plan will outline activities and approaches communities using the water source may take to reduce and control existing threats to the water supply and ensure safety in the future, in accordance with guidelines from the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act amendments. C3E will work with several water systems to prepare a plan that guides them all.
Maine research and development investment evaluation
C3E is helping the Maine Science and Technology Foundation evaluate the impact of its research and development investment. In its latest project, following an initial evaluation completed in November 2001, C3E is reviewing output and outcome measures for Maine's R&D investments, surveying recipients of R&D funds, preparing case studies on prominent R&D organizations and providing econometric modeling of the overall impact on the state economy. C3E will compare these results with the overall state of Maine results on key indicators to assess the relative contribution of R&D investment recipients.
Proposed Projects
- Job creation in tobacco-dependent communities
C3E has proposed helping rural communities in North Carolina assess and improve their capacity to foster entrepreneurship. This project would explore options for new job creation and investment that are based on homegrown business development as an important complement to the industry recruitment and tourism development strategies that most rural economic developers undertake. Counties to be studied in this demonstration project are Greene, Robeson, Stokes and Yancey.
- Orange County cluster development
C3E has proposed to help Orange County identify the types of businesses it should encourage through policy and select appropriate policy tools to recruit, retain and expand those businesses. The work would consist of two principal tasks: identifying the county's clusters of opportunity and assessing the availability of qualified labor.
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Kenan Institute
