Economic Diversity

Economic Diversity involves developing strengths in all parts of the economy to insulate our community against future economic downturns. We will grow our economic strength in globally competitive industries – including our targets of advanced manufacturing, manufacturing-related producer and distribution services, entrepreneurial enterprises, and selected service sectors such as health care, education, retail, tourism, and retirement industries. With more growing companies, relocated firms, and entrepreneurial start-ups in these industries, we can develop a diverse economic base that will provide jobs, wealth, and a sound tax base to ensure prosperity for our current and future residents. We will also be less vulnerable to future downturns that may affect a single industry or cluster of industries.

Cool Places

We will become more of a Cool Place for people – especially next-generation residents, workers, and visitors. Appealing to the next generation ensures that people will want to come and stay in our 12-county area because of economic, social, and recreational opportunities. We are advantageously located centrally between four recognized urban centers – Charlotte, Greensboro-Winston-Salem, Greenville-Spartanburg, and Asheville. These nearby urban centers provide easy access for our community to a wide variety of well-developed urban amenities, such as theaters, concert halls, museums, and up-scale restaurants. By integrating and building on these resources as part of our community’s assets, we can appeal to knowledge workers, retirees, and travelers most interested in these amenities. At the same time, we have relatively easy access to natural and outdoor amenities – such as the Blue Ridge Mountains, Lake James and Lake Norman, and Linville Gorge – which we must protect at the same time that we take full advantage of the economic opportunities they (and other outdoor assets) offer. From our unique location, we can cultivate our own local metropolitan and micropolitan area assets as centers of economic and cultural activity while realizing our green space and natural assets will be attractive to our future workers, residents, and visitors.

Smart Governance

To achieve our goals of economic prosperity, we must develop a new approach to Smart Governance that involves regional action. We understand that we must think on a larger scale than in the past. To achieve impacts and change in our future, we must invest in projects and initiatives that will have significant regional impact, and we must be prepared to work collaboratively to achieve those investments. To implement our Vision and Projects in our regional economic development strategy, we must come together in new ways – by talking about common problems and developing collaborative solutions. To accomplish this, we recognize the need for new regional institutions that build on our existing network of organizations and provide forums for us to take on significant challenges together. By sharing our individual resources – combining them in some cases and creating strategic alliances in others, we will be able to attain significant change in our Future Forward area.

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