NCACC a new partner for youth committee

Board of Directors OKs grant for Civic Education Consortium database upgrade

By Jason King
Assistant Communications Director

Thanks to an arrangement with the Civic Education Consortium (CEC) at the UNC School of Government, the CEC's Youth Advisory Committee will come under the umbrella of the NCACC and will help the Association continue into the future President Mary Accor's initiative on youth development.

The committee, founded in 2006, is composed of 22 high school students from across the state. The Association will be authorized to add more regional representation to the committee to meet the NCACC's needs.

The committee will continue to be housed at the School of Government.

During its June 18-19 meeting in Buncombe County, the NCACC Board of Directors also approved a one-time $50,000 grant to the CEC to fund an upgrade to its Database of Civic Resources that houses free online access to civics materials for K-12 teachers, and to pay for new and fresh lesson plans for middle- and high-school teachers.

The NCACC grant will help the CEC continue to offer the resources online. The CEC relies on grants funding for some of its programs, and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation is ending its support for the CEC, which was founded in 1997.

The mission of the CEC is to address declining citizen involvement in government and the lack of resources to teach youths about local government. This mission is consistent with the Association's strategic goals, particularly the goal that charges the NCACC with educating the public and the media about the role of county government.

Through its Civic Education Project, the North Carolina City & County Management Association also supports the CEC by providing financial support for projects including a local government textbook, which has been recently rewritten for the first time in 20 years. Content from the textbook is available online through the database.

Economy in early stages of recovery

Economist Mark Vitner thinks in terms of a car crash when describing the economy. In today's terms, the tow truck has arrived and the insurance company has been called, but everyone is still standing by the side of the road.

Economist Mark Vitner provided the Board of Directors with an overview of the economic recovery in the United States and in North Carolina. (Photo by Jason King)

Vitner, a senior economist with Wells Fargo Bank, told members of the Board of Directors that while the economy as a whole is growing again and sales tax revenues are increasing, the pain isn't over. Economic growth, Vitner said, has been fueled by an increase in business inventory and the influx of federal stimulus dollars. Most of those stimulus programs are set to wind down by the end of the year, and additional stimulus is unlikely due to the European debt crisis.

One area that will see another downturn is housing, and Vitner predicted an increase in home foreclosures.

"The bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae allowed folks to stay in their houses without paying their mortgages," he said. "That won't go on forever."

That increase in foreclosures will in turn lead to a drop in housing prices. Despite corrections in the market, Vitner said nationwide there are still 6.5 million homes vacant (for rent or for sale). In a healthy economy, that number is around 4.5 million, he said.

While North Carolina will see an uptick in jobs for 2010, Vitner sees a troubling trend for the state in the current battle between states for businesses. The technology sector – particularly biotech – continues to grow, but capital programs for growing companies aren't quite as visible as what's offered in California. That doesn't necessarily mean that companies will migrate west, however.

"There's no reason to leave RTP to go to the left coast," he said. "No reason at all."

The state's other major business hub – Charlotte – faces more immediate concerns to the south.

"We've got a real competitive battle on the South Carolina border," Vitner said, "and I don't see a quick fix for that."

Vitner said that South Carolina's Upstate will continue to pull companies away from the Charlotte area. He said the only remedy that he can think of is to offer very aggressive incentives.

Vitner said aerospace is one industry that offers some serious growth potential for the state. He said Spirit AeroSystems in Lenoir County, for example, will fundamentally change that region's economy for years to come.

A PDF copy of Vitner's presentation to the Board is online at www.ncacc.org/documents/bod-061910.pdf.

In other actions, the Board:

• Approved the Association's 2010-11 fiscal year budget, and announced the creation of an ad-hoc committee to evaluate the NCACC's fund balance.
• Adopted a schedule for the NCACC Legislative Goals process that will conclude with the Legislative Goals Conference in January 2011. The goals process will not change from years past with the exception that steering committee chairs will automatically be included on the Legislative Goals Committee.
• Applauded Vance County Chairman Danny Wright for his many years of service to the Association. Wright, a past president of the NCACC, has served on the NCACC Board of Directors as a NACo director for the past six years. His term expires during the July NACo Annual Conference, meaning the June NCACC Board meeting was his last. He is not seeking re-election to the Vance County Board of Commissioners.

According to Wright, he never missed a NACo Board of Directors meeting – including Western Interstate Region meetings – during his three, two-year terms.