Christina was promoted to Director of Community Economic Development at the start of the fiscal year. To celebrate her successes with Centralina, we sat down with her to pick her brain and learn more about Christina and her goals as Director of Centralina CED.

The Centralina Economic Development District (EDD) partnered with Centralina Regional Council and the nine-county emergency management (EM) directors to launch the Regional Resilience Collaborative (RRC) in April 2021. The RRC program examines the viability and resiliency of EM disaster recovery plans and economic resilience needs to ensure the region benefits from greater efficiency in responding to current and future natural and man-made disasters and economic shocks.

AICP has announced new mandatory educational requirements for the Certification Maintenance (CM) program. The update aims to ensure AICP’s certification remains relevant to the dynamic and ever-changing needs of today’s planners and communities. Under the previous iteration of the CM program, planners were required to obtain 32 CM credits during each two-year reporting period, with at least one and a half credits each in the areas of Law and Ethics. While the 32-credit requirement remains in place, the CM program update will require credits in two new topics, Equity and Sustainability and Resilience, which were identified by the AICP Commission as essential knowledge areas for planners.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and other federal and state funding programs are bringing unprecedented transportation and electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure funding to North Carolina. As a result, EV infrastructure planning is top of mind for many Centralina communities. To assist our member communities in tracking the variety of funding programs available and capitalizing on these historic opportunities, the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition has developed resources that support these planning and funding activities on a regional level.

Advocacy and Appropriations: The U.S. House of Representatives is in recess until September 13. The Senate is in session until August 5 before breaking for the rest of the month. Centralina has historically scheduled meetings during the August-long recess with the region’s congressional delegation while lawmakers are in the state. Given the changes that will occur in November primarily as a result of redistricting, we have decided to hold these meetings after the elections. Centralina’s members should still take advantage of opportunities to advocate for local and regional priorities when seeing Members of Congress locally. The best strategy in these encounters is to keep your message short and sweet.

On March 31, 2022, NCWorks Career Center-Cabarrus and partners held a reentry event designed to simulate one month in the life of someone who has just been released from prison, navigating their way through the system while trying to comply with all the requirements of supervised release. This event provided an opportunity for over 70 individuals associated with our service providers, non-profits, government, health and human services and workforce partners to experience the barriers one faces when getting reestablished after returning from incarceration, treatment and/or homelessness.

Capitol Hill Recognizes the Importance of Regional Councils: As Congress works through the appropriations process, it funds numerous competitive grants in multiple agencies. When these grants list local governments or non-profit agencies as eligible applicants, regional councils and councils of governments are often left out.