Celebrating Women’s History Month: The aging network in the greater Charlotte area is a close-knit group of professionals, many of whom can draw the beginning of their education of gerontology to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s gerontology program. The program has been a staple in the aging network for decades and there is one woman who has been both director of the program and mentor to many students, Dr. Dena Shenk.

Does Our Region Have an EV Infrastructure Plan? There is a flood of transportation-related funding coming to North Carolina thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). To assist our member communities, Centralina is developing resources that support planning and funding activities on a regional level. We are also working with the NCDOT to update state EV plans, such as the 2019 zero-emission vehicle plan, as mandated under the federal BIL and NC Executive Order 246.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring women around the region, including Centralina staff, local government leaders and other community trailblazers, in honor of women’s history month. We want to recognize the achievements of female leaders and support their continued efforts to break barriers. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day was #BreaktheBias, encouraging us to move away from prejudice and towards gender equality.

The Government Affairs & Member Engagement team at Centralina provides a range of specialized technical services to support our local member governments. Recently we have been travelling across our region, actively working with our members to facilitate board retreats. Unlike regular board meetings, retreats create time for strategic planning, guided discussions and decision-making. A successful board retreat comes with direction, agenda objectives and goals to accomplish.

On Thursday, Feb. 24th Centralina, along with project partners UNC Charlotte, the City of Charlotte and Duke Energy, unveiled the PoleVolt electric vehicle charging station at the Ritz at Washington Heights. The one-year pilot project is the culmination of a three-year collaboration between government, business, research and community.

On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, Centralina Workforce Development Board (WDB) celebrated the opening of its Opportunity Site, housed in the HOLLA! Community Resource and Community Development Center, a nonprofit organization that provides a variety of services and programs that aid in increasing the test scores of youth so that they are better equipped to make positive contribution to the community and society.

The Centralina Regional Managers group is one of several peer networking opportunities we offer to communities in our nine-county region. Comprised of town, city and county managers, assistant managers and clerks, the group meets monthly to receive federal and state updates, discuss regional issues and share best practices. The group’s December meeting focused on this topic and featured a mix of guest speakers, Centralina service profiles and interactive exercises.

Early care and early childhood education programs play a fundamental role in fostering healthy communities and vibrant local economies. While the importance of these crucial services can often be
overlooked or forgotten when times are “normal,” the COVID-19 pandemic quickly reminded us that these programs are essential to ensuring economies and communities not only thrive, but function in the first place. Additionally, as many communities across the state of North Carolina experience record levels of population growth, demand for early care programs is at an all time high.

Mobility is the driving force that shapes our community. As our region continues to grow, mobility will be one of the most critical factors that ensure everyone has access to reliable, efficient and well-connected transportation. Our 12-county community is nearing three million residents and is expected to add over one million more by 2045. This growth will continue to bring new opportunities as jobs and businesses set up shop in our cities and towns. But with this growth, we expect to see additional strain and usage of our existing private and public transit and mobility services.