Leaders from nineteen rural communities recently completed their campus-based training for Commerce's Rural Community Capacity (RC2) program, a unique new program to help increase local governments' capacity to plan, implement, and manage economic development programs and opportunities. The group completed their studies and participated in graduation ceremonies on October 26th in Boone. Town of Wilson’s Mills (Johnston) was the only North Central PZ community to participate, represented by Town Administrator Leighanna Worley, and Development Compliance Officer, Wendy Oldham. RC2, a pilot initiative from Commerce's Rural Economic Development Division (REDD) in partnership with Appalachian State University's Walker College of Business, provided educational programming, technical assistance, and strategic planning to the participating local government staffs. The RC2 campus curriculum included four core courses that were required by the Department of Commerce and additional targeted courses that were designed by the ASU faculty. Communities that completed the program are now eligible to apply for Community Implementation Grants offered by REDD through the new Rural Transformation Grant Fund. Applications for a second cohort will be announced in early 2023.
