News & Updates for the Mid-Carolina Region
Grants, resources, training, important dates, and more.
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Coronavirus Response
Southeast NC Regional Trails Plan
Broadband Access in Rural America
Strengthening Rural Communities
Ensuring Rural Counts
MCCOG Quarterly Managers Lunch
MCCOG Board of Directors Meeting
Important Dates
Share Your Good News
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Across the country, government agencies and officials at the local, state, and federal levels continue to respond to possible threats from the Coronavirus outbreak. At MCCOG, Area Agency on Aging staff is reaching out to local adult service providers to get status updates and offer assistance. NC’s 16 regional councils, including MCCOG, have offered to assist our state government with response efforts at the regional and local levels.
The Mid-Carolina Senior Games are scheduled to begin on April 8. MCCOG staff and our partners are considering action concerning a postponement of the games. A decision will be made in the short-term and the region will be notified as soon as possible.
Please
email
Justin Hembree, MCCOG, if there is any way the Council can assist your jurisdiction with response efforts.
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Southeast NC Regional Trails Plan
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NC State Parks is working to develop a regional trails plan for southeast NC. Cumberland, Harnett, and Sampson Counties are located in the planning area.
The plan will develop a framework that connects communities in southeastern NC to natural and cultural resources, increases public access to trails and recreation, and enhances the quality of life for residents and visitors.
Click here
to view the plan website.
To assist in the planning process, please take a few minutes to complete a brief survey to share your vision for trails and greenways in the region.
Click here
to complete the survey.
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Broadband Access in Rural America
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In 2019, the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) joined as a partner in the
Bridging the Economic Divide Initiative
, which is led by the National Association of Counties (NACo) in partnership with the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP), the Rural Local Initiatives Support Corporation (Rural LISC), the Farm Credit Council, Land O'Lakes, Inc., and NADO. This group of partners has been working together to address the critical need for affordable high-speed internet connectivity in rural communities across the country. The initiative aims to improve access to reliable, high-speed internet by developing a mobile app designed to identify areas with low or no connectivity.
This partnership has culminated in the release of a new report,
Understanding the True State of Connectivity in America
. The report discusses the data collected through the TestIT app for internet connectivity. Data from the app shows that nearly
60 percent
of counties experience fixed wireless internet speeds slower than the standard. Lack of reliable broadband is a major barrier to socioeconomic opportunity, education, health, and overall quality of life. Access to high-speed internet is also consistently voiced as a top challenge facing small businesses in rural America and stifles entrepreneurship by limiting the ability of individuals to take on independent work. In this economy, broadband is critical to building resilient and future ready communities. To view the full report and learn more about the TestIT app,
click here
.
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Strengthening Rural Communities
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Through a competitive application process, the Strengthening Rural Communities Program provides technical assistance to rural communities to overcome impediments to successful planning and implementation of affordable housing and community development projects. From innovative planning practices to knowledge of complex federal housing programs, MHP gives organizations the ability to build and preserve housing and community assets. Applications for technical assistance are due
April 15, 2020.
Click here
to learn more.
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The
NC Rural Center
has partnered with the
NC Counts Coalition
to ensure that every North Carolinian is counted in the 2020 census. The NC Counts Coalition and its partners have identified 15 counties with the highest risk of a census undercount.
Anson, Bertie,
Cumberland
, Duplin, Durham, Edgecombe, Guilford, Halifax, Hoke, Mecklenburg, Northampton, Robeson,
Sampson
, Scotland, and Vance counties have the greatest intersecting risk factors for populations historically undercounted.
Risk factors include:
- Share of residents living in one of the tracts predicted to be hardest to count in 2020
- Tracts with the highest share of children under age five
- Tracts with the highest share of homes without broadband
- Tracts with the highest share of all three factors combined
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MCCOG Quarterly Managers Lunch
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The next Mid-Carolina Quarterly Managers Lunch will be held at Gates Four Golf and Country Club on March 24.
Email
Justin Hembree, MCCOG, for more details or to RSVP.
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MCCOG Board of Directors Meeting
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The Mid-Carolina Board of Directors will meet on March 26 from 12noon until 1:30pm at Erwin Town Hall. The meeting is open to the public.
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March 17-18
Senior Tar Heel Legislature
March 24
MCCOG Quarterly Managers Lunch
March 26
MCCOG Board of Directors Meeting
March 26
MCCOG Aging Advisory Council
April 1-3
NC Association of Regional Councils of Govenments/The Forum Meeting
April 8-April 27
Mid-Carolina Senior Games
April 9
Mid-Carolina RPO TCC Meeting
April 15
Mid-Carolina RPO TAC Meeting
April 24
Common Ground Summit
May 5-7
NC League of Municipalities CityVision Annual Conference
May 13
COG Legislative Day
May 28
MCCOG Board of Directors Meeting
June 16-17
Rural Day
June 18-20
NC City & County Management Association Summer Seminar
June 25
MCCOG Board of Directors Meeting
July 9
Mid-Carolina RPO TCC Meeting
July 22
Mid-Carolina RPO TAC Meeting
August 13-15
NC Association of County Commissioners Annual Conference
August 27
Mid-Carolina Board of Directors Meeting
August 30-September 2
- SE4A Annual Conference
October 8
Mid-Carolina RPO TCC Meeting
October 22
MCCOG Board of Directors Meeting
October 28
Mid-Carolina RPO TAC Meeting
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If you have news, events, announcements or other items you would like included in an upcoming FYI, please
EMAIL
Justin Hembree, MCCOG.
Please let us know if you have questions, need additional details about the information we have shared or if there is a way the Council can be of service.
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Mid-Carolina Council of Governments
Creative Regional Solutions
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Mid-Carolina Council of Governments is a multi-county, planning, development, and human services organization. We reach across county and municipal borders to provide technical assistance to our local governments and to administer programs that benefit our region’s citizens.
Our mission is to provide creative regional solutions to relevant and emerging issues in Cumberland, Harnett, and Sampson Counites while providing a standard of excellence in the delivery of federal, state, and regional services for our local governments and the people they serve.
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