Bertie County residents and community members packed the Roxobel Community Building for the presentation of a new community economic development plan, “Blueprint for Bertie.” This 18-month, multi-faceted plan was a joint effort between the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and Bertie County community members.
Steve Biggs, Director of Economic Development for Bertie County, welcomed everyone to the presentation and introduced the Kenan Institute’s Center for NC Strategic Economic Growth (NC Growth) team who drafted the plan. Biggs highlighted the importance of engaging residents in the process. This would become a theme for the evening.
Mark Little, Director of NC Growth, oversaw the development of the plan. He said that the principle authors, former interns Stephanie Smith and Eric Breit, deeply care about Bertie County. Stephanie Smith is a recent graduate of NCCU’s MBA program and Eric Breit is a recent graduate of UNC’s Masters in City and Regional Planning. “Stephanie and Eric now have full time jobs. They are not getting paid to be here tonight. They are here because they love Bertie,” explained Little.
Smith outlined for the audience the process and timeline for the plan. “Our sustainable strategy was to engage as many people in the county as possible,” she said.
In order to garner local support for the project, NC Growth implemented a three month campaign in 2013 entitled “Where’s Bertie Going to be in 2020?” and hosted a series of events strategically placed throughout the county to assess the shared vision that the people of Bertie County have for their community. Aside from meeting with the Chamber of Commerce, mayors, commissioners, and town officials, the Kenan Institute conducted three community meetings and one youth meeting open to the public.
The well-attended events were advertised throughout the community through press releases, flyers, radio interviews, and public service announcements. Additionally, NC Growth reached out to local area churches, community outreach programs, schools, and town leaders.
Eric Breit painted a picture of hope and opportunity for the audience as he discussed the plan’s long term vision, findings, goals, and recommendations. “The vision and goals outlined in the plan are all designed by and created for community members and leaders,” said Breit.
While Breit explained some of the challenges the community faces to economic development, he focused on next steps. Breit said, “Everything hinges on the creation of a community economic development task force that represents a diverse cross section of Bertie County residents.” This economic development task force will be key to implementing the plan’s recommendations which include:
Many existing initiatives are already moving Bertie County closer to a collective vision for the future. Some of these initiatives are identified throughout the plan as examples of what is possible with limited resources.
After the presentation, Commissioner Ronald D. “Ron” Wesson commended NC Growth for their work and said, “It’s so important to have a fresh pair of eyes looking at our situation.”
Commissioner John Trent echoed the theme of the evening, “All of these efforts will take community participation. We are in a position to capitalize on many things right now. Everything has to move together and it boils down to marketing our strengths.”
Following the meeting, Bertie County Manager, Scott Sauer, said, ““Blueprint for Bertie” has started a conversation that I hope will enable us to build community capacity and the human capital necessary to address the many opportunities and challenges that face our citizens.”
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