Ray Jordan,
executive director,
Sampson County
Economic Development
Jordan
The future of Sampson County, and North Carolina as a whole, looks hopeful and bright, and it’s something that every citizen of Sampson County should learn more about, according to Sampson County’s Economic Development officials.
Everyone will have an opportunity to participate in, and educate themselves, in a special presentation of a demographic forecast forum being sponsored by the Economic Development staff in early March. Similar to a weather forecast, a demographic forecast is a glimpse of what the people will be like in Sampson County in the not-so-distant future.
On March 11, the Sampson County Economic Development Outlook Summit will be held, featuring two experts in their fields who will share and discuss data of demographic trends, challenges, and opportunities that face the county.
This purpose of the forum will be to inform the public and help Sampson County know how to prepare for the needs of the community while working to improve educational opportunities, and develop a skilled workforce that can help create a strong economy for Sampson County residents in the coming decades.
“Like many other rural counties, our county is encountering growing challenges brought about by a declining and aging population, increasing poverty rates, community infrastructure needs, and a limited skilled workforce,” noted Ray Jordan, executive director of Sampson’s Economic Development. “While we realize that our county has the capacity to turn challenges into opportunities, it is more important than ever that we collaborate to identify and create those opportunities for our children and grandchildren.”
The first guest speaker, Dr. James Johnson, will share information about demographic disruptors, slowing total and foreign-born population growth, white population loss, and how declining fertility has evolved over the past decades, deaths of despair, involuntary retirements and declining labor force participation.
Johnson is the William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of strategy and entrepreneurship and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.
The second guest speaker, Jeanne Milliken Bonds, will lecture on emerging trends in business, sustainability as an antidote to a host of social, economic, and environmental challenges and how using different sources of capital to address challenges result from changing demographics. Bonds will also touch on climate change, income and wealth inequality, and stalled economic growth in both urban and rural communities.
Bonds is a professor of practice, impact investment, and sustainable finance at UNC Kenan Flagler Business School. She is leading a new initiative, “Invest to Sustain,” to increase community and business capacity to enact social impact investing.
The summit will be held at the Sampson County Agri-Exposition Center. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. and the program will start at 8:30 am. The registration fee is $40 per person. The deadline to register is Thursday, March 6.
“With an eye on the past, we can work together to meet future needs in a sustainable manner that will strengthen our local economy and increase the standard of living for future generations,” added Jordan. “We must collectively and collaboratively identify and address the current needs of our businesses and industries, our farmers and agribusinesses, our healthcare system, our churches, our non-profits, and our fellow citizens with a purposeful focus on creating a bright future for all of Sampson County.
For more information, contact Jordan at rjordan@sampsonedc.com or call 910-592-8921.