The Challenge Our community boasts one of the nation’s highest percentages of adult residents with advanced degrees and the state’s lowest unemployment rate, but the current talent pipeline is broken, and many employers cannot find the employees they need. Local employers offer high-paying jobs in compelling career pathways but struggle to find qualified workers. Residents could thrive in these local jobs, but need better training, pathways, access, and connections to them.

The Goal An employer-led talent pipeline that aligns education and training opportunities with high-demand jobs, increasing the social mobility of all residents while also meeting the workforce needs of employers

The Challenge Entrepreneurs must overcome a series of hurdles to start and scale their enterprises, and once successful, to stay and grow locally. For long-term economic prosperity, we must make it easier to start and grow a business and better organize the innovation ecosystem with clearer pathways to engage the complex network of business-support organizations. We must also develop the connections, systems, and supports for women and BIPOC-owned enterprises to thrive in our community.

The Goal Make it easier to start and grow a business, with a more cohesive system that improves business growth and retention, increases access to assistance and resources, and focuses efforts on starting and growing Black, Latinx, and refugee- owned enterprises.

The Challenge Greater Chapel Hill-Carrboro is facing a critical housing supply and affordability crisis. Local rent for a two bedroom apartment is now $1,563, a 29% increase since 2019, and 52% of Orange County renters are spending more than the recommended 30% of household income on rent. Orange County has 10,500 more jobs than housing units, and a recent Chapel Hill study identified a dramatic local housing shortage and recommended adding 500 new housing units per year for the next 20 years.

The Goal Support local employers’ employee recruitment, retention, and future job growth by growing the housing supply with 500 units of housing each year to keep up with existing demand, and prioritizing housing affordability by adding 1,500 units of Affordable Housing.