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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SEC TI ON: CABARRUS COUNTY balance social, economic and environ- mental consequences. County facility managers have enacted energy- and water - conservation measures and use environmentally friendly cleaning and grounds- mainte- nance products. Procurement policies minimize the use of disposable items and require using products with recycled content when possible. A number of measures are under way to improve air quality, including policies limiting the amount of time county vehicles run idle and establishing a large fleet of hybrid vehicles. But the soul of a sustainable com- munity is a resilient and robust local economy that strikes a balance between trade and self - reliance. Achieving such an economy is at the center of Cabarrus County's economic development efforts. Purchasing goods and services from local, independent businesses can build a deeper economy in which a greater proportion of money recirculates in the county. Locally owned businesses are less likely to relocate as a result of global economic pressures. And a community in which independent businesses prosper is likely to be a community where entrepreneurs and creativity thrive, Cabarrus leaders say. As a bonus, independent, locally owned businesses help define a community and give it character, an important feature in an age of big -box suburban homogeneity. This local differentiation, or place -based character, can put a community at a competitive advantage when it comes to attracting new business and expansions of existing businesses. The Institute for Emerging Issues at N.C. State University raises this impor- tant question: "How will North Carolina move from an economic development strategy focused on company branch recruitment to one that grows creative workers and entrepreneurs ?" To help answer that question, the Cabarrus County Board of Commission- ers is appointing members to the recently established Cabarrus County Council for a Sustainable Local Economy. The council will be asked to: M • Professional Development • Small Business Center Workforce Provider of the NC Research Campus. • Determine how much money local businesses, institutions, governments and residents spend outside the county on goods and services that could have been purchased in the county, and the impact on jobs of redirecting some or all of that spending to Cabarrus businesses. • Identify government policies and regulations that hamper the success of small businesses, and those that are helpful to small businesses. Local agriculture is the other big piece of Cabarrus County's sustainable economic development efforts. Creating a sustainable local -food economy can be a foundation for building an overall economy resistant to downward global trends. Commissioners are fostering development of local food production, processing and distribution, all of which should lead to more consumption of locally produced food. In addition to promoting good health, policies that promote sustainable agriculture, preserve existing farms and create new farms will keep land in production, preserve rural and agricultural heritage, consume minimal public resources and provide an important counterbalance to development. County officials began by enacting land -use regulations that encourage development in places with existing infrastructure and preserve farmland and rural areas. The county also has a food policy council to identify and strengthen the connections between food, health, natural- resource protection, economic development and the agricul- tural community. The county strengthened its already healthy partnership with the N.C. B u s i N c s s N Attachment number 1 1 -1 Page 300