For immediate release

Contact: Dee Dobson Harper
252-737-1351, harperde@ecu.edu

ECU’s Office of Engagement, Innovation and Economic Development
Adds Five New Communities to its Municipal Management and Innovation Initiative

Greenville, N.C.  (Jan. 7, 2010) – East Carolina University’s Office of Engagement, Innovation and Economic Development (OEIED) has announced the addition of five new communities to its Municipal Management and Innovation  initiative.  The MMI initiative leverages the resources and expertise of ECU’s faculty, staff and students on behalf of small, low wealth, limited resource and limited capacity municipalities in eastern North Carolina. Originally a pilot project with the town of Aurora in Beaufort County, MMI has now expanded its community partners to include Bayboro (Pamlico County), Grifton (Pitt County), Pollocksville (Jones County), Snow Hill (Green County), and South Mills (Camden County).
 
“Our entire board is excited to start this decade with a new partnership that can help change our community and possibly impact the entire region,” said Bayboro Mayor Pro Tem Joseph Himbry. “We are equally excited that ECU, our regional university, is proactively seeking new and creative partnerships that target real community and economic development needs in eastern North Carolina.”

The MMI initiative was established to help address the reality that many eastern North Carolina municipalities lack adequate staff and administrative capacity to effectively respond to basic fiscal, policy and programmatic needs in their communities, which severely limits their ability to provide effective day-to-day management and efficient delivery of public services, according to Kenny Flowers, the OEIED’s Director of Community and Regional Development,
 
“The initiative proactively targets communities with direct technical assistance products that will help provide capacity in administrative management, policy analysis, strategic planning, project management and program development,” said Flowers. “The university’s objective is to assist in building communities that are more fiscally responsible, more economically viable, and more capable of effectively delivering public services.”
 
MMI provides each community access to appropriate ECU faculty, staff and students, as well as a menu of technical assistance services that include:
 

• Budget Development and Preparation
• Fiscal Analysis and Revenue Projection
• Policy Writing and Analysis
• Program Evaluation
• Fiscal Impact Analysis
• Strategic Planning Facilitation and Development
• Comprehensive Planning Assistance
• Grant Writing and Technical Assistance
• Community Survey Research and Design
• Feasibility Study Assistance and Preparation
• Economic Impact Analysis
• Community Design Assistance

“We are ecstatic to be included in this partnership with ECU,” said Pollocksville Mayor Jay Bender.  “For small towns with very limited staffs, this type of collaboration will allow us to begin to address some administrative, policy and project issues that would otherwise be virtually impossible.”
 
For more information about the Municipal Management Initiative, please contact Kenny Flowers at 252-737-1342 or email flowersk@ecu.edu .

ECU’s Office of Engagement, Innovation and Economic Development actively aligns, supports and celebrates ECU faculty, staff and student engagement with industry, government and communities to address pressing regional needs. This engagement not only makes ECU a go-to partner in enhancing the region’s economic vitality and quality of life but also improves education, research and innovation, and scholarship across the campus. For more information about the Office of Engagement, Innovation and Economic Development, call 252-737-1380 or visit http://www.ecu.edu/oeied.