The STEM East initiative aims to show students in eastern North Carolina how they can stay and thrive in their home communities.
Rural Spotlights

A unique partnership between Compass Point Preschool and Northeastern Technical College in Cheraw, South Carolina, makes affordable, high-quality child care accessible to parents entering the labor force.
Carroll County, Virginia, worked closely with Virginia Housing and developer Landmark Asset Services, Inc. to repurpose the county’s old high school building into affordable rental housing.
The New River Valley Regional Commission is an example of how a regional development organization can galvanize innovative, sustainable regional and local housing strategies to serve its small towns and rural communities.
The GoodCare Program in Virginia helps aspiring workers complete career pathways in health care, addressing workforce shortages in a sector essential to equitable pandemic recovery.
In Florence County, the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing Technology and its Gould Business Incubator are fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem and fueling small business development in South Carolina.