As you likely heard, we had to postpone the Emerging Issues Forum due to winter weather that impacted several communities in North Carolina on Feb. 19. I’m thrilled to share that without missing a beat, our team pivoted and was able to quickly secure a new date! The 2025 Emerging Issues Forum will now take place on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at the McKimmon Conference and Training Center at NC State University. I want to thank our sponsors, speakers, National Advisory Board and others for your support as we navigated this process. I also want to thank the incredible team at IEI, who were laser-focused on finding a new date to have this important statewide conversation.
As with any event rescheduling, we understand that some people may not be able to attend on the new date. Registered attendees received an email on Feb. 27 with options for either canceling or transferring registration to someone else. Our team is available to walk you through the options if you need assistance. If you couldn’t make the original date but now you can, you’re in luck! We still have tickets available at go.ncsu.edu/2025forum.
Future Forward Energy isn’t the only forum making news. Our 2022 Educational Attainment Forum partner, myFutureNC, held their State of Educational Attainment in North Carolina on Feb. 20. At the virtual event, myFutureNC CEO Cecilia Holden shared that there are now 1.7 million North Carolinians aged 25-44 who hold a college degree or a non-degree credential, bringing us closer to the goal of two million by the year 2030.
Earlier this month we did a soft launch of registration for our next Strategic Workforce Leadership Initiative, taking place in late April here at NC State University. This initiative first began as part of our 2023 forum on Talent First Economics and is designed to build strong, committed and capable workforce and economic development leaders ready to capitalize on opportunities that will benefit their communities. Spots are limited. Apply today at go.ncsu.edu/workforceleader.
Finally, the regional teams making up the Financial Resilience Community Cohort from the 2024 forum on Weathering Financial Storms are continuing to move forward with the goal of increasing household financial resilience in their local communities. The five teams are in various stages of working with consultants on projects and their organizational assessments. The cohort also continues to gather semi-annually for their peer learning meetings.
As I reflect on the 16 Emerging Issues Forums I have had the privilege of working on, I am curious to know how they have impacted participants in important ways. Over the next several months, I will pose a question in this report that I’m interested in learning more about. I will share a few of your responses (with your permission) in the following month’s report.
February’s question: What connection did you make at a forum that had a positive impact on you or your work?
Send me an email at smlanger@ncsu.edu with your answer. I look forward to reading your responses!
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