We Are RaleighForward

The Triangle is in the early stages of an economic supercycle similar to those of Seattle, Austin, San Francisco and Boston.  Economic supercycles tend to develop in regions with clusters of higher education because they attract businesses and entrepreneurs hungry for the technology, research and talent they produce, which in turn leads to an influx of capital investment and accelerating population growth.  In the early stages, communities in these regions benefit from supercycles because they expand employment opportunities, raise property values, and increase tax revenue.  As they intensify, however, economic supercycles strain local budgets, distort housing markets and exacerbate income inequality. When communities react too slowly as these economic super cycles evolve, they can reach a tipping point and effectively become enclaves of the wealthy at the expense of nearly everyone else.

While Raleigh is far from reaching this tipping point, there are emerging challenges signaling the need to act.  Housing supply is not keeping pace with demand, so affordability is declining.  Property taxes and fees are increasing to provide adequate infrastructure and public services to our growing population.  The resulting economic pressure is pushing renters and lower income residents out of their neighborhoods and often outside of our City.  And those that remain often feel threatened and disconnected as new residents move in around them disrupting the continuity of their neighborhoods.  But there is hope because Raleigh is refining its capacity to connect with residents and reimagining community engagement to adapt to these emerging challenges. 

But this cannot solely be a top-down effort by staff and elected officials.   Establishing an enduring culture of community engagement is difficult under the best of circumstances, but it is particularly difficult for communities in the midst of an economic supercycle because change is so rapid. The dramatic economic transformation in Raleigh is exposing historic divisions and fostering distrust within its marginalized communities.  At the same time, there are groups seeking to maintain the status quo by weaponizing misinformation for political gain.  The result is a growing sense of instability across the community and an unwarranted erosion of trust in the competence and capability of the City to meet the needs of current and future residents. 

To counter this emerging narrative, we created RaleighForward to serve as an online hub delivering accurate information to residents, community groups, business and civic leaders seeking constructive ways to improve the lives of all Raleigh residents.  RaleighForward will also serve as a collaborative bringing together diverse community leaders to develop and advance practical solutions for improving housing affordability, broadening community prosperity and resilience and enhancing civic engagement.  By combining accurate information with genuine community collaboration, RaleighForward intends to help the City become more equitable, just and inclusive.