The North Carolina Department of Commerce has added a new community development program to its already broad array of community planning efforts.
The North Carolina Certified Retirement Community Program is for communities that are positioning for retiree attraction as an economic and community development strategy. North Carolina currently enjoys a robust in-migration of retirees to the state who desire to have it all in North Carolina.
The North Carolina General Assembly, during the 2008 short session, recognized the inherent panoply of quality living that the state offers and established the North Carolina Certified Retirement Community Program (S.B. 1627) as a vehicle to designate communities that offer this unprecedented, quality of living that is sought by the mature community.
Program planning, development, implementation, and administration are and will be conducted through Commerce’s Office of Rural Development Programs. The program value adds for communities that earn this designation will be the enhanced marketing via commerce tourism and web products. The designation has a five year life, after which communities will need to consider recertification at the sunset of the five year period.
The City of Lumberton has been officially designated as a N.C. Certified Retirement Community on April 20, 2010. Lumberton is the pilot city for the program and through it Retiree Attraction committee’s work has earned its designation through a process that has included completion of a comprehensive community survey and assessment tool that spans numerous dimensions reflective of the community’s readiness for retiree attraction. http://www.ci.lumberton.nc.us/
The program’s application and guidelines are available here. The community survey and assessment tool can be requested by e-mail to mroberts@nccommerce.com
CRC Application
Any questions or comments regarding The North Carolina Certified Retirement Community Program can be directed to Mark A. Roberts, Director, Office of Rural Development at 919.733.4979 or e-mail mroberts@nccommerce.com.