A new day: Eastern N.C. shapes its future.

• Author: Brandon, Lynne
• Position: Special Advertising Section: Regional Focus

The building blocks are here. Eastern North Carolina is twice the size of New Jersey. It has a long coastline with beautiful beaches. Two major interstate highways. Two ports. Rivers and railroads. And it has the desire to excel, as exhibited by the Foundation of Renewal for Eastern North Carolina. But Eastern North Carolina's extreme makeover is still in the early stages. Before the bandages come off, much work remains for its 2.5 million residents and their leaders.

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The region has been battered lately on several fronts. Economically, its fortunes have been tied to agriculture and manufacturing. With tobacco and textiles in decline, times have been tough. Even the weather has worked against it, with hurricanes Dennis and Floyd hitting in 1999 and Isabel four years later.

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That's what FoR ENC, a Greenville-based nonprofit designed to serve as a springboard for entrepreneurial growth, is trying to overcome. It began in 2002, when its founders agreed that Eastern North Carolina could no longer afford to settle for second-class economic status. "As long as some of the poorest counties in the U.S. are right here in Eastern North Carolina, we'll have important work to do," says Phillip Horne, the organization's president. Foremost among FoR ENC projects are regional efforts to nurture and market its businesses, expanded high-speed wireless Internet access, an agency to coordinate tourism efforts and a residential development southeast of Edenton.

The Virtual Incubator Platform for Eastern North Carolina is an Internet-based regional-business database (www.vipforenc.com) that lists companies, job openings, bid requests and other information. It is designed to promote teamwork among small businesses in homeland security and aviation; medical technology, biotechnology and agricultural technology; military procurement and commercialization; and travel, tourism and entertainment. FoR ENC regards its Wave-Length Broadband Wireless project (www.gowavelength.com) as integral to economic development.

FoR ENC launched the Venture East Travel and Tourism Partnership (www.venture-east.com) to market tourism, including agricultural and heritage, in the 41-county region east of I-95. The primary campaign will target the region's historical towns and what is being called the Inner Banks, towns on the region's bays and rivers. To maximize the potential for this part of the East, FoR ENC has trademarked "IBX, the Inner Banks of Eastern North Carolina" for marketing purposes. The IBX oval symbol is similar to the popular OBX symbol adopted by the Outer Banks.

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Sandy Point, a residential development on 927 acres along Albemarle Sound in Chowan County (www.sandypoint.us), will include primary and vacation housing, stores, boating and recreation areas. It is being developed by The Fund for Sandy Point, a division of the Fund for New Urbanism, the development arm of Miami-based architectural firm Duany Plater-Zyberk. Andres Duany, architect and principal in Duany Plater-Zyberk, explains FoR ENC's role in the planning and evaluation process: "This project, the first of its kind in the country, was introduced to the Fund for New Urbanism by FoR ENC. Our collaboration emphasizes a novel approach to stimulate regional entrepreneurship and competitiveness in a global economy by focusing on building a community as a tool for attracting 'knowledge workers'--those who create and grow new businesses."

Horne says the East has been slow to embrace regionalism, which is necessary to take advantage of opportunity. "One way to turn the economic tide is to keep our intellectual property here and keep greater numbers of our young people in the area. Many people would be surprised at the number of Fortune 500 executives who grew up in Eastern North Carolina, left to become educated elsewhere and now serve as the economic and cultural leadership of this country."

It is fitting that...