Winston-Salem has fallen behind its metropolitan peers economically in the past 10 years, particularly in three key categories, a follow-up to a 1999 McKinsey & Co report is expected to show.
To catch up, the community needs to improve its per-capita income, population growth and quality of life, a group of business and civic leaders said yesterday.
It also must generate and enhance higher levels of five types of capital -- economic, esthetic, intellectual, political and social -- to have any chance of meeting the goal of a net 35,000 jobs by 2018.
The officials spoke before an audience of more than 150 at the 25th anniversary meeting of Leadership Winston-Salem.
Don Flow, the chairman and chief executive of The Flow Cos., said that the second McKinsey report would be released soon. He provided a brief analysis, in which Winston-Salem is compared with such metro areas as Fayetteville, Ark., Hagerstown, Md., and Lakeland, Fla.
The report found that the top-10 metros in Winston-Salem's peer group have a single economic magnet that is unique for at least a 200-mile radius, have a feasible resource supply, serve as a major economic driver, and have the ability to commercialize intellectual capital.
Winston-Salem's challenge, Flow said, is determining and nurturing its magnet.
The message and challenge aren't new to Winston-Salem or the Triad. Allen Joines, the mayor of Winston-Salem, offered a similar speech just more than a year ago in which the 35,000 job goal was boldly made.
The problem is that though many of those economic studies are inspiring for a short while, they eventually lose steam.
Yesterday's speakers said that the community cannot continue to live off wealth created by previous generations. Instead, it must recommit to growing local companies and industry sectors that can create and sustain economic capital.
Michael Suggs, the chairman of the Goler Community Development Corp., said that the community must prove that hands-on socioeconomic change is taking place here. He said that though racial segregation is dwindling in local neighborhoods, economic segregation continues to divide the community.
"We need to have some ‘unaffordable' housing in areas known for affordable housing," said Suggs, pointing to the $50 million investment in the Goler development as an example.
"That way, residents can see opportunities beyond their normal surroundings, and over time as a diverse community develops, it affects the neighborhood schools."
Raising the bar on what is considered as an acceptable standard of living is the goal of Karen McNeil-Miller, the president of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.
"We certainly want 30,000 new jobs in our community, but they need to be across the spectrum," McNeil-Miller said. "There needs to be opportunities for everyone to be gainfully employed, not just gold-collar and white-collar jobs."
rcraver@wsjournal.com 727-7376
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