To encourage participation, emails were sent twice to the Partnership’s contacts. To attract additional participation from the public, color advertisements were published in four Union County newspapers, and 40 ten-second advertisements were broadcast on News Channel 14. Participant names were entered into a random drawing for a $100 gift card, won by David Cline of Waxhaw.

Following are highlights of the survey results. For a copy of the full report, contact the Partnership at 704-238-0640 or email mauriceewing@unioncpp.com.

All economic development priorities rated medium to high (3.5 to 4.48 on a 5-point scale), with highest ratings given to:
• Promoting and strengthening existing business and industry (4.48)
• Recruiting good-paying jobs (4.57)
• Expanding the tax base with new capital investment (4.21)
• Maintaining an up to date and informative website (4.03)
• Meeting with local elected officials to promote understanding of economic development (4.01)
• Many other individual priorities were suggested, expressing a variety of concerns

There was strong interest in a free program about basic economic development
• 50% are definitely interested in a program ranging from 1 hour to 3 or 4 hours
• 42.1% are interested in some program “maybe – depends on details”
• Only 7.9% said “no”

Interest in periodic communication from the UCPP was also strong
• 87.4% would like an email newsletter once or twice per quarter
• 36.8% want to meet once or twice a year with Partnership leaders
• 34.7% want to receive an annual report publication

A total of 210 people responded and answered a majority of questions.
• About 38.6% claimed some leadership position in the County
• 45.7% were interested citizens in the county
• 38.1% were interested from elsewhere, or have other affiliations
(Totals exceed 100% due to multiple answers)

“The survey results are encouraging and will give us valuable direction as we plan for the future,” said Maurice Ewing, CEO and President of the Partnership. “Of particular interest is the strong support for promoting and strengthening local industry, to which our Business Retention & Expansion program is dedicated. This program has been very effective at identifying new opportunities to help local companies grow and expand, which in turn supports our primary objective of more jobs and more investment for in Union County.”

This survey is the first step in the development of the strategic plan for Union County - more on that in the next newsletter.

After several years sharing tight quarters with the local Chamber of Commerce, the Union County Partnership for Progress moved in December to new offices in a stand-alone building at 2616 W. Roosevelt Blvd., the busy main thoroughfare through Monroe.

“The new office has added efficiency and productivity to our work day, and I have been surprised at the walk in traffic we have enjoyed at this more visible location,” said President Maurice Ewing. “We believe this will help our industry recruiting efforts as well as our productivity.”


Gretchen Carson joined the Union County Partnership for Progress last summer as Executive Administrator. Ms. Carson is responsible for maintaining the daily operations of the office and managing the calendar. She completed the Basic Economic course at UNC-Chapel Hill before joining us and has since completed the first of three years study with the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute. She is working toward the designation of Certified Economic Developer (CEcD).

Prior to joining the Partnership, Ms. Carson was the Executive Director of the French-American Chamber of Commerce in North Carolina Inc. for three years.

Ms. Carson earned a B.S.B.A., Cum Laude, in International Business from UNC Charlotte in 2005 and a B.S. in French and Art History from Indiana University Bloomington in 2000. She also spent four months as an intern and then as a full-time employee at Austrade, the international trade division of the Embassy of Australia in Washington D.C.


During the fiscal year from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010 the Partnership conducted 75 visits with existing Union County businesses:
• From July 1, 2010 through March 7, 2011, we conducted 36 visits with existing Union County businesses
• In the same period, the staff interacted with 47 projects that have location/expansion opportunities
• Beginning in September 2009, the Partnership began investigating the feasibility of a rail-served business park in Indian Trail. This is in addition to Project Legacy which is being explored near Marshville.