Kannapolis —The City of Kannapolis has been recognized by the Centralina Council of Governments with an Excellence Award in Economic Development. The award, given at Centralina’s annual meeting last week in Mooresville, recognizes the city for the work it’s done preparing for the NC Research Campus.

Since the announcement of the NC Research Campus, Kannapolis has pursued two distinct programs to help maximize the $1.5 billion investment. First, Kannapolis is in the process of developing a self-financing bond package that will rebuild infrastructure and create quality of life enhancements throughout the city in order to support the development of the Campus.

At the same time, the city also commissioned a SWOT and economic impact analysis that both compared Kannapolis to nationally recognized biotech hubs as well as projected job numbers and the regional impact the Campus could have. The outcome of the SWOT analysis will include specific action plans to address areas such as workforce, education, quality of life, entrepreneurship and growth management.

“As a council, we have worked very diligently since the announcement of the Campus to help prepare our community for the transformation from a textile based economy to a knowledge based economy,’ said Kannapolis Mayor Bob Misenheimer. “To be recognized for our work thus far with an Excellence Award from the Centralina Council of Governments is gratifying.”

Each year, the Centralina Council of Governments honors the “good works” of member governments through the Region of Excellence Awards. A panel of judges this year included Anne Udall of the Lee Institute, Ellis Hankins of the NC League of Municipalities, and Jim Blackburn with the NC Association of County Commissioners. This panel found that Kannapolis’ work displayed outstanding commitment to regional excellence.

For more information about the Centralina Council of Governments, please visit http://www.centralina.org/.