What are small towns doing to survive the recession? An E-3 forum in Marion aims to help answer that question. That’s E-3 for education, economic development and entrepreneurship, and the forum is the fifth in the series. It’s scheduled for Friday, May 7, from 7:45 to 9:30 a.m., at the Historic Marion Depot.

Here’s the info from sponsors Community Innovator Committee and the City of Marion forum:

Guest speaker is William Lambe, the director of the Community & Economic Development Program at the University of North Carolina School Of Government, where he specializes in rural economic development research and advising. His most recent publication, Small Towns, Big Ideas: Case Studies in Small Town Economic Development, was released in 2009.

Lambe also directs the Community Campus Partnership, a campus-wide initiative to deploy the resources of the university into the service of economically distressed communities in North Carolina; the city of Marion is participating in the initiative. Before joining the school, Lambe worked with the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) on a range of research and advocacy projects. There he authored two major studies: “Back on Track: Promising Practices to Help Dislocated Workers, Businesses and Communities” for the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center and “Business Retention and Expansion: Synergizing Service Delivery in North Carolina” for CFED. He holds a B.A. from the University of Colorado and a Master of Public Policy from Duke’s Sanford Institute.

There will be time for questions and answers at the end of the program.

To better understand the local economy, the Marion Community Innovator Committee has scheduled the Community Forums to focus on the current economy and the economy of the future.

Also where does McDowell County fit into the economic profile of the region, state, nation and the world economy? The Marion Innovator Committee is an outreach of the NC STEP program.

E-3 Forums representing Education, Economic development and Entrepreneurship; it is about innovation and what our community can do that is innovative, creative and can provide jobs for our citizens.

Future E-3 Forum dates are:

• Friday, May 7 – Will Lambe, author of “Small Towns, BIG IDEAS”.
• Friday, May 21– Local Agencies Report

All forums are open to the public and will be held at the Historic Marion Depot. The forums are sponsored by the Community Innovator Committee and the City of Marion. For more information, call 828-652-2215.