Regionalism in North Carolina

Regionalism is considered to be important in North Carolina, but a clear view about what regionalism means or how it can be put into action is lacking .The state's regionalism policy is largely implicit; executive orders have defined features of regional councils but have never established an explicit regionalism policy. Through activities of staff in field offices of the Division of Community Assistance (DCA), certain regional projects have been initiated outside the regional council framework, and the state has supported some regional ventures such as the Partnership for the Sounds. A major new dimension of regionalism is the strategy for economic development through seven large regions organized as economic development partnerships or commissions.