ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½

Burke County is one of the communities the Rural Center will visit.

Rural Center representatives will be in ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sept. 18 in Hildebrand Hall at Western Piedmont Community College, according to information from the center.

The Rural Center said feedback from the sessions across the state will result in an informed, updated Rural Center 2025 advocacy agenda to help it work for the state’s 78 rural counties to legislators, policymakers and investors.

The center has developed a Rural Issues Poll to help collect data about the issues influencing the economic success of rural North Carolina. The online poll asks respondents to rate their levels of concern about a number of issues, to rank their top issues and to share the strengths of their communities, a release from the center said.

β€œWe’re excited for this opportunity to spend focused time in the communities we serve talking about what they need and how we can best represent them,” Patrick Woodie, president and CEO of the NC Rural Center, said in the release. β€œBetween these conversations and the results of our new poll, I’m confident we’ll have the best information possible to create an advocacy agenda that moves rural North Carolina forward.”

To register for the ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ session, . If you can’t make the ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ session, there are 14 other locations where the Rural Center will be holding sessions. You don’t have to live in the county where the session is being held to attend, the center release said.

To see other sessions and times, visit .

To take the Rural Center poll, visit . The poll asks for opinions on things such as physical infrastructure, education/training, small business, health care, economic climate and social and civic infrastructure.

Those who complete the poll will be eligible for a drawing for two free tickets to the 2025 Rural Summit in Raleigh, the center said.