Central Piedmont Community College

Central Piedmont Community College is well known as a workforce partner and as one of the key contributors to Charlotte’s prosperous economy. Most importantly, it is an advocate for student success, particularly through its seamless pathways approach that looks at education through a holistic lens. As the region emerges from the pandemic, Central Piedmont has a pivotal role to play.

Pivotal player:

Central Piedmont looks to Charlotte’s recovery with an eye on the region’s long-term future

Central Piedmont Community College has been a cornerstone of Charlotte’s robust educational system for more than 50 years. Emerging from a historic pandemic that devastated the national and local economies of markets worldwide, rearranging the business, social and educational landscape all while accelerating innovation in and out of the classroom, Central Piedmont is expected to be a seminal player in Charlotte’s recovery while helping guide the market’s equitable long-term future.

The college’s plethora of associate degrees, corporate and continuing education offerings, its adult education and fully online programs mixed with the college’s deep commitment to learning outcomes, creating career pathways and improving economic mobility in the Queen City, are invaluable assets for safeguarding the success of current and future students as well as Charlotte’s established and growing economic sectors.

As the second-largest community college in the North Carolina Community College System and the largest in the Charlotte metropolitan area, Central Piedmont has grown hand-in-hand with the Queen City, supporting the career pathways of traditional students, adult learners and professionals while being an integral part of the economic development activity in the Charlotte market. Coming out of the pandemic landscape, residents and businesses alike will rely on industry experts and community partners to contend with the ongoing and ripple effects created by COVID-19 and its aftermath. At this intersection, the Charlotte market can look to Central Piedmont to serve as a beacon to illuminate the uncharted territory of a post-pandemic future.

Growing impact From its beginnings, Central Piedmont has been at the forefront of change, adapting to the reality of the times. The college opened its doors in 1963, the height of the Civil Rights movements, merging the mostly white Central Industrial Education Center and the mostly Black Mecklenburg College to become Central Piedmont Community College, following the N.C. Community College Act of the same year. The Central Campus is located in Charlotte’s Elizabeth neighborhood, though the college’s presence spans Mecklenburg County, with six campuses and two learning centers.

As of 2021, Central Piedmont serves more than ( )

Intentional

The pandemic proved an opportunity to live up to words and expectations

Dr. Kandi Deitemeyer

President – Central Piedmont Community College

How has Central Piedmont supported its students through the pandemic? I think the pandemic showed our strengths and where we want to go. We like to use the words “intentional” and “transformative,” and the pandemic allowed us to be even more intentional with students, where we’ve had to do more one-to-one interaction. We had to meet students where they are more than ever before, whether you work in student affairs or are a faculty member. I think it gave us a great opportunity to focus on the teaching and learning experience. While many of our career and technical education programs continued with in-person, on-campus instruction, most of our programming since the pandemic began has been in a remote format. Being able to meet students in that experience was important, in spite of the fact that, at the time, not every student was ready and not every faculty member was ready for online interaction. .

How has Central Piedmont worked to support economic mobility? In the last four years, I have not had a conversation with a local business leader, government leader or a community leader who has not come to that conversation with a deep understanding that we all need to do better. As a community, everything we do needs to focus on programs that can be strengthened and initiatives that can bring prosperity to everyone. How do we change people’s lives? How do we transform our community? How do we strengthen it? I’m very proud the college has been involved in these conversations from the start, and that our strategic plan focuses on student success and providing pathways to greater economic mobility. There has been action on multiple fronts, such as coalitions driven by the mayor’s office. It might be work in one of our healthcare industries, or through the Leading on Opportunity organization. We’ve gotten very intentional about what those partnerships mean and what they can achieve.

What are your near-term expectations? Certainly, we’re going to return to campus and continue our work. We’re excited to have so many more of our students back on campus for the fall 2021 semester. As I think about Central Piedmont Community College coming out of this pandemic, we’re going to be ready to meet the high-growth demands and needs of our prosperous, growing and global city. Prior to the pandemic, Charlotte was definitely coming into its own, and as more people are vaccinated and businesses return to more-normal operations, Charlotte is going to bounce back in a big way. Central Piedmont will be ready to serve our students and community partners.

Dr. Heather Hill

Vice President of Academic Affairs Central Piedmont Community College

What is your view on the pandemic’s impact on talent availability and retention?

We do believe that we have a responsibility not just to our traditional straight-out-of-high-school students, but also to nontraditional, incumbent workers who either need another credential to move up or an opportunity to re-career. That is an area that is highly attractive to the nontraditional student. It is succinct without all the exploration. We thoroughly examined our data and some nationwide data and we found that students are more successful and completion rates are higher if you have shorter term courses. As an institution, we’re looking at o ering more of the shorter eight-week sessions instead of so many 16week sessions. We have o ered eight-week courses for many years, but we’re trying to make a more intentional e ort with our calendar so we can have an eight-week session, take a short break, be very intentional with our recruitment, our registration, our advising and get students back into the next eight-week program.

Where do you see online education moving as the pandemic recedes?

One of the lessons from the pandemic is that there are some things we can do online that we thought maybe we never could. It has given us an opportunity to reexamine technology because many of us as faculty members may have one idea of what technology can do for us. With the speed at which technology is changing, we have an opportunity to reevaluate some of the most current technology and to even refresh the things that we were doing. There is a ton of research out there about the benefits of flipped classrooms where students prep online with some type of material and then come into the classroom for the homework, the real-time tutorial piece of it. There is an opportunity for that. I don’t think, however, that it is one or the other. It really is a blend to the point where we would estimate that very few of our classes moving forward will not have some component of technology.

Following safety protocols, Central Piedmont has o ered some inperson classes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

( ) 50,000 students annually, with approximately 43,000 for-credit and more than 12,000 corporate and continuing education students taking classes at the college each year, respectively. The college also draws in more than 3,000 international students annually, representing 152 nations. Additionally, approximately 1,200 military veteran students add to the college’s diverse student population.

At the helm of Central Piedmont is President Kandi Deitemeyer, who was appointed the college’s fourth president in 2016 and assumed the role in January 2017. Strengthening the relationships across the college’s six-campus footprint as well as with the business community in the region has been a keen focus for Deitemeyer.

“The college constantly looks for opportunities to partner with employers directly to meet their workforce needs more efficiently,” Deitemeyer explained. “We have a number of programs with companies such as Carolina CAT, Cummins, Siemens, and Tesla, through which we train students in the specific skills and knowledge required by these employers. These partnerships ensure these companies have a pipeline of new, well-trained talent. We have found these programs can work for employers in a wide range of industries.”

With more than 300 programs available, Central Piedmont’s goal is to provide the kinds of programs and opportunities for citizens to acquire the academic knowledge, industry experience, business and life skills needed to successfully enter the workforce or transfer to other higher learning institutions, crucial tenets in the pandemic recovery process and the bedrock of improving economic mobility in the region.

Pandemic pivot Prior to COVID-19, Charlotte experienced a decade characterized by robust business expansion and population growth, garnering a reputation as a headquarters city and for its entrepreneurial opportunities. Central Piedmont has been a major centerpiece of this growth. At the onslaught of the pandemic in March 2020, the college doubled down on its efforts to provide student support both in and out of the classroom, remotely and in person, to help students and industries weather a challenging and unknown landscape.

The pandemic prompted the move of more than 1,500 class sections to the online/virtual delivery method along with the necessary student services. As part of its immediate support to the student body, Central Piedmont provided more than 1,200 laptops with accompanying Wi-Fi hotspots to enrolled students. “We are working to provide technology because many students simply are not equipped to move into a remote learning environment. We are making laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots available to students through many different philanthropic partnerships,” Deitemeyer told Invest:.

More than $120,000 has been raised specifically for the Student and Employee Emergency Funds since last March. The college’s holistic student support factors in the unexpected financial emergencies that could prohibit students from completing their degree programs, a reality that materialized for many as a result of the pandemic. The college’s Student Emergency and Finish Line grants illustrate Central Piedmont’s efforts to meet students’ beyond the academic level in order to best ensure positive learning outcomes. To that end, the newly established Central Piedmont Cares initiative has helped more than 70 employees and 3,800 students throughout the pandemic. Central Piedmont’s holistic approach makes financial, medical, mental, legal and technological support functions available to the student body in order to maximize their experience at the college.

Some students returned to campus as early as May 2020, as many programs require an in-person instruction component. The increasing availability Dr. Tracie Clark

Vice President for Strategy and Organizational Excellence Central Piedmont Community College

How is the college thinking about hybrid curriculum options?

We are very fortunate that pre-COVID, we had done the background research and approved the launch of our Parr Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence. While we had to launch it in the middle of the pandemic, it could not have come at a better time because several faculty members who needed those additional skills were able to teach in an online format. Even as we are trying to get back to whatever this new normal is going to look like and we o er more sections on campus, we are still going to have to social distance. There are some classes that have 50 seats and no one at this stage is going to sign up for such a packed-in, indoor environment. That is where hybrid options come in. It grants us the ability to be flexible with a large class roster.

What functional roles is Central Piedmont looking to expand?

We distributed a basic needs survey to our students to find out what they needed. Mental health as well as housing and food security were top of the list. The survey helped us in our recruitment and retention e orts. We are constantly making sure they are aware of those additional resources we have at their disposal, including food pantries on each campus. We are sending the message that we are here to support their non-academic needs as well.

We are also looking to build out our access to labor market data. We work with several di erent companies to get workforce trends, average salaries and postings in our community. They are very helpful in tracking trends, particularly with the pandemic. The opportunities that are available today are quite di erent than they were six months or a year ago. That allows us to be on the pulse so that we can know what fields are going through a spike in demand and those that are dying down and reflect that in our programs.

In addition to the faculty support with the Center for Teaching and Learning, we do anticipate an increased focus on general employee talent.

Dr. Chris Cathcart

Vice President of Student Affairs Central Piedmont Community College

What drives the student affairs department at the college?

What we have at Central Piedmont is a very passionate and experienced team of professionals. There are members of our team who have been at this work and in this organization for 20-plus years and are happy to do it, so the wealth of experience and knowledge that we bring to taking care of our students is considerable. We are always thinking of ways we can continue to improve the support to our students and we are passionate about that.

How has your mentoring program performed during this time of immense change?

We have several di erent mentoring programs that attempt to address the needs of our diverse student populations. Obviously, it’s been an interesting process to keep those students engaged. We work with those who are in high school, and some who are on campus. Sometimes the outreach component has been di cult because our students have so many competing priorities. We’ve had to do outreach to keep our programming consistent. Through the routine, through the exercise, and through the activity, we were able to keep our students engaged and actually make them as successful as we can. Of course, cohorts are not as large as we would expect them to be because of the pandemic, but the ones we have been able to engage, have been successful and are moving through our academic programs with minimal concern.

How have you engaged students in matters concerning diversity?

We wanted to create a space where there could be a good, strong dialogue about implicit bias, about cultural awareness. We sought to increase the opportunity for us to hear di erent perspectives and then investigate how we act and internalize that information, ideally using it to be a more inclusive community. The college has tried really hard to focus on that over the past year and feel we’ve been quite successful. of COVID-19 vaccines point to a more robust return to normal on-campus operations come fall 2021. As the college returns to regular operations, student success and community service will continue to be Central Piedmont’s guiding principle as outlined in the college’s vision, mission and values.

Seamless pathways As Charlotte’s economy diversified and expanded in the years following the 2008 Great Recession, difficulties in finding well-trained, highly skilled talent became a common thread across major economic sectors. Businesses will continue to face this challenge as Charlotte embarks on the COVID-recovery process, with educational institutions uniquely placed to address those workforce needs. As the largest educational institution in the Queen City, Central Piedmont has a major role to play. To help fill the labor gap, the college is intent on creating seamless pathways for traditional students looking to transfer to begin careers or move to advanced programs after a two-year stint at the college, working professionals looking to further their careers, and nontraditional students looking to pivot into successful career tracks.

With more than 300 available programs revolving around healthcare, construction and complimentary trades and advanced manufacturing, among others, coupled with key strategic partnerships with local industry leaders, the college is well known as a workforce-focused entity. Corporate and continuing education offerings mixed with apprenticeships, internships and work-based learning opportunities fuel Central Piedmont’s workforce-focused approach. With today’s quickly evolving and highly competitive job market, students can distinguish themselves from a pool of candidates by tapping into Central Piedmont’s robust offerings of apprenticeships, internships, continuing education courses and work-based learning offerings. This college’s offerings feature real-world experience with some of Charlotte’s biggest employers in diverse fields of study. Key partnerships with companies such as Amazon, Atrium Health, Bank of America, Blum, Carolina CAT, Cummins, Duke Energy, Hendrick Automotive Group, Novant Health, Siemens and Tesla provide students with valuable field experience that best matches their personal interests and goals.

As a major transfer partner to other four-year institutions, Central Piedmont’s pathways extend well into other parts of Charlotte’s higher education system. Nearly 60% of Central Piedmont’s students transfer to other universities, many to the University North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte. In 2019, Central Piedmont

and UNC Charlotte announced 49erNext, a new coadmission program focused on facilitating degree completion as students seamlessly made the transition from the college to the university. A fully integrated advising model centered around students’ academic, financial aid and career planning needs is the hallmark of this program in an effort to best ensure the timely completion of a baccalaureate degree. A pilot class of 111 students opened the 49erNext program in August 2019, and close to 29% of UNC Charlotte’s transfer students come from Central Piedmont. Participants of the 49erNext program are eligible to seamlessly transfer into more than 75 undergraduate degree programs, or more than 130 majors, at UNC Charlotte, as long as they complete an associate degree at Central Piedmont with a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA.

Similarly and despite the ongoing health crisis, Central Piedmont doubled down on efforts to expand seamless pathways to other local Charlotte four-year institutions in 2020.

Last August, Central Piedmont and WGU North Carolina, an affiliate of national online nonprofit Western Governors University, signed a memorandum of understanding agreement to ease the transition of Central Piedmont graduates to pursue bachelor degrees offered by WGU, while also providing tuition discounts and access to scholarship funds.

Last September, Central Piedmont and Queens University of Charlotte announced the launch of the RoyalUp program, another of the college’s direct pathways to completion of a bachelor degree. RoyalUp participants who maintain a 2.5 GPA or above are guaranteed admission as well as a $10,000 annual scholarship at Queens. “This public-private partnership is unique and will be a great benefit to students in Mecklenburg County. We are excited to offer this option and pathway to our students who will thrive at Queens,

Participants in the 49er Next program are eligible to seamlessly transfer into more than 75 undergraduate degree programs

Mark Short

Vice President of Talent & Organizational Engagement Central Piedmont Community College

What are some of the main takeaways from COVID19’s disruption?

The biggest takeaways revolve around connectivity and communication with our teammates and students. Workforce and technology connectivity was critical for us. We created a culture of care by establishing a dedicated email group where employees and students could reach out to the college to address any need they were facing, from financial to mental health support. We also implemented a variety of internal initiatives to support and motivate sta throughout this time. Maintaining connectivity with a human element was important because when the pandemic started, we had no clue how long it was going to last. Regarding the equity, diversity and inclusion component, we placed a strong focus on equity in terms of who could be connected because some students, faculty and sta experienced technology issues did not have access to the needed technology at home. Outreach to faculty, students and sta was critical early on. As people got into a rhythm, things got much better. We wanted to create a sense of inclusion. Though people were working and studying remotely, they still needed to have that same sense of belonging to the community no matter where they were. We have six campuses, so it was critical to create a one-college mindset. Throughout this time, we strived to create that sense of human connectivity and belonging.

How does a strong corporate background help fill operational gaps at an educational institution

We’re blessed to come from strong organizations that had a lot of programs in place. We learned from those experiences, both good and bad, and applied those when setting things up. We had a clean slate at Central Piedmont when it came to program implementation and development in the equity, diversity and inclusion space. I think having the experience of previously working at a di erent institution with a di erent culture lends itself well to what we’re trying to build at Central Piedmont.

Ria Nicholls

Chief Diversity Officer – Central Piedmont Community College Executive on Loan – Bank of America

Our learning plan goes well into 2022 and features di erent modalities centered around online learning, a speaker series and virtual and/or in person training. We’re placing an initial focus on our leaders; if we want to create the culture we want, it starts with our leaders and what is expected of them. Some of the work we have planned as far as talent development will feature implicit bias and micro aggression training for all faculty and sta at the college. We are culminating all of these fronts with our “Courageous Conversations” initiative. As leaders complete their training, they’re expected to be part of the training and courageous conversations we are having so we can bring these e orts together and grow as a community. These e orts will be much better in person. All of this is connected to the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council. Coming back to campus allows all of this to come alive, so to speak.

A $1 million Bank of America initiative in partnership with Central Piedmont will help students of color complete degrees

where they will enjoy small class sizes, relationships with professors and a strong surrounding community,” Deitemeyer said at the time. “At the same time, this partnership is a great example of the higher-education community in Charlotte working together to build more avenues to greater economic mobility,” she said.

Just recently in April 2021, Central Piedmont and Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU) in Charlotte announced the creation of the JCSU Connect program. Students who enroll in JCSU Connect will take their first two years of classes at Central Piedmont and finish their bachelor’s degree at Johnson C. Smith. Students who remain in good academic standing at Central Piedmont, completing 60 credit hours, can receive an $8,000 renewable scholarship for two years at Johnson C. Smith. Central Piedmont will launch the program in August 2021. The first cohort of students will transfer to Johnson C. Smith in the fall of 2023. JCSU Connect will provide yet another direct and cost-effective pathway for Charlotte-area students who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

Whether it is creating opportunities for students to quickly enter the workforce with the needed job skills employers crave, or ensuring degree completion at a four-year university, Central Piedmont’s seamless pathway approach imbues the college’s program offering and partnerships with businesses and educational institutions alike.

Community needs As the perennial education and workforce development institution in the Queen City, Central Piedmont is keen on partnering with the local business community not only for collaborative academic and training programs but to help boost overall economic mobility for students and residents in Charlotte.

In November, Bank of America, one of the largest companies headquartered in Charlotte, announced a new jobs initiative to benefit minority students in collaboration with Central Piedmont. The $1-million initiative is designed to help students of color achieve degree completion and successfully enter familysustaining careers in high-demand employment fields.

This initiative complements Bank of America’s efforts to address the needs of individuals and communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. “Our focus on workforce development has been integral in creating opportunities for local residents, and for that reason we have a history of supporting Central Piedmont,” Bank of America Charlotte Market President Charles Bowman said at the time.

Similarly, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a $735,000 grant to Central Piedmont to support economic mobility as well as immediate, pandemic-related needs. The donation is slated to help bolster Central Piedmont’s student outreach efforts and to continue developing a robust talent pipeline in the Charlotte market. Part of this grant will help the college develop new, fully online training pathways in high-demand IT fields, including cybersecurity, health IT and forensic accounting. The funds will provide for course development, instructional capacity, technology and student support services. Since 2014, the bank has invested approximately $1.6 million in the college to support high-demand programs, such as truck driver training, electrical vehicle technology training, global logistics and distribution, and a customized training program for workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Approximately 525 students have earned credentials through these programs, the college reported.

“When JPMorgan Chase comes to a city, one of the first things we do is identify community partners that will help us not only connect with the community, but also actually make a long-term and sustainable impact on its residents and their economic mobility. We found a partner in Central Piedmont Community College,” Vice President of Corporate Responsibility Dekonti Mends-Cole said at the time. “Central Piedmont does not just educate students; it also identifies the needs of the surrounding community and provides the tools and the programs to address them. We’re pleased to partner with the college to help the residents of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County thrive.”

Looking ahead After a tumultuous year, Central Piedmont leaders, faculty and students eagerly look forward to the fall semester and beyond. The COVID-19 vaccine points to a fuller, more robust in-person fall semester. Whether remotely or in person, Central Piedmont remains steadfast in its holistic student support, ultimately underpinned by its commitment to improving economic mobility in the Queen City. As one of Charlotte’s treasured assets, Central Piedmont is well known as a workforce partner and as one of the key contributors responsible for Charlotte’s prosperous economy. It will be a major presence advocating for equitable access to opportunities for all community members in a postCOVID world.

In the midst of the challenges posed by the pandemic, Charlotte was rocked but not broken thanks to its strong foundation; a foundation rooted in community service and public-private collaborations, for which Central Piedmont Community College remains a unifying partner. Moving forward, Central Piedmont’s relationships and collaborations with industry and higher education partners, mixed with the continued alignment of academic and training programs to deliver the skills desired by Charlotte’s diversifying economic sectors, will be crucial components of the pandemic recovery process.

Central Piedmont students can choose from multiple programs that provide direct-transfer pathways to four-year universities.

Capital Analytics would like to thank Central Piedmont Community College for its contributions in compiling this chapter. To learn more, visit their website at: www.cpcc.edu

Education:

Charlotte’s prestigious universities, colleges, trade schools and K-12 institutions remain strong but innovation and adaptation will be the name of the game for the city of Charlotte and the surrounding region to remain a vibrant center that continues to grow.

Sea Change:

Emerging from the pandemic, education already looks very di erent

Charlotte’s education sector underwent a sea change in the last year. School life is almost unrecognizable compared to the pre-pandemic era, becoming more accessible in some aspects, and less accessible in others. Universities and colleges have spent the last year transitioning to the online learning model, where lectures are delivered virtually.

When the COVID pandemic caused authorities to implement stay-at-home orders in March 2020, schools and colleges were a major sticking point. On one hand, the mass congregations of students were a breeding ground for the spread of the virus, but on the other, legislators were asking themselves if they could afford disruption to arguably the most vital economic pillar.

One year later, in-person classes are set to resume on a broad scale. Although many students are eager to return to class and normality, at least some parts of the virtual and digital learning structure are here to stay.

Landscape The greater Charlotte area is home to some of the most prestigious universities in the country. Davidson College is ranked 15th among National Liberal Arts Colleges, Queens and Winthrop are tied at 13th in Southern Regional Universities and Catawba College comes in seventh in Southern Regional Colleges. Ranked 12th nationally and ahead of three of the eight Ivy League schools, Duke is just a stone’s throw from Charlotte in Durham. In 2017, the universities in Charlotte awarded almost 13,000 degrees, with the most degrees awarded from University of North Carolina (UNC) and Central Piedmont Community College, itself among the Top 20% of community colleges in North Carolina in a variety of categories. Business accounted for the largest single awarded segment, awarding 1,372 degrees and reflecting Charlotte’s position as a business and financial hub.

While 7,621 degrees were awarded to women during that year, 5,363 were awarded to men. The vast majority of graduates were white, accounting for over 55% of all degrees awarded, while about 24% of degrees were awarded to Black graduates, less than 10% to Hispanic or Latino students and less than 5% to Asian students. Diversity and equity have become a hot topic among Charlotte’s educational institutions after the country faced race-fueled civil unrest in summer 2020. But added to the mix now is COVID-19, which has been shown to have caused an effect called the “COVID slide,” whereby just 10% of 3- to 5-year olds ( )

Small advantage

Smaller size allows for more agile decision-making compared to bigger universities

Fred Whitt

President – Lenoir-Rhyne University

How did the university evolve in the past year? Just like at many universities, the past months have been incredibly challenging. It is always difficult to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity, and a worldwide pandemic creates both of these issues and more. We had an incredibly positive fall semester. Our enrollment remained strong and we developed a comprehensive COVID infection and disease prevention and control plan to guide our approach. A university-wide task force developed guidelines and procedures, called “Protecting our Den,’’ which included pre-arrival and surveillance testing during the semester. As a result through October, we had one of the lowest numbers of positive COVID cases in the region. Our classes were delivered in a hybrid format so each student was in face- to-face and online for each of their courses. We used a flipped classroom model, where you do a lot of course content online, and the face-to-face classroom time was utilized for more engaging activities. This included working with groups, problem-solving and content application. This approach allowed us to physically distance in the classroom by having no more than half the classes meeting at any one time. We followed that model throughout the semester, and will continue into the spring semester. While it’s a change, it was best given the cards we were dealt.

What are the advantages of being a small school in terms of communication? We have about 2,700 students. About 900 of those are graduate students and, of course, in addition to being here in Hickory, we have a graduate center in Asheville with about 200 graduate students. We also have the Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in South Carolina. One of the things that I noticed right from the get-go is how much more nimble we can be compared to my experiences in state universities. We’re in a unique position to pivot in a short period of time and adapt to change. Our mission is to meet the needs of the community at large, including business, industry and healthcare agencies. For example, getting a new program approved at a state university can take up to two years even when a proposal leaves the local campus. At our type of university, we have as few as two to three months for approval once the proposal is finalized on campus.

In terms of COVID, rather than making decisions unilaterally, we collaborated with our community partners and allies who advised us regarding our plans and implementation. We also stayed in continued communication with the NC Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC and other medical contacts affiliated with Lenoir-Rhyne.

As educational institutions plan a return back to the classroom, a hybrid approach is likely to remain in place.

Educational Attainment:

Highest level of education among people aged 25 years and older.

North Carolina Charlotte area

Count

Higher Degree1 37.8%

41.6% 660k

H.S. Diploma2 48%

46.2% 733k

No H.S. Diploma2 14.2%

12.2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 193k

Count number of people in category 1 Post-Secondary Degree 2 H.S. = High School

Source: Statistical Atlas ( ) enrolled in preschool prior to the pandemic were found to have received a robust replacement and the results were even more impactful for disadvantaged children and families. In Mecklenburg County, the Urban League is tackling inequality through workforce development, financial literacy, education and improved living standards.

Challenges The COVID-19 pandemic created some unique challenges for educational institutions to navigate through 2020 and into 2021. Some schools initially extended spring break and encouraged students to remain off campus. Others, like UNC Charlotte, announced an almost immediate transition to remote instruction where possible. Teleworking was encouraged for staff at numerous institiutions. The

The CARES Act allocated almost $14 billion directly to institutions of higher education

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) District tried to move spring break around, hoping to lessen the impact for students, but classes were ultimately canceled after the stay-at-home order was issued.

As the pandemic wore on, Charlotte-area schools prepared for re-opening both physically and virtually for the fall semester but faced the hurdle of rising COVID-19 cases in Mecklenburg County. A hybrid model of in-person and online classes was established at most institutions, with students required to wear masks. CMS planned pre-recorded virtual graduations for the Class of 2020. A year on, into March 2021, the return to normalcy and what that ultimately looks like is still being considered by schools. Key challenges include learning loss caused by a year without normal schooling, teacher and parent burnout and how to test fairly for students who have been under huge emotional stress for the better part of a year.

The disruption to classes, of course, had a financial

impact on universities. Students with radically changed circumstances began to drop out of college and university, others were given financial aid by the institutions and others delayed enrollment for a year. Income from student housing also fell, given that students were unable to return to dorms. Higher education began to evaluate its assets as income dwindled in an attempt to generate some liquidity that would see them through the pandemic. Greensboro’s Guilford College cut almost half its 41 academic majors and 30% of its faculty. Toward the end of the year, colleges and universities were facing significant fiscal 2020 declines in revenue, largely from refunded courses and cancelled programming.

As colleges and universities battled funding shortfalls, some help arrived in the form of the federal government’s CARES Act. The act that was signed into law on March 14, 2020 provided almost $14 billion allocated directly to higher education institutions, to be used for added expenses when shifting classes online and providing aid to students. Around 75% of the funds available were earmarked for Pell Grant recipients. During the second round of funding, universities received an additional $23 billion and in 2021, lobbyists returned for a further $97 billion. The latest package ultimately allocated $40 billion in funding.

Despite these challenges, just a handful of institutions were forced to permanently close – although storm clouds could be brewing on the horizon as colleges throughout the country saw enrollment declines beginning in the fall semester. Data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center show that undergraduate enrollment dropped by 4%

The collaborative spirit between private and public institutions includes e orts to streamline the student transfer process.

across the board in September 2020 compared to the same month a year earlier. Perhaps more concerning, there was a 16% decline in the overall number of firstyear students and a 23% drop in first-year students at community college. These results were gloomier than the expected 2.5% overall dip.

As virtual learning becomes more widespread, students are trying to decide whether the expense of some degree courses is worth it. For some, the significant fees paid were not so much for the classes, but for the opportunity to meet business leaders, network and obtain high-level internships. For MBA students, who make up a significant chunk of Charlotte’s enrollments, the social component of the classes is one of their biggest advantages. They must now weigh whether it is worth paying six-figure sums for a degree while losing potential income. ( ) William Downs

President Gardner-Webb University

How was Gardner-Webb University positioned entering 2021?

We are a faith-based institution, our institutional motto is “For God and Humanity,” and we have built our academic programs around serving the people of the foothills and in Western North Carolina. Despite all of the uncertainties of COVID-19 and the financial stresses it has placed on families across our region, our entering freshman class in August of 2020 was 17.7% larger than last year’s entering freshman class. Our finances are in good shape and we are sitting on zero positive COVID-19 cases even though we never closed.

What contributed to the enrollment spike?

The historic disadvantage of a small school in a small town such as Boiling Springs suddenly became our greatest advantage. We sit on 225 sprawling acres in a one-stoplight college town, with a 13:1 student-tofaculty ratio. We can construct a nice, secure bubble here. This is a safe, healthy, good place to go to school. We also rolled out some new, innovative financial incentives to help families of college-ready high school seniors choose Gardner-Webb. We created the Foothills Commitment, in which we guaranteed to halve tuition for every admitted student from Cleveland, Gaston and Rutherford counties who wanted to live on campus, amounting to $15,620. We saw a 65% increase in enrollment from these three counties. We have now extended that Foothills Commitment to Lincoln County, which is why we believe that we are going to have even greater success there by the fall of 2021. We also launched what we call the “Transfer Your Future to Gardner-Webb” initiative. We knew that there were a number of students out there in large public universities who might not have felt comfortable going back to a large institution. As an incentive, if a student transfers from an accredited four-year university and comes to Gardner-Webb, we will pay for your room and board until you graduate.

®oundtable:

Future of education

What will classrooms look like post-COVID and what will be the key areas of focus? Local leaders provide their insights.

Sharon Gaber

Chancellor University of North Carolina at Charlotte

What are some of the prevalent challenges that universities are tackling? We continue thinking about accessibility and a ordability and about the pivotal role that we play in improving the region’s and state’s mobility outcomes. We introduced the 49erNext program in October 2019 in partnership with Central Piedmont Community College. We’ve expanded that pipeline to five other community colleges. We want individuals who enter community college to be able to easily transfer to UNC Charlotte and continue their education seamlessly. We receive the largest number of transfer students of any of the 16 universities in the UNC System. The UNC System has not raised tuition in five years and we will continue to be accessible and a ordable as we o er a quality education because every metro region, including ours, has a strong need for individuals with advanced degrees. We want to continue to shape the workforce of the future.

What is your 2021 outlook for the university? Our outlook is strong. Now with more than 30,000 students, UNC Charlotte is the second-largest school in the UNC System. We are North Carolina’s only urban research university in the largest city in the state and uniquely positioned to address the complex challenges and opportunities facing our dynamic region.

The University’s future will be largely shaped by our e orts to develop future leaders for the workforce and our communities, conducting leading research that supports our communities, while remaining accessible and a ordable to those in our region and across the state.

Charles Iacovou

Dean of School of Professional Studies and Vice Provost of Charlotte Programs Wake Forest University

How has Wake Forest developed in the Charlotte educational sector? Wake Forest first joined the Charlotte education community about 25 years ago and a lot of progress has been made since then. The very first program we o ered in Charlotte was our MBA. It is now ranked 22nd nationally by US News and World Report. Today, Wake Forest o ers a diverse set of programs to the Charlotte community. We o er undergraduate and graduate courses, including graduate degrees in business and executive education programs, as well as immersive exploration programs to high school students.

What is the outlook for Wake Forest and Charlotte’s educational system? Somewhat unexpectedly, Wake Forest had a record enrollment year in 2020 during the pandemic, both in terms of undergraduate and graduate students. And in 2021, we saw the highest number of undergraduate applications we’ve ever received. We’re already experiencing a lift in demand above and beyond the 2020 record. Overall, we feel quite confident in our own situation. Emerging research at the national level indicates that students, especially adult learners, are more likely to go back to graduate school and further their education because of the pandemic. They want to take time o from work until the market opens up a bit more for them. Like the many other great higher education institutions in Charlotte, we expect that we are likely to benefit from that lift for a while. The desire of people to go back to school because of the pandemic is something that we’re ready to support as applications continue to increase.

Daniel Lugo

President Queens University of Charlotte

What is your take on the pandemic’s impact on college tuition? There has clearly been a trend toward questioning the long-standing tradition of two pricing structures: one for private institutions, one for public institutions. We believe there is going to be more variability and di erentiation. The demand is increasing for colleges and universities to demonstrate value and the return on investment. We feel strongly about the return on investment of a great Queens education and we can demonstrate it. Our first report of the graduating class of 2019 found 97% are working or in graduate school. We have an educational approach that is built on the distinctive liberal arts foundation, combined with meaningful professional access and professional degree programs. We extend into the professional world with the requirement of multiple internships and partnerships with the civic, corporate, and nonprofit communities in Charlotte.

We feel good about sustaining our market price where others are going to have a harder time defending their price point.

How do you anticipate the state’s education plan will evolve? North Carolina understands the importance of higher education. We have one of the strongest state systems of education We are confident that even after the pandemic people will understand that higher education is the answer to economic problems, not the challenge. Our solutions go through the roads of higher education which fuel our nation’s talent pool. What might be the primary changes to higher education for the near and long-term future? Colleges and universities will need a mix of delivery modalities: online, in-person, hybrid, or flex-delivery. Not only has the pandemic pushed institutions to think di erently about learning modalities, but our incoming students are of a generation that expects technology as a way of learning. Even before COVID hit, colleges and universities were trending in this direction and the pandemic accelerated that. Institutions that don’t have the ability to create hybrid and flexible options for learning, integrating online and experience into their curriculum, I think will struggle going forward.

The other thing I’ve seen as a result of the pandemic is a renewed focus on partnerships. We’ve seen institutions consolidating or merging as a result of limited fiscal resources and others trying to fine-tune their value proposition to attract students in a crowded market space.

What is your outlook for higher education? Nationally, you’ll continue to see institutions make individual choices on how to operate in the current academic year. Many will make choices about who is invited to return for on-campus classes and who is not. For Johnson & Wales, we decided that we would continue on a similar path to that we had in the fall, which is to bring back a select group of students – new freshman, students with lab courses, those on internships in the area, and graduating seniors who will benefit most from an in-person experience. We will continue to provide the physical distance on campus and our hybrid learning modality.

Cheryl Richards

President – Charlotte Campus Johnson & Wales University

Public partner

Partnership with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is an opportunity to improve upward economic mobility

What is the vision behind the university’s work with the public school system? In 2018, Charlotte was still reeling from ranking 50th out of the country’s top largest 50 cities in the Chetty Study, which focused on upward economic mobility metrics. It was a rude awakening considering all the great things going on in Charlotte. The local business community truly leaned into that and has really taken that bull by the horns. It has been really invested in closing that gap as the study found that the Queen City’s most impoverished residents only had a 4% chance of moving from the lowest quintile to the top quintile. In terms of working with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, the business community has done significant work related to pre-K education, helping develop some funding streams and working with the community to develop pre-K initiatives all the way through high school, where Johnson C. Smith University is looking to take up the mantle and identify students who can take advantage of a four-year education and not have their finances be a reason why they cannot complete their education or have to drop out. We are in discussions with local partners that developed pre-college ready programs to identify those students who are interested in going to college and make sure we can secure funding either through scholarships or otherwise for those students to be able to attend our university.

How have internships played out for the university in this new landscape? One of the visions we have for our institution is for us to really lean into the experiential learning aspect. We would like to see our curriculum integrated with learning opportunities for our students so that by the time they graduate, they have two or three significant external experiences they can utilize to determine their fate once they leave here. While these efforts were interrupted by COVID-19, we were able to successfully transition these practices to the virtual space.

What are your main priorities for the new school year? Our main priority is to get our students back on campus and to do so safely. We have worked since March on that, doing significant planning. We have not been put to the test as much as others that are open but we believe we are well-prepared. We are certainly better prepared than we would have been had we opened in September. For Johnson C. Smith University, we think we made the right decision in not returning students to the classroom in the fall. As we look to the spring, we are ensuring that we continue having these discussions with the business community about the opportunities to invest in our university.

Clarence Armbrister

President – Johnson C. Smith University

( ) Unique opportunities While there are undoubtedly challenges to face, there are also opportunities. One of the major areas that COVID shone the spotlight on was clinical research and the difficulty in carrying out clinical trials on a normal basis. With billions of dollars and resources pumped into COVID trials, vaccines were developed in record time to the point where people questioned their safety given that an average clinical trial takes six to seven years to complete. But it emerged that many delays in clinical trials are not related to safety, but rather to bureaucracy, lack of subjects and lack of funding, leading to more solutions in this area.

Declines in revenues for higher education also will drive the need for further innovation. Blended learning is likely to increase, creating even more need for better and more advanced tools. Asynchronous platforms such as Canvas, Blackboard and D2L as well as synchronous platforms such as Zoom and Teams will be relied on heavily going forward. Online education will be an important source of new revenue for institutions, which will no longer be constrained by classroom sizes, many experts believe. Partnerships are also being evaluated as schools move away from all-inclusive revenue-share models.

Universities are also looking to leverage their student housing to bring in more revenues. A residential housing development that was started in January in University City by UNC Charlotte will cater not only to UNC Charlotte students but also will serve as a co-living space for other residents. The 188-unit Aspen Heights development will require a $60 million investment and will be one solution to the affordable housing crisis many big cities face. Trade schools In Charlotte, college and university is not the only path to

enhanced education. Vocational training also is strong across the city’s trade and technical schools. Popular programs span a breadth of disciplines, including Medical Assistant, HVAC Technician, Accounting, IT and Welding. Technical and trade schools in Charlotte include Southeastern, the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, ECPI and Empire Beauty Schools. Several schools also offer hybrid, evening and weekend and online courses, such as South College, Daymar College and Miller-Motte Technical College. According to the Trade and Industry Development publication, North Carolina’s 58-campus community college system is the nation’s third-largest and a national model for customized workforce training.

As property prices rise and real estate development

Perspective: Job ready

Lisa List

President, Charlotte Campus – Chamberlain College of Nursing From what our students tell us, many of our students get multiple job o ers. Some students report receiving o ers before they graduate. We have had students who have gone right into the ER, into ICU, obstetrics, pediatrics, mental health. Our community especially needs more mental health resources. The increased stressors of the pandemic have stretched already thin resources for our community. We’ve also developed great relationships with our local healthcare facilities. We receive very positive feedback about our graduates. We are highly proud of our nurses, how they are going into the frontlines, especially now because it is so needed.

Carol Spalding

President Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

What has been the impact of short-term training programs and fast-track certification?

It’s true that more education will lead to higher wages and a better quality of life, and we are big proponents of education as the best investment that anyone can make. In addition to the technical programs that will be housed in the Technology Education Complex, one of our largest programs is our transfer program. RowanCabarrus has 15 transfer agreements that provide direct transfer pathways into over 60 baccalaureate degree programs in the North Carolina university system and other independent colleges. We also have the Learn Local, Grow Local transfer program with Catawba College that encourages students to stay in the area and complete their undergraduate degree. We also know that about half of the students who graduate high school do not have a plan for their next steps after graduation. We are working hard to connect with these students and help them enroll because we know that a post-secondary degree or certificate is necessary for the majority of current and future high-wage jobs.

What are your main near-term priorities?

We will continue to improve and expand our online learning o erings and transfer programs. We know our students and communities trust us to help build a more prosperous community. In the next few months, the Advanced Technology Center will be completed. This facility will allow the college to o er expanded mechatronics o erings, cyber-physical security, and a comprehensive plastics program to prepare our students for Industry 4.0. We are one of the first community colleges in North Carolina to be distinguished as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE2Y), which is a major innovation for the college and resource for the community. Additionally, we will continue to work with the business community to develop apprenticeships and internships and expand our short-term training opportunities to meet their immediate workforce needs.

Community colleges will be instrumental in helping displaced workers pivot into new career paths.

City of Charlotte:

Households with a computer: Households with a broadband internet subscription:

94% 87.4%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015-2019)

skyrockets, tradespeople are in higher demand than ever, and universities are responding. Central Piedmont Community College provides training in criminal justice technology, welding and medical assisting. The Carolina’s college of health sciences is addressing the medical talent pipeline deficit with certificates in medical laboratory science and associate degrees in nursing. And to capitalize on the booming demand for online services, Charlotte has several coding bootcamps for a range of budgets and schedules.

Workforce preparation Despite an emphasis on trades, the skilled labor force is not growing fast enough at the current pace and authorities and organizations in Charlotte are working to address concerns of a pipeline deficit. Advances in automation and AI are likely to exacerbate this issue, meaning the importance of employer-provided training is more significant than ever. Most U.S. highschool graduates are unlikely to complete a fouryear education, meaning community colleges and workforce training programs play a crucial role, as do government-sponsored programs.

The city of Charlotte has partnered with the Urban League of Central Carolinas to launch the Renewable Energy and Efficiency Workforce (RENEW) training Program, which provides paid training in the area of HVAC and electrical. UNC Charlotte offers continuing education certificates that can be completed in three to four months and Central Piedmont provides company-tailored free training support in the areas of manufacturing, intensive technology, customer service and data processing, warehousing and distribution, and air courier service. In the private sector, Red

Scott Bullard

President Pfeiffer University

What were some of the university’s milestones in the past year?

On March 17, 2020, we went to online learning due to concerns related to the emerging pandemic. We didn’t force the students to go home, so about a quarter of our students stayed on campus in March and April and we finished out the semester with zero COVID-19 cases. We also began a recruiting campaign for the fall semester called “Safer in Stanly.” We have a beautiful main campus with historic buildings, a lake, and lots of wooded areas. It provides students a great opportunity to participate in outdoor activities.

Since the last time we talked, we have opened a 41,000-square-foot four-story campus that houses our master’s in physician assistant (PA) and occupational therapy (OT) studies. The campus is in the middle of downtown Albemarle, where community morale and real estate prices have exploded as a result. People are referring to it as the “Pfei er e ect.” We’re trying to create a new academic village there and it’s phenomenal. A couple of restaurants have opened even during the pandemic and the renovation of a historic hotel is underway. The hotel is tastefully being morphed into student housing and there’s even rumors of a rooftop bar.

What updates to the school’s curriculum have been implemented?

Everyone who comes to study PA or OT will graduate with a certificate in rural medicine. So, when they apply, they need to write a short essay saying why they’re interested in rural medicine. Many of the grants we’ve received for the launching of that program were because we wanted to train people uniquely to deliver medical care in a rural context.

The certificate in rural medicine is really crucial. We need to continue to build attractive facilities and be innovative with our curriculum and trust that we’re going to continue to attract the best and the brightest. I think we’re at the cusp of something truly amazing.

Private versus public school enrollment:

Students in private schools in grades 1 to 8 (elementary and middle school): 13,602

Students in private schools in grades 9 to 12 (high school): 6,379

Students in private undergraduate colleges: 13,590

Mecklenburg County

North Carolina

11.7% 11.4%

11.5% 9.1%

22.8% 19.1%

Source: City-Data.com

The combination of robust public institutions and private, usually smaller institutions in Charlotte a ord students a bevy of options.

Ventures CEO Ric Elias established the Road to Hire program in 2013 as a way to train local high-school graduates for high-paying tech jobs. According to the Road to Hire website, 30,000 young adults in Charlotte are neither working nor in school; it’s expected that 1,700 ninth grade students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg will not graduate high school; and the cost of college has risen eight times faster than wages since 1989. Also helping to address the issue is Charlotte Works, a comprehensive platform that brings together career services and advice with market data and training providers.

K-12 In its favor, the Charlotte metro area has a stellar K-12 school system. Thirteen of the city’s high schools are ranked within the Top 5% in the country. Cato Middle College High is No. 1 in the city and ranked 217 nationally with a graduation rate of 98%. Lake Norman Charter is second in Charlotte and 402nd nationally and has a college readiness ranking of 72.4. The Central Academy of Technology and Arts is fifth in Charlotte and 554th nationally, boasting a 100% graduation rate.

But K-12 education has also suffered from significant disruption in the last year and a sigh of relief was breathed when in March the North Carolina Board of Education adopted guidance from state health leaders for schools to open for in-person learning “to the fullest extent possible.”

For some students, though, the cost of home learning itself is prohibitive. A digital divide of 14% exists in Charlotte. That means that this percentage of households have no internet access at all, which is concerning when seven in 10 teachers assign homework that requires internet access and 80% of job opportunities are posted exclusively online. This has been helped by CARES Act funding, of which $3.25 million was earmarked to support Access Charlotte, an organization that invests in public Wi-Fi networks and provides funding to schools for hotspot connectivity.

The importance of the K-12 system has been in sharp focus during 2020 as the priority list for vaccination was drawn up. On March 8, teachers nationwide became eligible to receive the vaccine although they had already begun in North Carolina after the governor announced the priority group would be eligible for the vaccines from Feb. 24.

Looking ahead The economic landscape of any city or country is influenced by the quality of education it provides. In the last year, educators in Charlotte and around the world have been challenged like never before with the burden of continuing to provide quality education for the future population. There have been significant learning losses and these will have to be recovered, whether through summer schools or a re-evaluation of the entire exam process.

Despite the challenges, JLL says Charlotte is poised for strong growth in 2021, bolstered by its ability to attract and retain local talent. Charlotte’s prestigious universities, colleges, trade schools and K-12 institutions remain strong but innovation and adaptation will be the name of the game if the city of Charlotte and the surrounding region want to remain a vibrant center that continues to grow. And if higher education institutions want to tempt students back into the classroom, affordability should be addressed in the face of mounting student debt across the nation.

Educational attainment by county in

the Charlotte area:

Bachelor’s Degrees:

Percent of population 25 years of age and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Mecklenburg Union Charlotte South Atlantic United States York N Carolina Cabarrus South S Carolina Iredell Lancaster Gaston Lincoln Rowan Chester Mecklenburg South Atlantic United States South N Carolina Charlotte S Carolina Union Cabarrus York Iredell Lincoln Lancaster Gaston Rowan Chester

0% 33.6% 32.9% 30.5% 30.3% 29.5% 29.0% 28.6% 28.2% 26.5% 25.7% 23.3% 19.8% 19.7% 17.6% 14.4%

10% 20% 30% 43.1%

40% Count 289k 46.1k 522k 13.0M 64.8M 48.1k 1.94M 36.2k 22.5M 865k 29.2k

13.7k 28.7k 11.0k 16.7k 3,199 # 1 2

3

4

5 6 7 8 9 10

Count number of people in category # rank of county out of 10 by percentage of population 25 years of age and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Count number of people in category # rank of county out of 10 by percentage of population 25 years of age and older with a professional or doctorate degree (e.g., MBA, PhD, or MD).

Source: Statistical Atlas

Very Advanced Degrees:

Percent of population 25 years of age and older with a professional or doctorate degree (e.g., MBA, PhD, or MD).

0% 3.6% 3.5% 3.3% 3.1% 2.9% 2.5% 2.5% 2.4% 2.2% 1.9% 1.9%

1.4% 1.4% 1.4% 1.0% 1.0%

1% 2% 3% 4% Count 24.1k 1.50M

7.13M 2.45M 192k 40.2k 81.2k 3,229 2,810 3,138 2,173 770 803 1,961 962 218 # 1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Source: Statistical Atlas

Tourism, Arts

& Culture:

The pandemic decimated the tourism and travel, arts and culture sectors in 2020 but the Charlotte region remains one of the country’s preeminent tourist destinations. As the vaccination campaign continues, people are looking forward to a return to travel. In fact, many predict that the second half of 2021 and 2022 will be recordbreaking.

Horrible aberration:

Optimism is seeping through the cracks of COVID, pointing to brighter days ahead

Charlotte is one of the preeminent tourist destinations in the South. It has the Atlantic Ocean on one side and mountains on the other, and the city’s airport has the added benefit of being a hub. A vibrant local economy has only served to increase its attractiveness as a destination. Charlotte offers professional sports, fabulous restaurants and the sort of cultural institutions commensurate with an economically dynamic city in 21st century America.

While Charlotte does have a lot going for it, it is no surprise that 2020 was a dismal year for tourism, arts and culture, not just in the region but across the entire world. While many industries were able to adapt to survive COVID-19, the pandemic struck at the heart of the social activities that are the lifeblood of this sector. Planes were grounded, museums were closed, sports events moved online, and to go to a restaurant was to risk infection. People stayed home. Thankfully, the vaccination drive continues apace, and all of the draws that work in Charlotte’s favor are ready to be explored in 2021 and beyond. “We are definitely trying to capitalize on any and all local activities and groups,” said Staphon Meadors, dual assistant general manager at the Hilton Garden Inn/Homewood Suites by Hilton South Park in an interview with Invest:. “The government is slowly starting to allow sporting events to open up, fans are starting to come back and as you know, we have some sporting teams in the area, with the Panthers and the Hornets. Basketball will be right around the Christmas season for the NBA, and Charlotte has a new MLS team that is going to start next year. Those are definitely opportunities for us to take advantage of.”

Performance and trends Of all of the sectors of Charlotte’s economy, none took quite as a direct hit as a result of COVID-19 than tourism, arts and culture. Discussion of how the industry performed in 2020 must take into account the effects of the pandemic. The numbers were down across the board: according to Visit NC, the state in 2020 saw a nearly 50% drop in visitors over the year before; as of November 2020, that comes out to $9.5 billion lost in visitor spending. North Carolina is an often-visited state for tourists—arts, recreation, entertainment, accommodation and food services were 18% of the state’s GDP in 2019.

Some of its traditional draws helped cushion the blow of the pandemic. North Carolina is, after all, an ( )

Rocked

Tourism and hospitality took a devastating blow during the pandemic, but plans are emerging for success in a post-COVID era

Tom Murray

CEO – Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority

What were your major takeaways from operating in such an atypical year? Our industry has really been rocked, which affects our city dramatically. One in nine people in our community works in the hospitality industry. The hotels and the restaurants certainly felt the damage, particularly in the Uptown market. Hotels have been 60% below their 2019 levels. It’s really difficult to operate in those environments. It has a knock-on effect on the restaurants that would normally serve hotel guests and convention guests. Obviously, we have not had meetings in the convention center, although we’re working on events for the spring. The last 10 months or so were really about trying to survive, take care of our employees, work with our teams and others to prepare for a post-pandemic environment. That takes multiple shapes. We’ve been investing in our infrastructure, ensuring it is up to par with the latest and best technology to protect our customers when they arrive again.We’ve purchased equipment that helps sanitize, and added systems to provide near hospital-grade air quality to our meeting rooms. Most recently, we invested in thermal scanning technology that allows us to check the temperatures of large numbers of attendees coming in at any given moment. We’ve also earned a number of certifications, among them the GBAC accreditation, which relates to our practices that help mitigate a variety of bio risks.

What will be the short-term ripple e ects from this experience? Our overall tourism tax collection is down, which is a percentage of hotel sales, prepared F&B sales and a rental car tax. Those markets are all down dramatically, although restaurant sales have recovered faster than hotel sales. Our city has been wise and careful with its planning and particularly in the way that we invest in our infrastructure. The assistant city manager and the CFO of our board have great confidence that the tourism tax funds are in great shape. They are in the position not only to make our debt service obligations in the future years but also invest in future projects. That is in part because we use long-term planning, looking at 25-year trend cycles.

Because of the conservative way that we forecast future revenues, including considerations for a black swan event, we feel like we had good fiscal planning and we are consequently well prepared. That is not to say that the momentum of the successes that we have been having as of late was not interrupted, but 2017, 2018 and 2019 were all record years for tourism and tax collection. Those were, in fact, three of seven record years in a row.

Douglas Hustad

General Manager Omni Charlotte Hotel

How did the hotel build up its resilience to tackle the pandemic-forced downturn?

2019 in Charlotte was one of the best years in the history of not only this hotel but also most hotels in the city. 2020 was projected to be even stronger prior to COVID setting in. At the end of March, we temporarily closed the hotel and reopened at the beginning of June. We had a relatively decent summer, with good business on the weekends. During the week, most business travel and group business virtually ceased to exist, which has continued with the exception of small business activity that fits within the North Carolina state guidelines. On the weekends, our featured rooftop outdoor pool and large screen helped drive business in the summer before the colder weather set in.

How did your hotel pivot to highlight safety and security more than the experience factor?

Although Omni as a brand always had maintained a solid reputation regarding cleanliness standards, we went from selling an experience and location to taking our cleanliness standards to a whole new level with the pandemic. We implemented a “Stay A Part of…” campaign as part of our culture and brand. It includes heightened awareness of our protocols through visibility: safe social distancing, wearing face masks and limiting capacities to state regulation.

What is your near-term outlook?

While we look with encouragement toward the deployment of the vaccine, it will take a few months as its distribution advances to recover consumer confidence on both the corporate and leisure fronts. We anticipate business travel is not going to be what it was in 2019. It’s certainly going to take a while for people to build confidence in business travel. Charlotte has an extremely strong business travel segment. Getting those companies that have travel bans or have been suggesting people stay at home to be confident about their associates traveling is going to take time. ( ) outdoors destination, and its attractions have made it the eighth-best state to visit in 2021. People like to go to the beach in the summertime and the mountains in the autumn — the main draw of the state and also the Charlotte region. Importantly at this time, these are activities that can generally be achieved while still abiding by COVID-friendly safety protocols. That said, events that are major tourist draws were put on hold: Tuck Fest 2020, canceled; Taste of Charlotte 2020, canceled too; the Novant Thanksgiving Day Parade 2020 went virtual.

There is a fear that many elements of the industry, from restaurants to hotels, will not be able to survive, or at least will not be back to full strength for another year or two after the population is vaccinated and people begin traveling again. It is predicted that leisure domestic travel will recover at a faster clip than business travel, international travel, and travel oriented around large events with thousands of people.

The pandemic year saw the government — local, state and federal — step into the tourism industry on an unprecedented scale. When North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued stay-at-home orders requiring state residents to remain in their domicile from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., he also issued rules relating to the hospitality sector: restaurants would have to close by 10 p.m. and alcohol could not be served anywhere after 9 p.m. The state tourism board also played its part by inaugurating a program, Count on Me NC, which sought to educate owners on how to operate their businesses safely. The state was able to receive $15 million in grant funding from the CARES Act toward these efforts. In many cases, business owners rolled with the punches, pivoting the nature of their business in order to survive. This was most clearly seen in the restaurateurs who became retailers: instead of having customers come in for a meal, they began specializing in takeout options.

State officials are working to secure more federal stimulus money as it makes its way through the machinery of state. President Joe Biden’s signature $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act has allotted $5.3 billion for the state government and nearly $9 billion for North Carolina overall. Wake and Mecklenburg counties will receive $215 million each, while the city of Charlotte will receive $148 million. State representative John Bradford (R-Mecklenburg) has introduced two bills aimed at using some of this cash to help hotels. The industry can certainly use the help. In North Carolina, between March 2020 and January 2021, sales at hotels dropped by 19.5%; at restaurants it was slightly better, a drop of 16.5%, but bars — likely due to that stay-at-home order — were down by 28% in that span of time.

The local government, while under stress, is doing its part too. The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority had increased its rainy-day fund to $18 million in the summer of 2019 only to have it reduced to $10 million by summer 2021. This is largely due to a reduction in revenue. The visitor authority relies on taxes on hotel rooms, restaurants, rental cars, and on fees from the renting of city-owned buildings, and none of this money has been forthcoming.

Not surprisingly, the airline industry in Charlotte took a hit, with reduced traffic and service, canceled flights and full-fledged crisis engulfing the airline industry. As a regional hub, the Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CDI) has fast-emerged as one of the pivotal travel nodes in the United States. With 46.4 million passengers in 2018, it was the 32nd-busiest airport in the world based on passengers and the seventh in the world based on aircraft movements. The numbers for 2020 are harrowing: CDI had 27.2 million passengers last year, a record 46% decline over 2019’s 50.2 million. In April 2020, the lowest point of the lockdown, the airport only had 340,265 passengers. These numbers began rising soon thereafter, albeit at a reduced rate than in other years. There were over 2 million passengers in December and 4 million in January. This rise coincides with the advent of mass vaccinations, so there is cause for optimism.

Still, the revenue losses have been staggering. By way of illustration, Charlotte’s most popular route is to Orlando International Airport. It’s revenue from this route in 2Q19 was $47.89 million. In 2Q20, this had fallen to $6.8 million. Smaller regional airports have been affected too. In August 2020, American Airlines suspended service to two airports in the Carolinas — Pitt-Greenville Airport and Florence Regional Airport — leaving these destinations without a major carrier.

There is a silver lining for CDI. For one, its numbers, hovering at about a 50% reduction, are not as bad as those of many of its counterparts, which have seen reductions of up to 60 to 70 percent. Additionally, the airport has been winning prizes for keeping its passengers safe: it won a Global Biorisk Advisory Council Star Facility Accreditation for having the most stringent protocols for cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention in facilities.

Cultural institutions, too, took a hit during the pandemic. Museums were forced to close for several months at the beginning of the outbreak. As

Matt Allen

General Manager Hyatt House Charlotte/ Center City

How are you leveraging technology to better serve guests?

One of the biggest things we are looking at is a lock replacement. That was slated to start this year, but it has been pushed back. It’s a costly process, but I think it’s worth the expense because it allows guests to check in online and bypass the front desk entirely because their phone becomes the key to enter the room. Many hotels are already using this technology but as a smaller hotel, we are coming a little later in the day. I think this will become increasingly common as it limits some of the contact that we took for granted in the past.

How has the appetite for conferences picked up and how do you expect this to play out in 2021?

We have hosted a few very small meetings this year with a limited number of people in the room but with people using Zoom to dial in. The city itself is not banking on a lot of conferences for 2021. For the most part, 2021 was not originally expected to be a large conference year for Charlotte because of the expansion of the Charlotte Convention Center. This was fortuitous timing because the completion of the convention center should coincide with a return to normality in terms of COVID. I think this will bring great things to the region. When they were putting together the space, they listened to what people wanted, including more breakout spaces. This should attract some new and exciting companies to Charlotte for their events. Having one big convention center hotel would definitely help with this.

Corporate travel is all but gone at the moment. We have some that is coming to the city but as far as the big names that were coming in the past, they have cut down on those expenses entirely. We are receiving a little bit of payo from the industries that are flourishing, such as tech and healthcare. Charlotte is a big banking town and, from talking with people from the industry, a lot of this business needs to get done face to face. We are anticipating business to pick up at the end of the second quarter of 2021.

Domestic travel and “staycationers” have carried the hospitality industry throughout the pandemic.

Mecklenburg County again announced stay-at-home orders in January 2021, six museums in Charlotte voluntarily closed: Mint Museum, Levine Museum of the New South, Harvey B. Gantt Center for AfricanAmerican Arts + Culture, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, Discovery Place and McColl Center for Art and Innovation. The Charlotte Symphony also suspended rehearsals upon hearing the county’s safety edicts.

Cultural entities are doing what they can to ensure the survival of the Charlotte cultural sphere. Foundation For The Carolinas is partnering with THRIVE to distribute $4.8 million to large organizations. The Arts & Science Council (ASC) — the designated “Office of Cultural Resources” for the city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and six suburban towns — mustered its resources, and with support from Hue House and Charlotte is Creative, is distributing $1.2 million to small and midsized groups and individuals.

As has been well documented, technology has stepped into the fore over the pandemic year as physical contact has become more precarious. While this shift hasn’t altered the tourism industry as much as banking or litigation, for example, there are still many ways in which the sector has changed. For instance, while the number of people riding Ubers has gone down significantly, revenue from the mobility company’s food delivery service is up 125%.

As well, miscreants seeking to find ways around the government hospitality closures turned to Airbnb for partying. So much so, in fact, that the North Carolina office of the home-sharing app had to close down listings across the state, including 20 in Charlotte, after guests used their spaces for illegal gatherings.

On another front, Charlotte’s white-hot business convention market, which is a huge revenue draw, has largely been put on hold, with business conventions having gone virtual. This particular form of digital transformation has not been met with the same success as others, and it is expected that, with the vaccine, conventions will resume and Charlotte will again be a desirable location for them. Where they have continued, it has been done with the utmost regard for safety. “The worst is behind us, but the rebound is going to be a lot more gradual than we initially expected. Early in the pandemic, we had expected that by the latter part of 2021 into the beginning of 2022, we could get back to 2019 levels. That has been pushed back and could now be closer to 2023. In addition, some businesses have learned how to work in a more remote environment, but we do believe that does not replace in-person interaction. Once it is safe and companies feel that they can allow their employees to go out and visit other businesses or go into the office, we expect to see a jolt in demand.” said James Gratton area general manager at the Marriott, Renaissance & AC Hotel Charlotte SouthPark.

Despite the pandemic, hotel construction in Charlotte has continued apace. Construction has, by and large, not been halted, which is another harbinger for future success. In the Uptown area alone, 1,274 new rooms are due to open through 2022. Among the biggest projects recently opened or on the cusp of opening are the Holiday Inn Express & Suites – South End, EVEN Hotel at Stonewall Station, the JW Marriott Ally Charlotte Center, and the Hyatt Centric SouthPark Charlotte.

Arts & culture Charlotte boasts a vibrant arts and culture scene with world-class institutions, not least among them the Mint Museum Uptown, the Harvey B. Gantt Center For African American Arts + Culture, the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, the Charlotte Symphony, Opera Carolina, and the Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. This year has been as hard on these as it has been on the tourism and hospitality sectors, as many have had to close down through the duration of lockdown or severely reduce their capacity. At the Bank of America Stadium, what was lining up to be a record year started seeing shows canceled as the pandemic arrived. Billy

Perspectives: Landscape

Carrie Duncan

Dual General Manager – AC Hotel Charlotte City Center, Residence Inn Charlotte City Center Our guests need to feel safe and secure when they are traveling, especially with this market being heavily driven by corporate travel. As everyone is on strict work from home orders and cannot travel, there has been a complete travel ban restriction on all corporate travel, making the market flip-flop from a corporate-driven market to a purely leisure-driven market. We are just starting to see the corporate travel trickling in, which is exciting.

Sofia Daya

General Manager – Home2 Suites by Hilton The way that we have adapted so far tells us that it’s possible to make a comeback. With the new cleanliness initiatives and new safety precautions we put in place, people will feel quite safe traveling in hotels in the years to come just because of the amount of e ort that we have already put into this as a result of the pandemic. We don’t think it will ever change. We believe it will crystallize as the new gold standard going forward. Masks inside hotels are probably here to stay. There will always be a shield up at the front desk protecting our sta .

Connor Parsons

General Manager – Courtyard by Marriott Charlotte City Center We do see green shoots here and there. In Charlotte in particular, we see a demand for reopening restaurants and bars, and we see people anxious to be able to do some of the normal social activities common in a downtown market. We recognize the need for safety and special precautions right now and we expect leisure travel to continue to increase marginally as we see deployment of a vaccine in the United States, and as states and companies begin to loosen travel restrictions.

Zach Rutledge

General Manager – Bojangles Entertainment Complex September is when we’re really looking to get back to our ticketed events, including a month-long run of Wicked, which was originally scheduled for last year, followed by a run of Hamilton. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the fall given the way the vaccine distribution has been going. If it continues to trend in the right direction, we’ll be able to have large gatherings by then, hopefully at full capacity. I do anticipate that people will still need to wear masks at that point.

Randy Rushakoff

Area General Manager Midas Hospitality

What were some highlights or takeaways for Midas Hospitality in 2020?

It’s really been a challenging year in hospitality. We’ve had to make some very tough decisions and right-size the workforce. The demand for business travel fell o and so much of our business is related to group travel, or to the local o ce parks. Now everyone is working remotely. While it’s great that parts of life could go on over Zoom and the like, it has adversely impacted hotels and restaurants. I feel like we’re past the worst of it. I remember the worst night we had: in a 204room hotel, we sold 12 rooms. I can’t pay someone to come and clean rooms for eight hours if we only have 12 rooms. You learn and adapt, and business has picked up a lot since then.

How have you addressed the labor shortage in the hospitality industry?

At our hotels here in Charlotte, it is still a struggle to hire people. We have enhanced benefits, increased wages, and implemented a $50 monthly transportation allowance to recruit and retain the best talent. Having seven hotels has meant we can adeptly move our people around to di erent locations. Some people will work multiple properties to cover their hours. But it is hard to find people to come to work. As well, for the most part, guests don’t really want stay-over cleaning services anymore. They’ll want a deep clean before they arrive, but while they’re here, they won’t want housekeeping. So, you can really see the industry — and the labor requirements — evolving.

What is your outlook for the next 12-18 months?

I feel like we’re past the worst. It has gotten busier. I don’t know that we’re going to immediately return to pre-pandemic levels for at least another year. It’s been exciting to see groups traveling again. Meeting rooms that have sat empty for a long time are being booked. There’s a return to profitability. Still, I think it will not be until 2022 or 2023 before things are back to normal. Joel and The Rolling Stones were among the acts who had to cancel as early as March; Garth Brooks had sold out all of the stadium’s 74,000 seats in 90 minutes — a record — only to have his show indefinitely postponed.

Sports, Events and Festivals Sports is huge in Charlotte, with an NFL franchise, an NBA team, a Major League Soccer club, and a slew of minor league offerings, not to mention the annual CocaCola 600, NASCAR’s longest race, which has been held in the city since 1960. While sports competitions went on through 2020, it was with a vastly reduced number in attendance at the venues. Fans had to content themselves with watching from home. Through much of the pandemic, indoor arenas had their attendance pegged to 15% of capacity, while outdoor stadiums and speedways were at 30%. By March 2021, thanks to a successfully deployed vaccination program, Gov. Roy Cooper was able to raise the maximum capacity in venues to 50%.

Still, there were a slew of cancellations in terms of major events and festivals. In addition to Tuck Fest and Taste of Charlotte, the Charlotte Pride festival was also canceled. Probably the major event disruption of the year was the ill-fated Republican National Convention, held in the run-up to Election Day 2020. The event was meant to bring 50,000 visitors to the city, $121 million in direct economic impact, and a 100% hotel occupancy rate in late August. Unfortunately, the Democratic governor objected to such a mass gathering, which would be in violation of state rules. This led former President Donald Trump, insistent on maximum capacity crowds, to move the convention to Florida just several weeks before it was due to take place.

Hotel performance As essential businesses, hotels were never forced to close and at least 70% of them remained open. That said, they were hugely under patronized as travel came to a standstill, and neither leisure visitors nor business travelers made the imprint on hotel vacancy that they would have in a normal year. This had disastrous effects on hotel market performance. Occupancy fell by 60% over 2020, while revenue per available room dropped by about 75%. According to one study by the American Hotel Lodging Association, North Carolina saw 22,787 direct hotel-related jobs lost and 88,225 jobs lost that support the hotel industry. Though this has likely been a fairly temporary hemorrhaging, and the jobs will largely come back as the country reopens, it made 2020 a very bad year for the industry. Added to the decline in guests, in order to stay open, hotels had to spend money

Raising the curtain

The arts are poised for a strong comeback that will include lessons learned from a most challenging year

Tom Gabbard

President & CEO – Blumenthal Performing Arts Center

How is Charlotte’s arts and culture sector preparing for a post-COVID transition? We have used this time well. Being unable to set up public performances gave us the leeway to dramatically improve air quality in all of our buildings. They were healthy buildings to start with, but they have been stepped up a notch in terms of health standards. We looked at all of our air filtration systems to ensure we had state-of-the-art, hospital-grade quality systems in all of our venues as we began to reemerge. We know it’s going to be a long-term process. It’s not a matter of just flipping the switch and then everybody is partying like they were in 2019. Part of our transition will be events such as Immersive Van Gogh, where people can move around. As we look ahead to the fall and restarting more traditional inside performances, we have a really good strategy that weaves together improved air filtration, and for a period of time mask use when people are sitting next to each other. Of course, vaccines are making a big difference. We feel confident that by the time we get to the fall, we can begin to really restore normal theater operations. We know people are eager to get back.

What community engagement programs are you seeking to launch? That is something else that has changed for the good in many ways. The convergence of COVID-19 with the Black Lives Matter movement and various social justice issues has underscored the need for the arts to be relevant to the community in entirely different ways. This has really focused our attention on that. Blumenthal has always sought to be a place that is home to everybody. We brought on board Boris “Bluz” Rogers as Director of Creative Engagement. He’s an artist who is well respected here in Charlotte, both as an artist as well as a community leader. We have added Bree Stallings as Director of Artistic Experiences. She has created many of the murals in town as a working artist. In parallel, she has also been involved with education and community development activities. Both Bluz and Bree are transforming how we engage with local artists to create high impact programs. We began a program called We Are Hip Hop. It’s a way for us to activate hip hop artists here in Charlotte and begin to showcase their work. Through this, we hope to find ways for local artists to make some money. We want artists here to be able to actually pursue their craft and earn a living. This last year has shown us that it is really essential that we provide some jet fuel to that and move ahead in a much more impactful way to work with artists in the community and to make what we do relevant to every citizen.

Billy Dunlap

President & CEO Visit York County

How did the tourism sector reconfigure its goals with the onset of the pandemic?

When the pandemic hit, we focused on going into support mode, really supporting our partners, who, for us, are attractions, hotels and restaurants. Anyone who is in the hospitality industry. We knew that all three of those would be hit hard through the pandemic: attractions were shut down, hotels were operating at a minimum and restaurants were figuring out how to be open and how to serve their guests. We shifted our focus locally – how do we help our hospitality partners survive with the support of people who live here. We found being a mouthpiece for our restaurants and attractions to communicate their hours and information as they evolved with the restrictions was imperative. We also focused communication e orts directly with our partners to get them relevant industry information to help them through this di cult time. We were trying to do what we could because not only did we want to support these industries while the pandemic was going on, but also because we need these restaurants, attractions, hotels to survive. When tourism comes back in York County, we will need them there.

What events and attractions are you hoping to open this year?

We’re looking forward to all of York County’s venues and facilities being open this year. Carowinds, our largest tourist attraction, has announced they hope to open in May, so we’re excited about that. In 2019, Carowinds made up a third of our visitors, so they drove people into all areas of York County, the straw that stirs the drink, if you will, bringing people into our hotels, restaurants and all over. We’re also planning a large D1 College Basketball showcase for December that will bring a huge impact. In partnership with Rock Hill Parks, Recreation & Tourism their athletics facilities are booked just about every weekend, whether for soccer, lacrosse, softball, basketball, BMX, you name it which in turns provides a great economic impact for our community’s recovery from COVID-19. on implementing new safety measures: hand-washing stations, plastic guards, one-way movement signage and regular cleanings.

Some hotels are heavily reliant on traffic from CDI airport which, as has been seen, saw 50% less traffic than usual. Industry and trade conventions, too, are a huge draw for local hotels. In a normal year, the Charlotte Convention Center will draw thousands to such events, but none came during the pandemic. “There have been many challenges because of the ever-changing nature of COVID,” said Kyle De Hont, general manager of The Ivey’s Hotel. “As everybody would attest to, even in the national headlines, we were expecting that it was going to be a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months, but here we are and it’s going to be next year before we even begin to think about the next side of it. It’s been challenging, with the constant evolution of our procedures, our marketing, our strategies, a lot of constant adaptation to what we think we know. 2020 was supposed to be an absolutely fantastic year, after 2019 was an amazing year for Charlotte, coming off the NBA All-Star weekend, and a lot of great conventions in the summer. It’s been disappointing, it’s been tiring, but it’s also been rewarding. We had to adapt and make changes with our team.”

Looking ahead In March 2021, Carowinds, the amusement park just south of Charlotte, announced that it was looking to hire around 2,000 employees for its 2021 season. It’s news like this that makes people in the industry optimistic, reiterating that 2020 and the pandemic were just a horrible aberration for tourism, arts and culture.

As the vaccination campaign continues ahead of schedule, people are looking forward to a return to travel. In fact, many predict that the second half of 2021 and 2022 will be record-breaking years for leisure travel. “We anticipate the leisure business to rebound as soon as it is able. There is some psychology that has been built into people relating to the fear of travel but it will be balanced out by the desire for social connection. The hospitality business is going to be interesting to watch going forward. We think that businesses are going to be more reluctant to rush into sending people to travel. It has been a learning period for them to take advantage of the available technology, learn how to continue business without as much travel as they were doing pre-COVID. It will prove to be a slow crawl that we are eager to see play out, probably by the end of 4Q21,” said Meredith Zingraff, general manager of The Dunhill Hotel.