The North Carolina Department of Commerce is directly helping Edgecombe County's economic development by making it part of its 21st Century Communities program.

Housing Director Eric Evans said the county had applied for the program three years in a row and did not get in until last year.

County Manager Lorenzo Carmon said "what the 21st Century designation does, it can help to give you some additional points when it comes to scoring" for grant approvals from state government and other agencies.

Evans said he believed Edgecombe County's involvement in the program helped secure $750,000 from The Rural Center for construction of the District 5 water system.

Brad Hufford, a community development planner with the state Department of Commerce, said the program also helped secure $1.5 million in Golden LEAF funds for Edgecombe County Public Schools' One-to-One laptop initiative. Golden LEAF, The Rural Center, N.C. Department of Transportation and the Department of Instruction are agencies 21st Century works with on behalf of counties to secure grants, he said.

But being part of 21st Century also means counties receive help producing economic development plans.

Hufford said the program "pulls in different areas of economic development into a working document for the county."

But in Edgecombe County's case, Carmon said economic development plans were already made through four agencies, with no need for a fifth one done by 21st Century.

Those other plans were developed by the North Carolina Eastern Regional Partnership, the Tarboro Edgecombe Chamber of Commerce, the Carolinas Gateway Partnership and the Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments.

Carmon said the concerns in all four of the plans were education and training, retention of business and industry, recruitment, tourism, quality of life, retail development, transportation, infrastructure, marketing, entrepreneurship and transition economy.

As for Edgecombe having to wait three years to be part of 21st Century Communities, Hufford said he was not with the Department of Commerce when the decision was made to include Edgecombe in the program.

He did say the Department of Commerce looks for communities that have a need for assistance, as well as potential to use it and benefit from it, when selecting counties for the program.

For Edgecombe County, Hufford said its Tier 1 status definitely helped it join the program.

And Carmon felt that assistance from 21st Century, along with Golden LEAF's Community Assistance Initiative, was "timely" for Edgecombe County.

"If there's a community that needs or deserves some help and assistance to making (economic development) things happen in the state of North Carolina, Edgecombe County is one of 'em," Carmon said.