Current student Hallie Springer works with ncIMPACT reviewing the NC economic development tier system
Hallie Springer, 2nd year student
Hometown: Winston-Salem, NC
Undergraduate Majors: Economics and Public Policy
Undergraduate School: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research Assistantship: Hallie has been working for ncIMPACT since she began the MPA program in August 2023. ncIMPACT aims to provide sound data, research, and analysis to civic leaders and policy influencers across the state. It also helps to provide evidence-based insight and creative policy options for public leaders through an enhanced understanding of innovative practices happening in North Carolina, across the U.S., and around the world.
Current Project: Hallie’s current project in collaboration with ncIMPACT and NCGrowth is evaluating North Carolina’s system of economic development tiers. The North Carolina County Tiers system was originally developed to encourage job creation in economically distressed counties by providing tax incentives. Since its inception, the Tiers system has also been used to allocate school funds, determine health care provider loan forgiveness, and more. She’s participated in and coded around 20 research interviews with state and local leaders in economic development and is contributing to a draft report that will inform policy makers on whether this system accomplishes its stated purpose. To read more about the purpose and challenges of this tier system, Hallie helped write this blog post.
Q: What are you all hoping will come out of this research?
The economic development tier system is intended to help funnel money and businesses into economically distressed areas with low income and low employment. So places with low income or low employment and stuff like that. As the system currently sits, it doesn’t do that effectively. And so people often want to change it. Our goal is to help streamline the system and ensure the money that this system brings in goes where it’s supposed to go and help advance those distressed communities.
Q: What are some things you’ve gotten personally or professionally out of this experience?
Probably number one is, I’ve learned a lot about how to interact with people in the field. I feel like before I did this, I was kind of like, ‘Whoa, they work for the state.’ That they’re high up there. That’s scary. But now I’m just kind of like, okay, everyone knows each other, and you just gotta talk to them like a person, and they’ll talk to you like a person. And I feel like I’ve gotten a lot of good experience like figuring out how to communicate in a professional way, but also a way where you are not shrinking yourself down. And then the second thing is I’ve learned a lot about working professionally on a team. Our team (ncIMPACT) is relatively small but we work with another team (NCGrowth), and so it’s been really helpful to see how we all support each other and also be able to look ahead at how to prioritize things in the future. It’s been a great experience of making sure your voice is heard while not forcing your will. Teams often have very different working styles and experiencing these different styles has been important for me professionally.
Q: As you gear up to graduate next semester, where do you see your career going?
I’m really excited about the work and the type of organization that ncIMPACT is. I plan to seek out other government-adjacent organizations like ncIMPACT or similar non-profits where the work goes hand in hand with a lot of community level organizations, state level organizations, and local government organizations. I really just realized I like the intersection of all these constituents and this collaboration towards the same goal.
