Davidson County Community College

Globalization and the Great Recession delivered a one-two punch to North Carolina's economy, and small towns across the state were often the hardest hit as factories closed and storefronts became vacant, but Gov. Bev Perdue said her administration is actively working to help such communities rebound.

Perdue made her remarks Wednesday at Davidson County Community College's Conference Center at the second of three N.C. Governor's Forums on Small Town Competitiveness. Dr. Mary Rittling, DCCC president, introduced the governor to the crowd of a couple hundred government and business leaders.

After talking about statewide initiatives to help small towns, she was also joined in a question-and-answer session by Keith Crisco, secretary of the N.C. Department of Commerce; Henry McKoy, assistant secretary of the commerce department; Billy Ray Hall, president of the N.C. Rural Center; Scott Daugherty, small business commissioner for the commerce department; Dan Gerlach, president of the Golden Leaf Foundation; and Randy Gore, state director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.