Join the Kenan Institute on June 4, 2026, for the fourth annual Conference on Market-Based Solutions for Reducing Wealth Inequality, as we reimagine what’s possible and chart new pathways toward inclusive economic growth.
As we prepare for the Conference on Market-Based Solutions for Reducing Wealth Inequality, an emphasis on access (and the lack thereof) provides a constructive framing of inequality’s principal factor.
In a continuing effort to examine the business sector's contributions to inclusive economic growth, join us April 10-11 for two days of discussions and exploration during the third annual Conference on Market-Based Solutions for Reducing Wealth Inequality.
Don't miss this compelling keynote session by Chloe Hakim-Moore, an internationally acclaimed entrepreneur, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, and TEDx speaker, on April 10, 2025, at 4 PM.
In a continuing effort to examine the business sector's contributions to inclusive economic growth, the second annual Conference on Market-Based Solutions for Reducing Wealth Inequality will bring top researchers and private sector representatives to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on April 25-26.
CREATE, an economic development center at the institute, worked with civic and business leaders in Rocky Mount last summer to plan a Black Business Matters District downtown in an effort to address the racial wealth gap in the area. Executive Director Mark Little will join CREATE’s Rocky Mount partners on a panel at 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 24 to share their work as part of Carolina’s Engagement Week.
On Jan. 7, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced a sweeping new executive order that aims to achieve net-zero emissions within 30 years while protecting and empowering North Carolina’s underserved communities. Urban Investment Strategies Center Director Jim Johnson, who serves as chairman of the N.C. Department of Environmental Justice and Equity Board and as a member of the task force on social, economic and environmental equity, accompanied Cooper at a press conference in support of the order at N.C. A&T State University. Read Johnson's statements here.
American Indian communities face a growing housing crisis, compounding long-standing social and economic challenges. In this Kenan Insight, we examine the structural and historic factors that underlie the current lack of affordable housing, and identify several promising options for both addressing the immediate crisis and improving the broader economic situation for tribal communities.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has recently ramped up efforts to keep immigrants from entering the country and force out some who are already here – arguing these to be necessary measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 and protect American jobs. However, in this Kenan Insight, we summarize why these policies risk having exactly the opposite effect, harming the future health, social well-being and economic viability of our nation.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, finding affordable housing was a persistent problem in the U.S. In this Kenan Insight, we look at the factors driving the nationwide affordable housing crunch, particularly for those most affected by it — low income, single-parent families.
The coronavirus pandemic has been especially traumatic on our country’s African American working poor. From being disproportionately concentrated in low-wage hospitality and service sector jobs to struggling with caregiving and food insecurity issues due to shuttered daycare facilities and food banks, working-poor African Americans are facing an inequitable share of financial, social and psychological challenges. What can be done to ease the burdens of working-poor African Americans, both during the pandemic and moving forward? In this Kenan Insight, Urban Investment Strategies Center Director and William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship Jim Johnson invokes a little-known federal program, the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission (SCRC), as part of a strategic response to providing a coherent, place-based development plan.
An inside look at the plenary sessions of the fourth annual Frontiers of Entrepreneurship conference, which convened practitioners, policymakers and academics to discuss the most challenging issues in the field of entrepreneurship and set the agenda for future research and policy.
The mission of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise to develop and promote innovative, market-based solutions to vital economic issues—and its capacity for bringing together diverse constituencies to create those solutions were both on full display on Nov. 22 at the Investing in Affordable Housing Symposium.