Raleigh, NC and AA

[Professor]

MEMORANDUM

TO: Russell Allen, City Manager, City of Raleigh

FROM: Adrienne Cole, Director, Raleigh Economic Development

DATE: April 19, 2007

SUBJ: 10 Best Cities for African Americans 2007

As you know, Raleigh-Durham was listed as one of the 10 Best Cities for African Americans by Black Enterprise magazine in their May 2007 edition.

The authors conducted an online interactive survey between the period of December 2006 and February 2007. In all, they culled from more than 2,000 respondents who commented on their cities. Participants were asked to gauge their level of satisfaction with 24 quality of life factors. At this level of analysis, the survey focused on issues such as earnings potential, entrepreneurial opportunities, jobs, cost of living, affordable housing, education, access to technology, social opportunities, medical care and other quality of life topics.

From this information, they narrowed their list of cities to 13 and applied heavier weighting to 7 of the 24 factors, including:

• Black median household income compared to overall median household income
• Percent of black households earning greater than $100,000 divided by the percent of all households earning greater than $100,000 per year
• Black unemployment rate
• Number of black-owned businesses per 1,000 black residents
• Percentage of black home loan rejections
• Percentage of black college graduates
• Black homeownership rate

By combining survey response scores with the quality of life scores, they arrived at a final ranking of the top 10 cities for African Americans.

According to the authors, “robust job growth and a highly educated black population helped Raleigh-Durham make the grade this year.” In fact, Raleigh-Durham made the grade in several areas, coming in 3rd behind Washington D.C. and Atlanta, in the final tally that combined all of the judging criteria, as well as in the Money, Finance & Business; Public & Private Services; and Business & Career Opportunities sections.

In addition, the Raleigh-Durham area was ranked as the safest metro area when compared to the other cities in the top 10. Other notable aspects of the Raleigh-Durham metro were the area’s excellent public education system and low cost of operating a business, which is 12% lower than the national average.

I have a copy of the magazine and am more than happy to share a copy of the full article with you.