Foundational research
Original policy research from Carolina Forward focuses on pragmatic, grounded and independent solutions to the biggest issues facing our home.
The full catalog
6 reportsEnergy Freedom for North Carolina
North Carolina's legacy energy monopoly has kept electricity expensive, coal-dependent, and unresponsive to consumers — and the path to affordable, reliable, clean power runs through deregulation and genuine competition.
The Middle Class Housing Plan
North Carolina's housing crisis isn't a mystery — it's a supply problem created by policy choices. The fix is equally straightforward: make it viable to build market-rate housing, and get out of the way.
Our Indivisible Destiny
Dissatisfaction with American democracy is not partisan — it is nearly universal. North Carolina has the authority, and the obligation, to act on three fronts: campaign finance, legislative transparency, and election reform.
The Road to Home
North Carolina's housing shortage is a policy failure — and fixing it requires bold changes to zoning, permitting, and public investment at every level of government.
Our Daily Bread
A generation of North Carolina workers has seen their wages stagnate, their benefits erode, and their economic security hollowed out — and it's the predictable result of policy choices that can be reversed.