Jessica Wilkinson

Jessica Wilkinson is an Economic Development Analyst at RTI. She has 10 years of economic development, international development, and policy analysis experience. Ms. Wilkinson has worked with dozens of rural communities, small towns, and tribal communities across North Carolina on economic development research and strategies. She helps small communities identify and use their unique assets for economic development and determine which strategies are a good fit. She is experienced in asset-based approaches to economic development, case-study development, input-output analyses, feasibility assessments, data sourcing and analysis, and community engagement. Her past work includes researching small-scale manufacturing and workforce development opportunities in High Point, North Carolina; examining the needs of the agriculture and agribusiness industries in Craven County, North Carolina; measuring the economic impact of the Lumbee Tribe in North Carolina; and creating an outdoor recreation-based economic development strategy for Mitchell County, North Carolina. She has partnered with local governments, tribal governments, and regional authorities across North Carolina and has worked internationally including in South Korea, India, and Malawi. 
 

Before joining RTI in 2023, Ms. Wilkinson served as the economic development manager of NCGrowth at UNC Chapel Hill and was a program analyst supporting the Office of HIV and AIDS at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).