i-team joins Central Pines Regional Council January 2027, with Raleigh and Wake County continuing as core partners
For Immediate Release
October 27, 2026
RALEIGH, NC – The City of Raleigh Innovation Team (i-team) staff and program will transition to Central Pines Regional Council (CPRC) in January 2027. Central Pines serves 50 local governments across the region, creating opportunities for the i-team to work on challenges across jurisdictions. The three-person team will report to CPRC Deputy Executive Director Jenny Halsey and will continue working closely with Raleigh and Wake County, two of the Regional Council’s largest members.
The team will support the launch of the Center for Regional Excellence, which will feature a nonprofit arm of the organization with greater flexibility to run programs, raise funding, and make impact. Early priorities are home repair and weatherization, pathways into hard-to-fill public jobs, and the Connected Region initiative.
The team will continue working directly with residents and local governments to understand problems, test practical solutions, and build on approaches that have worked in Raleigh.
Since 2024, the i-team has helped attract more than $2.5 million in investment to Raleigh and the region. The team engaged more than 1,000 residents, helped raise the maximum benefit in the City’s home repair program by 30%, and brought City departments together to advance green stormwater infrastructure. Its Pathways to Government workforce effort laid the groundwork for a $200,000 Advancing Workforce Mobility grant awarded to Central Pines. Leila Pedersen, i-team Director, also chairs the Regional Strategy & Innovation Group, a network of local government leaders convened by Central Pines.
“Growth is the defining issue for Raleigh, and our neighbors across the Triangle are facing many of the same questions,” said Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell. “I’m glad the whole region will get to build on what the i-team started here, and Raleigh will stay at the table as a partner.”
“This team introduced new ways of solving problems,” said Michael Moore, Assistant City Manager for the City of Raleigh. “Expanding regionally enables more residents in surrounding communities to benefit from these partnerships.”
“Our members keep naming the same top issues: housing, population growth, and the rising cost of public services with limited resources,” said Jenny Halsey, Deputy
Executive Director of Central Pines Regional Council. “The i-team has already shown its possible to move the needle on these issues. Now all our local government members will benefit from this added capacity.”
“Over the past two years, residents told us time and again that their challenges don’t fit neatly inside one jurisdiction,” said Leila Pedersen, Director of the Raleigh Innovation Team. “A family might move from Raleigh to Clayton but still commute to a job in Durham, care for a parent in Chapel Hill, and count on services across the region. People’s lives don’t start and stop at the city limits, and the solutions shouldn’t either.”
About Central Pines Regional Council For more than five decades, Central Pines Regional Council has enabled collaboration and empowerment of local governments through direct assistance, regional planning, and technical expertise. As a resource and support hub for local governments, community members, and partners across Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange, and Wake counties, we believe that our region thrives when we come together with a common vision and plan for the future. Our work fosters constructive conversations and drives long-term change in our community to ensure our region is thriving, equitable, connected, and resilient.
About the Raleigh Innovation Team The Raleigh Innovation Team was established in 2024 with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies through the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University. The team works with government, residents, and community partners to design and test solutions to public problems.
Leila Pedersen
As the Director of the i-team, Leila brings people together from across sectors and communities to turn big goals into sustainable solutions. With 15 years of experience fostering responsible innovation and impact for public, private, and nonprofit organizations, Leila previously led ARPA implementation in Durham, was an Economic Policy Analyst at the NC Justice Center, and was an Associate Director at New America. Leila holds an Executive Master’s in Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Outside of work, Leila enjoys live music, public art, and exploring the Triangle’s many parks with her dog and family.
Kate Maitland
For the past eight years, Kate has done civic design and innovation consulting with local government, non-profit, and philanthropic partners through roles at the Lab at OPM and Greater Good Studio. Kate previously worked at the Public Health Institute, Feeding America, and the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. Kate holds a master’s of public health degree from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill and bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In her free time, Kate can usually be found puttering in the garden
Kia Smith
Kia Smith is an advocate for community well-being, who previously served as a Systems Improvement Project Manager for Mecklenburg County Community Support Services. She has over five years of experience in public health, health equity, and systems change. Her work has focused on economic development and the full range of social determinants of health, and she’s passionate about leading cross-sector efforts to build more sustainable and safe communities.
Kia previously held roles with Durham County Government, the UNC Kenan Institute, Duke University, and the State of North Carolina, where she led policy research, program management, and initiatives centered on trauma-informed systems and equitable community outcomes. She earned her MBA from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and holds an MPP from Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. In her free time, she enjoys exploring new restaurants and giving back through community service.
Media Contacts
City of Raleigh: Julia Milstead, Public Information Officer, julia.milstead@raleighnc.gov
Central Pines Regional Council: Beth Seidel, bseidel@centralpinesnc.gov, 919-558-2712
Program Contacts
City of Raleigh i-team: Leila Pedersen, leila.pedersen@raleighnc.gov, 919-937-3244
Central Pines Regional Council: Jenny Halsey, jhalsey@centralpinesnc.gov, 919-558-9343
