"I've always felt that my responsibility is to help others."
In Orange County, Renée saw a place where she could use her skills to help people with their most basic needs: housing, transportation, and access to quality jobs, healthcare, and education.
Her commitment to Orange County reflects her lifelong fervor for equity and justice, along with her compassion for the people in her community.
For Renée, public service is an honor, and a humbling experience. She values the time spent listening to residents and working on their behalf to make our community stronger.
Renée Price (seated on left) and the current members of the Orange County Board of Commissioners
Forging new community connections
Renée began serving Orange County through her work with the Orange County Planning Board and the Hillsborough Historic Preservation Society.
These experiences showed Renée how people feel a sense of "place" within Orange County - and a sense of belonging.
Renée has helped initiate several projects that encourage us to examine where we came from and where we are going as a community, combining historical documentation, storytelling, and artistic expression.
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Free Spirit Freedom - a cultural arts initiative under the Hillsborough Arts Council, which explores the history of Orange County through the lens of African-Americans
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Orange County Community Remembrance Coalition - working in coordination with the Equal Justice Initiative to acknowledge and remember victims and survivors of racial terror lynching
Experience in regional planning and public affairs
Born and raised in Rochester NY, Renée earned a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from Tufts University majoring in urban affairs, and a Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University. She also studied at Colgate-Rochester Divinity School in the Master of Arts program.
Renée began her career in New York where she engaged in inner-city neighborhood revitalization, land-use planning, and historic preservation. She helped initiate the first low-income and affordable housing trust fund for New York State, worked in the Office of Environmental Impact for the City of New York, and served as Director of the Joint Legislative Commission on Rural Resources for the NY General Assembly.
Arriving in Orange County in 1990, Renée became active in sustainable agriculture, promoting small family farms, rural economic development and natural resource conservation. She later spent two years in Alabama with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/LAF where she developed and directed a sustainable forestry program for minority and traditionally marginalized landowners.
Renée speaks at an Orange County Veterans Day event in 2019.
Serving Orange County . . . and beyond
In her role as commissioner, Renée serves on numerous community boards representing the Triangle region, the state, and the nation:
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Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization
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Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization
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Cardinal Innovations
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Family Success Alliance
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North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (Board of Directors, Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee, and the Health and Human Services Steering Committee)
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North Carolina Association of Black County Officials (President)
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North Carolina Black Alliance.
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National Association of Counties (Community, Economic & Workforce Development Steering Committee, Arts & Culture Committee, Rural Action Caucus, and Ambassador Program)
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National Association of Black County Officials (South Region Director)