The City has also been committed to the revitalization of the East Winston Community, a predominately minority area. The City created public-private partnerships to develop the East Winston Shopping Center and the East Way Plaza Shopping Center. Each of these projects involved pairing a consortium of private lenders in conjunction with second mortgages and federal grants.

This community also pioneered a method for the public sector to invest in speculative business park development while still protecting the public's funds. This innovative initiative involved the City and County providing funds for infrastructure improvements within privately owned business parks. The amount of these improvements was then placed as a lien on the property. As parcels of land were sold to businesses, the pro rata amount of the lien would become due. However, the pro rata lien amount could be forgiven if the company created a certain number of new jobs at a minimum salary range and/or created a certain amount of tax base. This arrangement has proven to be very effective in inducing the private sector to develop business parks by taking some of the up front risk from the project. It also acted as an inducement to recruit companies with higher paying jobs.

Winston-Salem also has a long commitment to entrepreneurship. The City created a Small Business Loan program in 1985, a Restaurant Development Loan Program in 1998, and a Micro-enterprise Loan program in 2002. Plus, the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership created the Meade Willis Fund to assist new downtown start up companies. Each of these programs makes loans to early stage companies. To date, over 150 companies have participated.

In 2001, the Winston-Salem Alliance, a non-profit development corporation, created the Triad Entrepreneurial Initiative, or TEI. TEI is a seamless program that provides training, a business plan competition, mentoring, and incubation to start-up high growth companies. The alliance committed $1,000,000 to this program. In the first two years, over 120 companies participated, and 75 percent of these companies are now pursuing their business plans. The community also recognized a need for local venture capital funds, and two such funds were created. The Piedmont Angel Network provides very early stage capital, and the Academy Fund provides later stage assistance.