What does power actually look like in a small town? Not the ceremonial kind — the gavel at a town council meeting, the ribbon-cutting at a new development — but the structural kind. The kind that shapes what gets built, who benefits, and whose phone calls get returned. That question is what the Wake Forest Power Map was built to answer.
Every node and connection in this map was sourced from verifiable public records: NC State Board of Elections campaign finance data, Wake County GIS parcel records, IRS 990 filings, FOIA-obtained documents, and verified news archives. Nothing here is speculation. It is a map of documented relationships.
What Social Network Analysis Does
Social network analysis is a research method drawn from sociology, political science, and organizational theory. It treats individuals, organizations, and institutions as nodes in a network, and the relationships between them — financial ties, board memberships, employment history, shared property interests, political donations — as edges. From that structure, you can calculate things that are not visible to the naked eye.
Two metrics matter most here. Degree centrality measures how many direct connections a node has — how many hands it shakes. Betweenness centrality measures how often a node sits on the shortest path between other nodes — how much it controls the flow of information, resources, and access across the network. A node with high betweenness doesn’t necessarily have the most connections. It has the most strategic ones.
The map also uses community detection algorithms to identify clusters of nodes that are more densely connected to each other than to the rest of the network. These clusters reveal informal power coalitions that don’t appear on any org chart.
Why I Built It
Wake Forest is growing fast. The population has more than doubled in twenty years. New infrastructure, new development, new institutions — and very little public clarity about who is actually driving those decisions and whose interests are being served.
Civic journalism in small towns has largely collapsed. Local government coverage is thin, attendance at public meetings is low, and the connective tissue between individual decisions — a rezoning here, a board appointment there, a nonprofit contract somewhere else — rarely gets documented in any coherent way. That connective tissue is exactly what this map is designed to surface.
Ground Truth NC exists to fill that gap. The power map is the foundation of that work: a baseline document of the town’s power structure that can be updated over time, used to track changes, and made available to residents, journalists, advocates, and anyone else who wants to understand how Wake Forest actually functions.
What It Shows
Several findings stand out from this version of the map.
The Town of Wake Forest holds the highest degree centrality in the entire network — 66 direct connections — and the highest betweenness centrality (0.013). This confirms that municipal government is the structural hub through which most relationships pass. What matters is understanding who has the most access to that hub, and who shapes the decisions made there.
Bob Johnson is the highest-betweenness individual actor in the network (betweenness: 0.006). His position links real estate, politics, and governance across the map, with a significant anchor point at 525 S. White Street. He is not necessarily the most publicly prominent figure in town — but structurally, he sits at more crossroads than anyone else. That is exactly the kind of thing SNA reveals that traditional reporting misses.
WFBIP — the Wake Forest Business and Industry Partnership — functions as the primary institutional broker between government and the private sector, with a betweenness score of 0.006. It occupies a position that gives it unusual leverage over economic development decisions, often without the same level of public scrutiny that direct government action would receive.
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary holds $117.8 million in assessed property value in Wake Forest and pays zero property taxes. SEBTS also functions as an institutional veto on Town planning — its footprint, exemptions, and relationships with key decision-makers give it influence over land use and development that far exceeds what is visible in any single public meeting or filing.
The map identifies 11 distinct power communities, including the Municipal and Economic Development Core, the Real Estate Political Donor Network, the Conservative Business and Charter School Network, the AGNC Ventures and Alliance Group Development Cluster, and the SEBTS Institutional Network. These are not formal coalitions — they are empirically detected clusters of dense relationship activity. Groups of actors who, based on documented ties, function as a coherent network whether or not they have ever met in the same room.
What It Does Not Show Yet
This map is a living document, not a finished product. Version 1.2 reflects data through May 2026. There are nodes tagged for FOIA follow-up, relationships that are suspected but not yet documented, and community clusters that will likely shift as more data comes in. The map will be updated as new records are obtained and verified.
It also does not show causation. Documenting that two people share a board seat, a donor, or a property interest does not prove coordination or wrongdoing. What it does is create a factual record that makes those questions worth asking — and answerable.
How to Use It
The map is not publicly accessible. Organizations, businesses, nonprofits, individuals, candidates, campaigns, lobbyists, and others who may find it useful are welcome to reach out at principal@groundtruthnc.com to discuss their use case. Access is granted at the discretion of Ground Truth NC based on alignment with the goals and values of the company. If you believe this tool is worth your investment, reach out — let’s talk.
If you are a resident trying to understand a development decision, start with the Real Estate and Development view. If you want to understand who funds local political campaigns and where that money connects to governance, use the Political Money Map. If you want to understand the full structural picture, start with the Full System and zoom in on the highest-betweenness nodes.
This is your town. This is what it looks like when you map it.
Legal Disclaimer
Purpose and Scope. The Wake Forest Power Map is produced by Ground Truth NC as a civic intelligence and public interest research tool. It is intended solely for informational, educational, and journalistic purposes. All data displayed in this map was obtained from publicly available sources, including but not limited to: North Carolina State Board of Elections campaign finance disclosures, Wake County Register of Deeds and GIS parcel records, IRS Form 990 filings, official government meeting minutes and agendas, records obtained through public records requests (FOIA/NCPRA), and published news reporting from verified sources.
No Defamation or Accusation of Wrongdoing. The inclusion of any individual, organization, business, or institution in this map does not constitute an accusation of wrongdoing, illegal conduct, unethical behavior, or any other negative characterization. Connections and relationships depicted represent documented associations — financial ties, shared board memberships, employment history, property interests, or political donations — as reflected in public records. The existence of a documented relationship between two parties does not imply coordination, conspiracy, corruption, or improper conduct of any kind.
Public Figures and Public Records. The individuals and entities depicted in this map are primarily public figures, public officials, or organizations that operate in the public sphere and whose activities are documented in public records. The publication of factual information drawn from public records concerning public figures and matters of public concern is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 14 of the North Carolina Constitution. Ground Truth NC publishes this map in the exercise of those rights.
Accuracy and Corrections. Ground Truth NC makes reasonable efforts to ensure the accuracy of all data contained in this map. However, public records may contain errors, and our analysis may be incomplete. If you believe any information in this map is factually inaccurate, please contact us with documentation. We are committed to correcting verified errors promptly. This map is updated periodically; the current version and last update date are noted in the map overview.
No Legal Advice. Nothing in this map or any accompanying analysis constitutes legal advice. Ground Truth NC is not a law firm and does not provide legal counsel. Any legal questions arising from this content should be directed to a licensed attorney.
No Liability for Consequential Use. Ground Truth NC is not responsible for how third parties interpret, cite, or act upon the information contained in this map. Users of this map are responsible for verifying information independently before making decisions based on it.
Contact. Questions, corrections, or legal inquiries may be directed to Ground Truth NC via the contact form at groundtruthnc.com/contact.
The Wake Forest Power Map is maintained by Ground Truth NC. Last updated May 7, 2026. Methodology available on request. FOIA requests ongoing.