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Columns::March 10, 2003

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Campus News

Unbuckling the Poverty Belt

By Jennifer Freeman
jdeprima@uga.edu

In November 2002 the Carl Vinson Institute of Government completed a study of persistent poverty in seven Southern states.

James Ledbetter

Institute director James Ledbetter discussed with Columns the implications of the study and the next steps that UGA will take to help break the multigenerational cycle of poverty.

Columns: How was the Institute of Government selected to lead this study effort?

Ledbetter: Vice President for Public Service and Outreach Art Dunning and Senior Vice President for External Affairs Steve Wrigley presented the initial idea to U.S. Sen. Zell Miller, who procured federal funds to support the study. The Vinson Institute headed up the study in collaboration with other departments on campus.

Columns: There have been many studies about poverty. What makes this effort special?

Ledbetter: I think there are two things. One, our approach was to try to engage people in states and communities, specifically community-based organizations, in a discussion of their perception of the issues and appropriate solutions and strategies. I think that was a unique aspect. Second, we approached it from a perspective broader than just poverty or economic development; it dealt with human capital development as well as infrastructure needs.

Columns: What is the best case that can be made for developing a federal initiative?

Ledbetter: We identified 242 contiguous counties [in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia] that, collectively, have conditions much worse than the conditions that either the Delta Regional Authority [in the Mississippi Delta region] or the original Appalachian Regional Commission had. These counties experience poorer health, lower educational attainment, a higher rate of poverty, lower per-capita income, and a higher rate of unemployment--all of these conditions would support the need for a massive federal intervention.

Columns: What steps have been taken?

Ledbetter: One of our goals is to do what we can to see that an initiative is, in fact, implemented. And so we have visited with all the members of the Georgia Congressional delegation; Sen. Miller is in the process of developing legislation that will implement the recommendations from our study. We recognize it will be a long process. The Delta Regional Authority took 10 years. But Sen. Miller said that he wants to begin that process, and other members of our Congressional delegation--Sen. Chambliss, Reps. Lewis, Bishop, Marshall, Burns and others--have said they realize the federal budget is in a terrible position, but we need to begin. So there’s some bipartisan interest in moving this forward.
The second thing that we’re doing is the conference that Dr. Dunning has called for March 11. It’s really about harnessing and focusing the mission of the university in its teaching, research, and public service and outreach to better understand persistent poverty and also to understand what kind of interventions can create and sustain an educated workforce, which would sustain a viable economic base.
As we visited the seven states, we did find some examples of sustainable activities that were generating wealth in communities. So while our study was an examination of persistent poverty, I think that it will be more a focused economic development initiative that looks at human capital development and at sustainable growth that creates wealth.

Columns: How can the university community be involved in improving conditions of persistent poverty?

Ledbetter: I think that scholars and practitioners need to have dialogue with people in the community who can really begin to give us advice and feedback. Part of the strength of a land-grant university is that we have outstanding scholars and people who are out in the field applying that knowledge and interacting with those communities, and that gives us a face validity as we deal with these issues. It’s how we combine the scholarly pursuits and the outreach pursuits in a synergistic way.
Dr. Dunning is creating an opportunity for all the land-grant universities in this region to come together to explore what their role might be, how we can learn from each other, and how we can look at strategies that have the potential of addressing the issue of persistent poverty.

Columns: If there isn’t money for a federal initiative, what can we do in Georgia to improve the situation?

Ledbetter: Part of the work that’s not yet finished is a more in-depth analysis of Georgia, to look at the kind of investments that Georgia has made. The state has not sat idly by and ignored this problem; we’ve made investments, we have policies and tax incentives, but they haven’t produced the kind of outcomes we’d anticipated. So we’re doing a systematic analysis of the capacity of counties and the impact of the various policies to see if that can give us some insight into things that can be done differently. We are also providing technical support for the Rural Development Council; as Gov. Perdue reorganizes that council and develops a focus, we hope that there’s some overlap of work that can add strength both to the university and to the Rural Development Council.

Columns: Final thoughts?

Ledbetter: As I said, members of Congress on both sides of the aisle were very supportive of the study and saw this as an economic imperative.
The Southern Growth Policies Board recently issued a report on the South, which they called “The Magnolia and the Mercedes.” The analogy they were trying to draw was that, along with the “traditional” view of the South, we need to be the hub of a technological revolution if we’re going to participate in the economy of the 21st century--and to do that, we need a 21st-century workforce. We’ve had a lot of manufacturing plants, but we’ve not had the research and development capability that builds long-term, sustainable wealth.
Finally, the members of the Georgia General Assembly have been supportive, as well as the business community, and everyone recognizes that we have persistent poverty in this region--and further that the counties in this region do not have the fiscal capacity to address this problem on their own. If we’re going to deal with it, we must do so in a coordinated way at the local, state and federal levels.

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Columns is produced by the UGA News Service, a unit of UGA Public Affairs.
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