Columns:: Reversing trends: Institute of Government fellow heads up study of ‘persistent poverty’

since 12/15/98

Columns::October 6, 2003

UGA will help lead $35 million project to improve education
Licensing, royalty income increases by more than 9 percent in FY2003
UGACard office updates ID cards
Hudson Institute senior fellow will give 2003 Brooks Lecture
Film series traces ‘path to power’
Live and learn
UGA welcomes new faculty
The faculty perspective
Field trip

Campus News

Reversing trends
Institute of Government fellow heads up study of ‘persistent poverty’

By Jennifer DePrima
jdeprima@uga.edu

Joseph Whorton, a senior fellow at UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, has been named to head the Study on

Joseph Whorton

Persistent Poverty in the South, an initiative begun by the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach in May 2001. Whorton, who also leads the governor’s Rural Development Council, is a recognized leader in identifying and addressing the unique challenges that face rural communities and recently received the 2003 Georgia Key Citizen Award, the highest honor given by the Georgia Municipal Association.
As the initiative has evolved over the past two years, it has become one of the top priorities of public service and outreach.
“The project is now at a point where it requires a strong leader who can develop a course of action that will bring it to the next level,” says Art Dunning, vice president for public service and outreach. “Dr. Whorton’s expertise in rural development issues and his numerous contacts in universities and community organizations throughout the South make him ideally suited to this position. We’re grateful to the Vinson Institute for ‘loaning’ us one of their top faculty members to take the lead on this project.”
The Study on Persistent Poverty in the South began with a meeting held at the Carter Presidential Center that brought together academic and community leaders from across the South to discuss new ways to address the social, economic, educational and other needs of poverty-stricken counties throughout the region. A follow-up conference for a larger group was held in October 2001 at Tuskegee University.
That fall, with the leadership of Sen. Zell Miller, federal funds were appropriated and were matched by a contribution from Macon-based businessman Benjy Griffith to conduct a feasibility study for the formation of a federal commission to provide assistance to communities across an 11-state region traditionally known as the Black Belt. UGA and Tuskegee were named to lead the study. A team based at the Vinson Institute and comprising faculty from several of UGA’s colleges and schools spent the next several months examining persistent poverty throughout the South.
In spring 2003 the team completed the first phase of the study, which identified a region of 242 contiguous counties--home to 7.5 million people in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia--that have exhibited persistent poverty for at least the past three decades. The study revealed that 91 of Georgia’s 159 counties fall within this region.
“Based on the results of this study, the research group has devised a three-part action plan to address the issue of persistent poverty in the South,” Whorton says.
The components of the plan include three initiatives:
• Campus-wide initiative: In March 2003 UGA faculty and staff gathered for a symposium that focused on how students and research, teaching, and public service faculty could contribute to the fight against persistent poverty. The 2004 Public Service and Outreach Conference will also address the role of land-grant universities in confronting issues of poverty across the South.
• Public service and outreach initiative: Efforts are under way to support community and economic development collaborations.
• Regional land-grant initiative: Faculty and administrators from land-grant institutions, established in 1862 and 1890, throughout the study region are identifying opportunities to develop a regional collaborative.
“The issues contributing to and resulting from persistent poverty are difficult and complex and create a focus for the land-grant university,” says Arnett C. Mace, senior vice president for academic affairs.
“Dr. Dunning and several deans have approached me about creating a UGA initiative around poverty. I am hopeful that this work will lead to such an initiative. Certainly, Dr. Whorton’s record of success in the public service arena and his academic appointment in the School of Public and International Affairs give him the perspective to work with the academic and service community.”
“The university has the expertise to help examine, articulate and ameliorate the economic and social consequences of sustained generational poverty in Georgia,” Dunning says. “It is my hope that the action plan, under the superb leadership of Dr. Whorton, will provide a structure that will help Georgia build on its assets, target economic and human resource development and capitalize on existing successful models.”

UGA Today supports QuickTime, Flash, RealPlayer and Acrobat Reader (PDF files).
Download information about these plug-ins.
Affiliate icons for UGA Today

COLUMNS ] UGA Today ] Subscribe ] News Bureau ]
Office of Public Affairs Directory ] Photo Services ]
Broadcast, Video & Photography ] Master Calendar]
Columns ] Georgia Magazine ]Visitors Center ]
UGA Home ] Alumni ] Admissions ] UGA Directories ]
Sports ] Weather ] Search UGA sites ]

Columns is produced by the UGA News Service, a unit of UGA Public Affairs.
Beth Roberts: Columns editor, Juliett Dinkins: Columns managing editor,
Janet Beckley: Columns art director. Peter Frey: Columns photo editor

Questions or comments should be directed to columns@uga.edu