 |
|
 |
Meeting the Needs of Rural North Carolina: A Challenge to Educators
Billy Ray Hall, Education Summit, February 19, 2003
- First and foremost, we need you to teach our children well. We can talk about economic models -- and groundbreaking strategies -- and jobs for the new millennium -- until the cows come home. But not one of those things comes even close to the importance of giving EVERY CHILD IN RURAL NORTH CAROLINA a chance to succeed in life. And here I'm talking about the ability to read and write, to master mathematical and scientific principles and to think critically.
- The good news is that we're making progress. Drop out rates are going down, rates of graduation are going up and an increasingly larger percentage of rural students are going on to colleges and universities. In 2000-01, rural students passed 8th grade end of grade tests at the same rate as urban students [74.4% in urban, 74.3% in rural], and minority and female students in rural areas outperformed their urban counterparts. There are major success stories in rural schools all across this state, and we are deeply indebted to you for making this happen.
- Yet, the struggle to keep moving ahead is immense, especially in the face of rural poverty. In the year 2000, 20 rural counties were still defined as having persistent poverty - a poverty rate above 18 percent for three decades. More than 180,000 rural children are growing up poor, a 6 percent increase from 1990. We cannot deny these children, these young people, a future. If the multi-generational legacy of poverty is to be broken, it must begin in our schools. That's a heavy load to lay on educators, and we cannot expect them to go it alone. It will have to be done with parents and relatives and churches and everyone else in the community who will help. But it must begin in our schools.
- Second, we need you to teach our rural children to understand and value the community in which they live. A good education will prepare students to live and work anywhere they choose. And that must be our first goal. But if some of our finest rural students are to stay in their communities - and provide the creative leadership our rural communities so desperately need - we must instill in them a sense of place; they must feel a connection and responsibility to their communities. I know that each of you has dozens of examples of how this can work and is working. I'll mention just a couple.
- The Rural Center works with a community development corporation that serves the minority community in Tyrrell County, a county in which more than 20 percent of the entire population lives in poverty and more than 30 percent of children. The enterprising director of this CDC has created a youth corps program that trains young people in the conservancy field by putting them to work in the nature preserves along the Albemarle Sound. It's good for the local environment and it's extremely good for this group of young people.
- Our Rural Internet Access Authority has a wonderful initiative called TechForce, which is a joint program with public schools and community colleges to train technologically adept young people to help businesses, organizations and individuals in their communities take advantage of the Internet. Not only are the young people providing a valuable service; they're connecting with people in the community they would never have encountered otherwise.
- That brings me to the third point. And here I'm talking about ALL rural North Carolinians - from 5-year-olds in kindergarten to 50-year-olds in the workplace. We must ensure that rural North Carolinians achieve the highest levels of technological competence possible. The speakers at the Emerging Issues Forum last week reminded us of a sad truth. Not so many years ago, North Carolina was at the leading edge of information technology in this country; today, the state is hardly on the national radar. We can, and I believe we will, restore our national position. In pursuit of this mission it would be easy to concentrate on our flagship universities, our major corporations and our larger cities. There is no question but that they must lead the way. But we cannot afford to do this at the expense of our rural schools, our rural students, and our rural workers.
Why? Throughout history, North Carolina's rural communities have struggled to overcome the barriers of distance that have separated them from markets, from services and from vital information. Advances made possible by information technology - whether we're talking about distance learning, telemedicine or online businesses - can help us knock down those barriers once and for all.
With technological skills, our rural students and workers can go anywhere and find work. Or they can become part of an increasingly capable workforce to attract high-end businesses into their rural communities. Or they can start their own companies and link them to markets in the next county, the next state or to another continent.
- As you know, we have been working for two years now, through an initiative called e-NC, to ensure that citizens, businesses and institutions in every part of the state have access to high-speed Internet service. We are well on our way to achieving this goal by December of this year. And we are forging partnerships with counties to establish ongoing e-communities efforts. These are important strides forward - and combined with the aggressive efforts on the part of educational institutions at all points along the continuum - are impressive. But, as you well know, we are only on the cusp. We are just beginning to take advantage of the vast opportunities offered by information technology. We must press ahead and you must take the lead.
- Fourth point. We must create within our educational institutions, at all levels, a renewed focus on entrepreneurship. Here's why. For decades, North Carolina's countryside has been dotted with thousands of small and large manufacturing plants that have extended from the coast to the mountains. These plants, coupled with income from the farm, have put money in the pockets of rural families. Rural North Carolina has supplied the labor - some skilled, some unskilled - to keep the plants operating and to keep new plants coming in. These plants have allowed North Carolina to have what many states envy - a balance of cities, small towns and hundreds of rural communities spread all across the state.
That balance is now in jeopardy. Recruitment of business and industry will continue to be an important part of our economic strategy in rural areas, but the 'pickins are slim' and they're getting slimmer. Meanwhile, existing plants continue to disappear. Between January 2000 and December 2002, more than 87,000 manufacturing jobs were lost - mostly in textiles, apparel and furniture - and mostly in rural areas.
And that brings us back to the idea of entrepreneurship. If rural North Carolina is to have the jobs it needs in the future, most of those jobs will have to be created by rural North Carolinians themselves. I repeat, most jobs of the future will have to be created by rural North Carolinians themselves.
Now, this is not such a stretch. Rural North Carolinians are a talented, enterprising lot. They've been crafting opportunities for themselves and others for over two centuries. But, as you well know, being successful in business today requires an understanding of finance and markets and a range of sophisticated skills that go beyond anything our grandfathers could have imagined.
- One of our earliest investments was in a program called REAL Enterprises. Since that time, more than 7,300 students have received entrepreneurial training at high schools and community colleges across North Carolina. Between 1990 and 1997, NC REAL participants started or expanded nearly 350 businesses ranging from manufacturing to retail to services. By late 1997 these businesses reported annual sales revenues of over $5 million and the creation of 280 jobs. And we're talking about students here.
- Another program that got its start in the late 1980s was the Rural Center's Microenterprise Loan Program, which provides small loans to help folks start and grow their own businesses. This program focuses on people who aren't considered 'bankable' - women, minorities, and folks with low incomes - but who have a good idea and are willing to learn and to take some risk. Fortunately, we had the good sense to realize that just providing a loan was not enough. So we combined the loan with business advice and assistance. And we looked to our friends in the community college system to help us do that. Today we find more people wanting the technical assistance than our loans. The program has made loans to nearly 1,000 small businesses, but we have served twice as many business men and women with training and counseling.
Again, we can all do our part. But our educational institutions must lead the way.
- And now for the fifth challenge - retraining the existing rural workforce. This is a huge job that grew to massive proportions when the recession hit in 2001, speeding up job losses in urban high tech industries and in rural manufacturing.
North Carolina now has the 7th highest unemployment in the country. The state's unemployment rate has risen from a low of 3.1 percent in December 1998 to more than double that figure in December 2002. In rural North Carolina, unemployment is currently at 6.9 percent, with 129,000 rural workers out of a job at the end of 2002. In Transylvania County, the unemployment rate is 12.3 percent. Ten North Carolina counties have unemployment rates of 10 percent or greater. And they are all rural.
And, for those laid off workers who do get jobs, the picture is not rosy. According to an Employment Security Commission study, only 74 percent of laid off workers were reemployed in the state after two years. The median wage of these workers was only 88 percent of their pre-layoff wage.
The responsibility for retraining - and it's a tough, tough job - falls largely on the shoulders of the community college system. And we all know that the system is reeling from the expectations we have placed on it. I won't pretend to know the answers, but will stress a couple of points that are especially important to rural North Carolinians.
- First, we know that the educational attainment of our rural workers is lower and the age of rural workers is higher. And we know that many 50-year-olds haven't seen the inside of a classroom in more than 30 years and didn't have a very good experience while they there the first time. We must find ways to reach out to these workers where they live and to ease their transition into the training process.
- Most rural workers must continue to work at least part time to support their families. Let's make sure that our program offerings are flexible enough to allow workers to juggle both school and continuing education. For some, online courses and assignments will be the answer.
- I also hope we will work harder to match our training opportunities to employment opportunities - and to promote the employment potential for higher paying but less sought after occupations like plumbing and welding.
- Sixth point. We ask that you give to rural North Carolina the full benefit of your vast mind power and creativity. It's been said so often that we've trivialized it, but let me say it again: Our educational system must be the engine that powers the emerging knowledge economy. It must be the source of innovation, of technological breakthroughs, of major reforms in management, marketing, and information transfer.
- To accomplish this, I encourage you to get to know the community you serve. Yes, if you're N.C. State University, you've got the entire globe to think about. But I'm speaking mainly to the areas you serve within North Carolina and especially within rural North Carolina. You have brilliant professionals at your disposal. Use them. If your directors and trustees have not recently taken a look at the changing economic and demographic picture of your service area, I would encourage you to do so in the very near future.
- Knowing the needs of those you serve will help you focus your resources on those things that matter most. We need your best minds to concentrate on relevant, results oriented research that can have real-life impacts on our rural businesses, our rural communities and our rural people.
- Yes, I know that time and resources are limited. To a large extent, research must follow the money. That's why I hope you will turn to organizations like the Rural Center who try to stay on top of needs, who have some resources at their disposal and who have access to others.
- I won't belabor this point since I've been accused of being a little too outspoken on the subject, but folks, it would really help if the university system could loosen up its system of contracting a bit. Some of us who want to work with you have found it to be rather daunting in the past.
- Finally, for those of you who may not be aware of it, the Rural Center is currently exploring the creation of a Rural Research Network. We see this network as a confederation of researchers who would discuss priorities for research, share findings from their work and collaborate on major projects. We held an orientation session in October as part of our annual Rural Partners Forum, which was very well attended. We will keep you posted on next steps.
This is a huge challenge to place at your feet, I know. But I also know that the people in North Carolina's educational system are the finest in the world and they've been at the forefront of making this state a better place to live for years.
I have no doubt but that you will continue to lead the way. I thank you for inviting me here to offer up my challenges. But, as you see, the best happens when you challenge yourselves and you challenge one another. Thank you for all you do. And please remember that the Rural Center stands ready to be your ally and your partner as we move forward together in this state.
|
|