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Left Behind in Alabama’s Changing Economy

Left Behind in Alabama’s Changing Economy. Joe A. Sumners , Ph.D., Director. The Black Belt: Alabama’s Third World.

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Left Behind in Alabama’s Changing Economy

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  1. Left Behind in Alabama’s Changing Economy Joe A. Sumners, Ph.D., Director

  2. The Black Belt: Alabama’s Third World “The once lordly region, born in days when cotton was king and slaves built the kingdom, has become a blighted land of forgotten promise. It is according to statistical measures and the people who struggle to improve life in the region, Alabama’s Third World. A visitor to the Black Belt finds counties with sick economies that have dwindled for decades. . . A child in the Black Belt is more likely to be born out of wedlock, more likely to come home to poverty, and more likely to die in the first year of life. A man in the Black Belt is more likely to drop out of school before the ninth grade, leave the mother of his children and die of heart disease … Doctors and hospitals are so scarce that pregnant women and sick residents must travel up to 30 miles to the nearest health clinic. There is no local bus service and as many as a quarter of all households have no car. Infant death rates during parts of the 1990s surpassed those in Panama and Uruguay; the percentage of births to teenage mothers was higher then in Uganda and Indonesia. . . .

  3. The Black Belt: Alabama’s Third World …Further, officials cannot recruit or keep high paying businesses in an area that lacks an educated work force, and they can’t improve education without the tax base businesses would provide. So there is nothing to draw new residents to the Black Belt….There is little to keep the region’s people rooted to their ancestral land. Since the beginning of the 20th century, in a trend that continued for 100 years, residents have fled the Black Belt for the promise of decent pay and dignified work in Birmingham or the North. …Those who stay are accustomed to failure. They are surrounded by ignorance, poverty, and low expectations.” -- John Archibald and Jeff Hansen, “Life is short, prosperity is long gone,” TheBirmingham News, May 12, 2002

  4. County Economic Vitality Index: The Great Divide Index County Population ChangeEducational AttainmentIncome Employment Rank Pop Chg Pop Chg HS BS or > HH $ Poverty Job Chg Unemploy 1990-2000 2000-06 • Shelby 44% (1) 24% (1) 87% (1) 37% (1) $61,972 ( 1) 7.0% (1) 31% (1) 2.5% (1) • Baldwin 43% (2) 20% (2) 82% (3) 23% (7) $42,227 (5) 10.0% (2) 15% (3) 2.8% (2) • Madison 16% (14) 10% (7) 85% (2) 34 % (2) $49,441 (2) 11.7% (4) 8% (13) 2.9% (3) • Autauga 28% (7) 14% (5) 79% (8) 18% (15) $45,379 (3) 11.6% (3) 14% (4) 3.0% (6) • Elmore 34% (3) 15% (4) 78% (10) 17% (17) $43,645 (4) 12.5% (6) 14% (4) 3.0% (6) Top 5 Average 33% 17% 82% 26% $48,533 10.6% 16% 2.8% • Choctaw -1% (56) -8% (64) 65% (50) 10% (49) $27,690 (55) 20.2% (51) -14% (64) 5.1% (54) • Wilcox -3% (62) -2% (44) 60% (67) 10% (41) $19,682 (67) 30.4% (66) -2% (38) 7.7% (66) • Sumter -9% (67) -8% (64) 65% (52) 12% (26) $21,189 (65) 28.3% (63) -7% (55) 6.1% (62) • Bullock 6% (41) -7% (63) 61% (65) 8% (65) $20,485 (66) 30.3% (65) - 5% (49) 8.0% (67) • Perry -7% (66) -6% (50) 62% (62) 10% (42) $21,640 (64) 30.4% (66) -17% (66) 7.6% (65) Bottom 5 Average -3% -6% 63% 10% $22,137 27.9% -9% 6.9% ALABAMA 10% 3% 75% 19% $37,062 16% 1.5% 3.6% US 13% 6% 80% 24% $44,389 13% 5.2% 4.6%

  5. How Did We Get Here? Following the Civil War: Alabama’s economy was devastated Cotton prices plummeted (new world markets increased supply) Impoverished governments and social services Alabama lost its largest source of revenue (tax on slaves) Property taxes increased 350% Emerging industrialization Extractive and low value added industries (mines and mills) Rural poverty Tenant farming / sharecropping 7

  6. Legacy: Ineffective Government Constitution of 1875 Low taxes and minimal public services Strangled government Centralized decision making in Montgomery 8

  7. Legacy: Racism “But if we would have white supremacy, we must establish it by law.” - John Knox, President of 1901 Alabama Constitution Convention Constitution of 1901 WHITE SUPREMACY Low taxes and less government Centralized decision making in Montgomery About 800 amendments 9

  8. Legacy: Racism In 1900, there were 181,000 registered black male voters in Alabama: in 1903, there were fewer than 5,000. In the first election after the enactment of the 1901 Constitution, overall voter turnout declined by 38% (white turnout by 19% and black turnout by 96%). 10

  9. Legacy: Racism Alabama Education Spending Per Pupil WhiteBlack 1890 $3.14 $3.10 1910 $10.17 $2.69 11

  10. Legacy: Low Expectations It is not the duty, nor is it to the interest of the State, to educate its entire population beyond the primaries. Universal experience teaches that if a boy, without regard to his color, be educated beyond this point, he declines ever to work another day in the sun.” -- Alabama Governor William C. Oates, 1894 12

  11. Legacy: Low Expectations Alabama per pupil expenditures on education as a percentage of the national average: 1890 28% 1900 17% 1910 33% 1920 39% 1930 43% 1940 37% 2008 81% 13

  12. Alvin Toffler: The Third WaveEvolution of Economics 1st Wave: Agriculture Economy 2nd Wave: Manufacturing Economy 3rd Wave: Information-based Economy 15

  13. Goodbye Old Economy Jobs Projected declining occupations by 2014: (Alabama Department of Industrial Relations) Sewing machine operators Textile machine setters, operators and tenders File clerks Order clerks Computer operators Mail clerks and mail machine operators (except Postal Service) 16

  14. Alabama’s New Economy Projected fast-growing occupations by 2014: (Alabama Department of Industrial Relations) Medical scientists Computer software engineers Physician assistants Biochemists and biophysicists Home health aides Network systems and data communications analysts Aircraft mechanics and service technicians Medical assistants 17

  15. A strong economyrequires a strong community. Economic development requires a foundation upon which to build. Roads, water, gas, electricity and sewers are necessary for economic growth – physical infrastructure. At least as important is the community’s civic infrastructure of strong local leadership, vital community institutions, public involvement, and a community mindset of pride and optimism. 18

  16. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead 19

  17. Keys to Community Prosperity: The 5 Ps PERSPECTIVE Understand the big picture. Focus on community development before economic development. PEOPLE Engage citizens; focus on quantity of leaders. Engage young people. 23

  18. Keys to Community Prosperity: The 5 Ps PLANNING Inventory community assets. Create a shared vision. Plan and don’t stop planning. Work the plan. PARTNERSHIPS Build connections among stakeholders; work together. Partner with neighbors. PERSISTENCE Don’t give up. 24

  19. “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two. And I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone on before.” -- Jacob Rits 25

  20. Reports Available at http://www.auburn.edu/ecdi 26

  21. Joe A. Sumners, Ph.D. Director 334-844-4704 sumneja@auburn.edu 214 Extension Hall Auburn University, AL 36849

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