An article that came out from Ashoka Changemakers staff this week includes some tremendously helpful insights re: how to engage diverse coalitions in the pursuit of a vision, and how approaches previously regarded as best practices should probably be thrown out. No surprises here - empathy figures centrally in the author's thinking.

The point I found most striking, though, centers around capital, the importance of reconsidering its forms, and how those forms can play out in individual localities. 

From the article:

Concerns about capital revolve around the creation of wealth. A person with wealth can purchase capital so they can then use to make more money, giving them more power and presumably more influence.

Ethan Roland proposes a new way of thinking about capital. He outlines eight distinct forms of capital to consider when mapping out a nutrient economy. A key characteristic of forms of capital is that different groups of people can exercise influence over them in ways that are distinct and particular their local community.

These eight forms of capital are:

• Financial, i.e., money and currencies
• Social, i.e., relationships and personal networks
• Living, i.e., plants, water, organic matter
• Material, i.e., raw resources ,or structures and infrastructures
• Experiential, i.e., embodied “know-how” and personal experiences
• Intellectual, i.e., ideas and knowledge
• Spiritual, i.e., religious beliefs or karma
• Cultural, i.e., stories, songs, or art that can hold particular meaning for a certain community

Potentially obvious points here, but the simple fact here is that much well-intentioned work has not precipitated desired visions in the past because many of these forms of capital were undervalued, if not totally ignored. Each form gives a new angle on a problem, its causes, and its potential solutions. If we ignore even one, we do so at our own risk.

I'll admit that I'm a bit perplexed by this map. I dug through the 12 month unemployment data for the counties from last week's unemployment entry (those with unemployment equal to or greater than 10% as of May 2013). This new map shows the net change in unemployment rate from June 2012 to May 2013. As you can see, the results are mixed.

I can think of a few basic factors that may explain why the map looks the way it does:

• JOB SEARCH FATIGUE - The numbers of people actively searching for labor are decreasing in some markets.
• REAL GROWTH - Though unemployment rates remain high in these locations, there is some sort of legitimate economic growth taking place. (In most places, it would still be something like 13.3% to 12.5%).
• MIGRATION - Workers are actively seeking employment in urban centers, decreasing the number of laborers actively searching for work in rural counties, thereby skewing the numbers.

These probably all factor in to some extent, though I can't claim to know which is most prominent. It would probably be useful to look at this data for the South as a region to draw more meaningful conclusions. I'll save that for another time. Feel free to add your own thoughts below.

Travis

Have a great weekend!

Travis

I promised that this blog would also include notes about current innovations and their implications for the rural South, so here goes. Rather than representing wholesale solutions, I hope entries like this spark as much creativity as possible with respect to quickly igniting rural economies, with the greatest overall benefit. 

There's no doubt that cities have major advantages over small towns - they have larger numbers of educated citizens, greater wealth and capacities for production, and louder voices in policy discussions. With the increased ease of communication and collaboration online in the past few years, though, it's possible that we're also headed towards a future where the barriers to major production of high-quality products are also lower.

With that in mind, could 3-D printing bring more balance to the highly urbanized American economy?

Well, first we have to be clear on what 3-D printing is. The Why Files gives a terrific, succinct definition:

A 3-D printer builds up objects layer by layer, using various methods to deposit and harden the “ink” where it is needed. Many materials, including plastic, metal, ceramic and even human cells, can now be printed, based on instructions from computer-assisted design (CAD) programs.

In other words, a personal printer that can do what we could previously only imagine - making items that jump out of the page.  At this point, 3-D printers are used mostly for small parts of larger machines, as a recent NPR story on gun parts revealed. A recent Kickstarter listed the "Buccaneer" 3-D printer at $347. The Cube 3-D printer above is still in the $1000+ range.

Despite its promise, there are still some major problems with 3-D printing that remain to be addressed (prohibitive costs, strength of product, inaccessible software). But I can remember a time when personal scanners were over $1000, producing mediocre scans, and incredibly tough to communicate with, so we should expect this technology to be highly affordable and accessible within the next 3-5 years, if not sooner.

As 3-D printers get cheaper and stronger, they could very well open more entry points to an increasingly decentralized economy. A man in South Africa has already collaborated with a man in Washington to build prosthetic fingers.

It's really not a matter of if, but when.

After the well-publicized map and article on social mobility that came out earlier this week, the overarching conclusion from that emerges from this data may not be terribly surprising; but the above table does reveal another dimension of the problem, especially for North Carolina residents.

A few notes: 

• Southern metro areas of more than 500,000 comprise sixteen of the worst twenty-five American cities for absolute social mobility.
  
• North Carolina has four out of the top eight.
• The sum population of these areas is 21,165,304, or 27% of the overall Southern population in 2000 (incl. Jacksonville as a FL enclave).
• Mississippi and West Virginia aren't represented on this list because neither state had a metro area large enough to qualify in 2000.

It's shocking just how much wealth is being accumulated in the so-called "New South" while so many residents of its increasingly shiny cities are totally incapable of enjoying its new-found privileges.

This map speaks for itself. Tomorrow I'll put up a map that shows changes in unemployment over the past 12 months. Some of these counties are making strides, while others are caught in an unemployment death spiral.

Source: US Department of Labor - http://data.bls.gov/map

I just had to shamelessly promote this (with Andrew's permission, of course).

This can and must be the new norm. There are simply too many folks out there who secretly have thoughts like these but are afraid to say them out loud for fear that their lives may be changed forever. If you want to be there, go already! (Or at least start making plans!)

For anyone who didn't grow up in the rural South (including myself), it can be tough to readily understand the circumstances in which many children and families grow up.  Barriers to two-way understanding - whether they be racial, class-based, gender-based, or otherwise - are real and must be acknowledged as we move forward, as they have deep historical and sociological implications - many of which I will devote later entries to. Given that the focus of this blog is to instigate conversations about the future of the rural South, I would offer that striving to include a diverse array of voices in discussing initiatives and projects that will improve quality of life for the persistently impoverished in the South is a critical element of ultimate success. Along with that, the importance of making progress out a desire for partnership rather than shame, guilt, or hate cannot be understated, as that is surely the more virtuous long-term path.

I'm talking about the power of empathy. The more we strive to empathize with one another, the clearer the vision for the future will become, and the more invested in that future we will be. (Apologies for Yoda-style syntax, but I couldn't figure out how else to word it.) I lay it out so simply not to be ignorant of the legacy of oppression in the South, but because distrust, pain, and ignorance are much easier to process and digest when empathy is the guiding light.

In an analogous fashion, leaders like Robert F. Kennedy (prodded by Marian Wright Edelman) and Jesse Jackson - though they had drastically different starting points - have sought to better empathize with poor, black citizens of the South through their own journeys to the region, specifically Mississippi - RFK in 1968, and Rev. Jackson in the mid-80s. In the clip below, which is about a notoriously impoverished neighborhood in Tunica, MS called the Sugar Ditch, you'll see Mike Wallace attempt to do the same, while also seeking to expand his understanding into a wider medium via his 60 Minutes piece.

Mr. Wallace and the Tunica residents he interviewed in 1985 have much to teach in this segment. I present it not as an end-all, be-all perspective of an individual neighborhood, though, but rather to make it clear how empathy requires persistence and an intentionally-build longitudinal understanding of a place and its people - a tall order for something as finite as a newspaper article or a news show segment. It takes time.

Empathizing can be tough in places where history reveals its marked, persistent absence; but its characteristics as a fundamentally human endeavor make it always within reach.

Until next time,

Travis

Being the same person who was thrilled when Luke VanDeWalle was featured in the Helena Daily World a few years ago, I about came out of my skin when I saw Sunday's New York Times article on Teach For America alumni living in the Delta. It's a rare personal experience for me to see so many people who I know personally and admire in a national newspaper, but I found the exposure for the region and their years of hard work heartening.

Beyond the exposure, though, this article has a great deal to teach us about making change in the rural South.

It Teaches Us about What's Needed

• VISION – Ron Nurnberg, the Executive Director of Teach For America - Mississippi Delta (now Mississippi), has done an incredible job of crafting a unique vision for the Delta and Mississippi. He holds the vision, he owns the vision, and he sells it 24/7. In the long-term, he has created an umbrella of sorts under which people have built their own, often unprecedented careers. Beyond that, I bet - to a person - that Jamie, Luke, Anna, Doug, Matty, Suzette, Michelle, Greg, and Julia could articulate a greater vision for their town and the region at large that drives them in what they do. Vision drives the work.
  
• PARTNERSHIP – all of these people know each other, to the point of some of them having been in each others’ weddings and other major life/family events. There is a level of trust and constructive criticism that they are able to share to make each other better that deserves mentioning. Beyond that, they have embedded themselves in the community. Matty attends the meetings of local groups like the Rotary Club, Doug actively sought a role that placed him at the center of the community, and Michelle is an adjunct professor at the university that now houses the Teach For America - Delta Institute each summer, to mention a few.
• PERSISTENCE - This is a long, hard process; and it has and will continue to be a long, tough road in many respects. They are doing hard work where there are few right answers or precedents, typically far from family and far from the creature comforts that many of us take for granted. For that they deserve respect and support.

It Teaches Us about What's Next

• BROADENING THE SCOPE - Despite these major accomplishments - including starting businesses, schools, and non-profits - there remains a tremendous amount of work to be done.  As heartening as it is to hear of colleagues making a difference in this way, we could identify hundreds of other rural Southern towns where such an infusion of energy would be beneficial, but is absent.
• TACKLING INEQUALITY FROM ALL ANGLES - There are systemic issues in the health care, criminal justice, and financial literacy spaces that, if left unaddressed, will prove to be overwhelming forces despite the business and education work being done.  (In Mississippi, the rate of felony disenfranchisement is 13.9% for African Americans. In New York, it is 2.1%.)
  
• DEVELOPING PARTNERSHIPS ACROSS THE REGION - Going forward, it will be instrumental for people like Matty, Doug, Julia, and Luke to forge greater partnerships across the South to extent their impact. I say that knowing that some of that work is already in progress, and that they would certainly say that they could learn from others elsewhere. We are tackling a many-faced problem in the South, though, and it just so happens that those faces reveal themselves similarly across the entire rural South. Their work can and must be reconsidered for new contexts.

 
The bottom line here is that community-based change is possible in the rural South; but the rate and scope of that change depends on two things: the development of an extensive network of changemakers in the region and continued efforts to set and achieve unique goals that will unify and ignite each community.

Enjoy your Tuesday,

Travis

Beautiful map courtesy of http://www.visitnewcastle.com.au

What would you if your hometown's heart had fallen into decline? If you're Newcastle, Australia (pop. 308,000) native Marcus Westbury, you quit complaining about it and do something, preferably now. A writer and director for ABC TV in Australia and self-proclaimed troublemaker, Mr. Westbury leveraged his experience putting on major cultural events in and around Melbourne, Australia to start an initiative focused on downtown revitalization. Founded in 2008, the aim of Renew Newcastle was to "'borrow'" vacant buildings from their owners and 'lend' them temporarily to artists, craftspeople, designers, cultural projects and community groups rent-free."

By June 2009, 28 groups had made their homes in 18 available spaces. Among them were art galleries, retail shops, and non-profit groups. 

This video from 2011 provides some more context:

Overall, Renew Newcastle has supported the launch of 122 local projects, businesses, groups, and events. It currently provides space to forty-one ongoing creative projects in the Newcastle city center, while thirteen initiatives have left the nest and are now elsewhere. 

Although there are obvious rural/urban differences that merit acknowledgement here, there are a few universal lessons to be taken from Marcus's work:

1. Be frank about challenges - Marcus approached property owners knowing that he would likely run into some resistance, but he was honest about the present state of the properties and the potential value to be gained from cutting out rent entirely.
   
2. Find and use local assets (and be open to new definitions of the word 'asset') - The hat makers really bring this one home. They LOVE hats, they're thrilled to have a space to make them, and they're contributing to the economy in a way they would not have been able to otherwise. Marcus was probably not thinking "I want a hat maker in downtown Newcastle" at the outset, but their work fits nicely into his vision of economic vibrancy and renewal.
3. Providing an area for people to connect hastens the pace of change - Although it would be difficult to measure, it is reasonable to assume the economic impact on this area due to coincidental, previously unlikely interactions has been substantial. There is a renewed public venue where ideas can be shared freely, and that is always a win for a local economy.

If you want to learn more (and I hope you do!), head to Renew Newcastle's website or find Renew Australia (his national non-profit) on Twitter.

Enjoy your Sunday,

Travis