R2000-67 AUTHORIZING CONTRACT OR CONTRACTS

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TOWARDS A NEW ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EMPHASIS: DECATUR'S POLICY AND PROGRAMS TO REDUCE POVERTY Let's be honest, too often, at too many levels of government, there has been little or no connection between programs aimed at economic development and those intended to alleviate poverty. 1 think, and i don't believe 1'm standing alone, that the goal of economic development policy should be reducing povertr. It should identify areas with high levels of poverty and pursue strategies to reduce the eco- nomic af�liction in these areas. . How many of us know or would be surprised to learn that: • The problems facing unemployed, underemployed and other working-poor when they try and find work that can support themselves and their families are myriad. • A significant portion of available jobs are great distances from poor families and un-served by public transportation. • Job openings are ill�irculated in the communities which need them the most. . Child care is often unavailable or unaffordable. • Wages are not plenary enough to support individuals and families [even]at the poverty level. • Job training programs fail to prepare workers for competitive job opportunities. For these and other poor people, Decatur is in need of(targeted) economic development, which consists of:the comprehensive, coordinated and planned use of private and govern- ment resources, organizations, and people in efforts designed to reverse the sta.g- nation and decline of a community, and contribute to its growth, prosperity, and capacity to meet the economic needs of those associated with the community. - Programs of economic development should feature anti-poverty as its primary goal, as the fast- est way to eliminate poverty and underemployment is to make plenary incomes available to peo- ple, after having equipped them with the necessary education, training, skills, housing, and well- ness assistance. These kinds of economic development programs require adequate financial reinvestrnents and the redistribution of financial as well as human capital resources. More com- prehensively and durably,the systemic factors which contribute and have contributed to the pa- thology for poor people must be dissolved, and it its place, a new system must be established, one which seeks to end the cycle of poverty, low educational achievement, low political pa�tici- pation and influence,discrimination,and poverty,once again,for Decatur's next generation. The problems in poor communities can no longer be addressed by dealing with them as a quest to address social need. To continue to do so is to attribute pov- erty to the moral and personal failures of residents. The needs of poor people are: (I) lack of access to capita.l and credit, (2) legitimate employment opportunities, and (3) essential physical resources, i.e., housing, health care, financial resources, etc. Poor people are in need of education and training for working in new tech- nologies, entrepreneurial programs for young adults and youth, and business de- velopment programs and services using existing and/or new skills of the residents. Where will poor people receive the education and training from which they can work competently within the new job market? Our educational system is supposedly the first path whereby any- one — even poor children of Decatur — can rise to whatever level his or her abilities permit. Even if the public schools attempt to effectuate this maxim, for the typical child, living in de- 7