Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your Community

Pathways to Prosperity:

Choosing a Future
for Your Community

SOUTHERN

GROWTH

POLICIES

BOARD

PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY:

Choosing a Future for
Your Community

ABOUT THIS DISCUSSION GUIDE

ith this discussion guide, the Southern Growth Policies Board is embarking on
a new process to engage Southerners in dialogue about important regional issues.
The guide has its foundation in the National Issues Forums process, a process that has been
used for nearly 20 years by thousands of groups throughout the country to deliberate about
national issues ranging from Social Security to child care.

W

Unlike many other Southern Growth
publications, this guide does not put forward a set of recommendations or advocate a specific solution or point of view.
Instead, it outlines an issue of importance
to the region, along with several
approaches for dealing with it. These
alternatives reflect different points of view
that have been heard in discussions
around the region. Each approach has its
own priorities and agenda, as well as its
own trade-offs and consequences.
The goal of this guide is not to offer a
solution to the issue, but rather to
encourage Southerners to listen to one
another and to explore areas of agreement
and disagreement among diverse interests. At first glance, some readers may
conclude that some of the approaches
presented are simply bad ideas.

WV
MO
OK

VA

KY

NC

TN

AR
MS

AL

SC
GA

LA
FL

PR

Other ideas may, at first reading, seem
to be the obvious “right” answer. But the
point of these discussions is not to jump
to conclusions too quickly. This guide is
meant to inspire thoughtful examination
of differing points of view, not debate.
Once people understand why some
groups hold differing views, they are
often able to find common ground
around which a solution can be crafted.
The common ground may be one of the
outlined approaches, some combination
of them, or a completely new alternative.
The Southern Growth Policies Board
hopes that, like the National Issues
Forums, this guidebook will be used to
stimulate discussion among a wide variety of groups, from leadership groups to
religious organizations, from economic
development organizations to service
clubs. Reports on the outcomes of the
forums will be shared with Southern
leaders, including Southern Growth Policies Board members, to give them insight
into what the public is thinking about
important issues in the region.

PATHWAYS TO PROSPERITY:

Choosing a Future for
Your Community
By Tony Wharton and Linda Hoke
I N T R O D U C T I O N

4
Rapid growth has transformed the South from the poorest region in the nation
to the world’s third-largest economy in the span of a single lifetime. But even as
many communities prosper, continued commercial and population growth raise
troubling questions. What of those who are left behind? Does our enthusiasm for
economic progress endanger a distinctive and valued way of life? How do we convert growth into prosperity? It is important to give serious thought to these questions while there are still choices to be made.

ONE

TWO

THREE

Create Jobs
In this view, the best way to achieve prosperity for all is to create more well-paying jobs. Paychecks are the remedy for small cities and rural areas that have been left
to decline by changing economic trends. This approach calls for providing incentives to attract businesses, easing government regulations that tend to stifle the development of business and industry, and investing in infrastructure to support existing
businesses and attract new ones.

7

12
Develop Human and Community Resources First
Although considerable progress has been made, many Southerners lack the education and skills needed to keep up in today’s changing workplace. Proponents of
Approach Two maintain that this and other social problems, such as poverty and poor
health, are the true roadblocks to prosperity. Remedies include spending more money
on education and worker training, ensuring easy access to health care, creating programs to help bridge racial and cultural divides, and developing community-leadership skills.
Manage Growth
Supporters of this approach are not opposed to growth. They are opposed to
uncontrolled growth, which is swallowing up farms and small towns, driving up
smog to unacceptable levels, and overcrowding schools. They fear that this type of
growth will choke the region’s future prosperity. Planning is the answer, in this view.
Both professionals and citizens should be involved in making deliberate and rational
choices about whether, where, and how a community should grow. Leaving those
choices to larger economic forces is a poor way to build the future.

18

Comparing the Approaches

24

S U M M A RY

QUESTIONNAIRES

27

CORBIS/Philip Gould

Once-tranquil countryside
is increasingly covered
by highways clogged
with traffic.

he American South has been transformed in the space of a single lifetime. Just over 60 years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt called the South “the
nation’s number one economic problem.”
Today, the South’s economy is the world’s
third largest, and it generates new jobs faster
than any other part of the United States. It
has helped shift the balance of the national
economy from manufacturing to service
industries. Home to such companies as
America Online and WorldCom, it has made
great strides in becoming a leader in the
telecommunications revolution. And, with
states like Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana
leading the way, the South is an international
tourist magnet.

T

But as people and wealth have transformed the South, new questions have
cropped up. Even while many cities and
towns work to encourage growth, others
wonder how to cope with its consequences.

4

The sleepy countryside and wandering roads
that inspired writers and poets from William
Faulkner to Zora Neale Hurston are disappearing under miles of pavement and acres of
new subdivisions. Traffic has become so
heavy in some places it’s a deterrent to new
businesses and home buyers. Once the South
struggled to move beyond its historic tradition of farming; now farms disappear under
the builders’ bulldozers. Is the South, as a
place with its own rhythms and culture, slipping away?
At the same time, old problems persist.
Inner-city neighborhoods sagged into poverty
and many still languish there, often visible
from the gleaming interstates rushing workers
from suburbs to downtown towers. In some
rural areas, too, poverty is deep and persistent. And many small towns, once a hallmark
of the South, find themselves declining as
people and businesses are drawn to the cities.

“Beauty is our money crop,” the 1986
Commission on the Future of the South concluded. The rivers, forests, and swamps help
bring businesses, residents, and tourists to the
region. How, then, do we deal with development encroaching on the Everglades in Florida and ozone warnings in the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park? Growth — meaning more people, new houses, and new roads
— is everywhere. But how do communities
convert growth into prosperity, meaning a
good quality of life for the whole community?

Job and Population Growth
South and Non-South, 1979-1998

People’s responses to that question are
shaped by many factors — how long they’ve
lived in the South, what they do for a living,
what they think the future ought to look like.

20%

South

Non-South

60%
50%

40%
38%

25%
19%

0%
Several ways of thinking about that
future have emerged over the years. For
some, the answer is simple: We need to keep
creating jobs. These are good times for the
South, and we should make sure nothing
interferes with that. As long as jobs are available for everyone, we’re on the right track.
Not everyone agrees. Some say that the
region’s economic success has been uneven,
leaving behind people, and sometimes entire
communities. In many of these areas, problems are too deep to be solved merely by trying to bring in jobs. Unless we share the
South’s newfound wealth more equitably,
focus on deep-rooted problems of poverty,
education, and infrastructure, and give people
the tools they need to compete, long-term
prosperity is likely to remain elusive.
Others argue that we’ve lost control of
residential growth and the accompanying
commercial development. If we don’t do a
better job of managing this growth, we will
destroy the quality of life that makes our communities attractive to citizens and businesses.
We also need to plan better for the transition
of farmland to development, and protect the
natural resources of which the South is
justly proud.

Jobs
Source: BEA Regional Economic Information System, U.S.
Department of Commerce, 1998

All of these approaches represent values
most Southerners hold in common — opportunity, equality, self-reliance, community, selfdetermination, stewardship. But while we
share these values, we often interpret them
differently and give some higher priority than
others. We all have a different perspective on
the choices outlined in this discussion guide.
Oxford, Mississippi, where Faulkner
lived, is one place beginning to face those
choices. The picturesque town, complete
with courthouse and town square, was a wellkept secret for decades. But in recent years,
national magazines have noticed its qualities
and begun to cite it as a good place to live.
Now, subdivisions are appearing outside of
town and real estate prices in the city are
shooting up.
Now, the people of Oxford are talking
about more than writers and football. Some
welcome growth, and note that some of
the town’s worst neighborhoods are being
spruced up. Others mourn the loss of old oak
trees and a change in the city’s character.

5

Population

Pictor

The Everglades and other natural
treasures of the South are already
endangered by unwanted side effects
of rapid growth.

“We know we’re going to grow, and we
don’t want to be perceived as ‘no-growth,’ ”
Mayor Pat Lamar told the Atlanta Constitution. “But we’d like to see the ambience and
history of Oxford duplicated as we grow,
rather than have miles and miles of asphalt
and subdivisions.”
History suggests that Oxford will continue to grow, but how much and how fast?
Many of the newcomers probably will be
among those speaking out for a slower pace,
while some of those who have lived in town
the longest will welcome the changes.
Oxford is struggling, too, with what
limits should be drawn around its new popularity. People want to choose where they live,
but they also want controls on where things
should be built. It’s hard to have both. Those
individual experiences and perceptions shape
the conversation.
6

People need to talk with each other
about what they want their community to
look like. What do they care about? How far
should people have to drive to work? How
many parks should there be?
This kind of conversation can go on
continuously, bringing in new residents,
including the many immigrants the South is
already attracting, and adjusting to new circumstances. What matters is that we keep
talking with one another and take actions
together in our communities.

ONE
Courtesy of the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center

Create Jobs

he I-85 corridor between RaleighDurham and Atlanta has been
dubbed the South’s “road to prosperity.” More jobs have been created along
this 400-mile stretch of highway than in any
comparable place in the country. And these
are good jobs, paying good wages. In North
Carolina’s Research Triangle Park, more than
40,000 workers are employed in researchbased businesses such as IBM, Glaxo SmithKline, and Cisco Systems. In Greenville,
South Carolina, BMW recently expanded its
car assembly plant, nearly doubling its work
force; and in the Atlanta, Georgia, metropolitan area, more than half-a-million jobs have
been added since 1990, many in fast-growing
industries like communications.

T

Contrast this to the scene in South Norfolk. Once a proud city on its own, South
Norfolk is now a part of Chesapeake, Virginia. South Norfolk is lined with turn-of-thecentury houses with hardwood floors,

overlooking broad avenues. In the 1950s and
1960s, the town also had theaters, shops, and
businesses lining its streets.
Not anymore. The elegant houses are still
there, but many are deteriorating, too often
used as rentals instead of as single-family
homes. There are too few businesses, and the
ones left don’t employ many people. Unemployment and crime are higher there than in
other parts of the city. In other words, growth
is not an issue in South Norfolk.
“Spend a couple of weeks in South Norfolk on this block and you won’t worry about
growth and traffic,” Terry Scott told the
Virginian-Pilot newspaper. Thieves broke
into his home three times in five years, and he
doesn’t feel safe going out after dark to bring
the cat in.

7

The Dale Bumpers National Rice
Research Center has spurred
biotechnology activity in rural
Stuttgart, Arkansas.

ONE

Create Jobs

Supporters of Approach One believe
that creating jobs is our “road to prosperity.”
If we create jobs, everything else will follow,
they say. People will have the money they
need to buy good houses and send their
children to good schools. In time, crime will
go down. This approach, more than any
other, has made the South what it is today.
Why change what’s already working?

and Heflin,” he told the Anniston Star. “It’s
about the tax base, future income, and keeping young folks at home.”

Let’s not worry so much about controlling growth, says Bill Goode, president of
the Business and Industrial Development
Corporation in Charleston, West Virginia.
“Economic developers worry ‘smart growth’
can mean ‘no growth,’ ” he recently told the
West Virginia Gazette. “We’ve been focused
on job development. More and better jobs
are a more immediate need.”

Each community should put its best foot
forward and show it is business-friendly, say
supporters of Approach One. Like Heflin,
states and communities may choose to pursue
new industry with incentives. A little boost to
give a company an edge up in today’s
competitive market is worth it in the long run
in terms of jobs and taxes.

Bring in Jobs
Jobs are what make a community prosper; without them, it stagnates and dies.
When you’re adding jobs, you’re strengthening the community and its social fabric,
advocates of Approach One say. Eddy Dryden, a funeral home director in Heflin, Alabama, appears to agree with this philosophy.
He personally raised more than $90,000 from
fellow business owners and neighbors to help
bring in a new wire manufacturing plant.
“This is about the future of Cleburne County

Index of Employment Growth, 1970-2010
U.S. employment growth
Southern employment growth

(1970=100)
250

200

150

100
1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

Source: Morrison/Dodd Group, L.L.C., U.S. Department of Commerce,
Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Economic Information System

8

The community put together a total of
$2.6 million in incentives to bring in the new
plant, and it’s been worth it. The company,
which originally planned to hire 120 people,
now employs 200.

Well-placed incentives can also trigger
additional investment by related businesses.
“It’s like a new subdivision,” Gregory Wingfield, president of a Richmond, Virginia, economic development organization, told the
Richmond Times-Dispatch. “The first lot is
discounted to attract a buyer.” Like computer
companies in Silicon Valley, carpet manufacturers in Dalton, Georgia, and furniture
makers in Tupelo, Mississippi, similar businesses are often strongest where they cluster
together. This puts them near their suppliers,
gives them access to bankers, CPAs, and other
service providers who are familiar with the
industry, and increases their chances that the
local work force is skilled in the industry.
While Alabama was criticized for spending $253 million on incentives for a new
Mercedes plant, the auto manufacturer
brought several supporting companies with it,
and the state’s new prestige prompted Honda
to open a plant there as well. As a result,
many people have seen their incomes rise by
$40,000 to $50,000 a year. To top it off, in
August 2000, Mercedes announced plans for
a $600 million expansion that would add
another 2,000 jobs to the local economy.
This same approach can work in rural
areas, too. In the farming community of

Stuttgart, Arkansas, known as the “Rice and
Duck Capital of the World,” are the beginnings of what the town hopes will become a
capital of biotechnology. Anchored by the
new National Rice Research Center, a halfdozen laboratories are using biotechnology to
try to improve everything from cotton to catfish. The town’s efforts are buoyed by an
Arkansas law that provides tax breaks aimed
specifically at the biotechnology industry.
The state also is building its capacity to grow
new businesses by strengthening its university
research base, adopting policies that encourage faculty members to commercialize their
inventions, and teaming up with private
investors to form a pool of venture capital to
finance innovative companies.

Growth Needs to Be a
Conscious Choice
Supporters of Approach One say we
need to make a conscious choice to encourage
growth. It will not just happen on its own. At
the same time, opinions are often divided over
how active a role government should play in
encouraging growth. Some favor a pro-active
role for government, such as in Heflin and
Stuttgart, where government has provided tax
and other incentives to attract growth. Others
think that the best thing that government can
do is to provide a healthy climate for business
growth, but to otherwise get out of the way.
Most agree that government has a key
role to play in providing the infrastructure
that businesses need to succeed. In the past,
this meant roads, water, and sewer. In today’s
economy that list has expanded to include
telecommunications infrastructure and access
to global markets via ports and airports.
In this “information age,” telecommunications infrastructure is becoming increasingly critical to business formation and growth.
The ability to tap into new markets around
the world has spawned many new businesses.
Existing businesses are using the Internet for
everything from managing their inventories to
providing more efficient customer service.
The U.S. Government Working Group on

ONE
South Carolina Employment Security Commission/Rodney Welch

Create Jobs

Electronic Commerce reports that on-line
retail sales could reach $144 billion by 2003,
while the value of Internet transactions
between businesses could go as high as an
astounding $3.9 trillion. The digital revolution has made it possible to do business from
anywhere in the world that has access to
telecommunications infrastructure.
As technology makes trade with other
countries easier, exports are accounting for
more and more new jobs. In fact, exports
account for 40 percent of all new jobs created
in the U.S. since 1993. Businesses that export
tend to be stronger, paying higher wages, creating more jobs, and having greater chances
for long-term survival. Providing efficient
transportation systems that connect our businesses to global markets is an important role
for government, say supporters of Approach
One.

Regulations Stifle Growth
“Don’t just stand there, undo something,” economist Murray Weidenbaum told a
congressional committee on regulations. The
former chairman of the President’s Council of
Economic Advisers wrote later that new businesses “…need the flexibility to adapt quickly
to the rapid changes that occur in the modern
global economy. Too many governmental
jurisdictions unwittingly place a bureaucratic
straitjacket on business.”
9

Supporters of Approach One say
that the creation of jobs is the
pathway to prosperity.

ONE

Create Jobs

What Can Be Done?
Supporters of Approach One generally favor the following measures:

. Invest in infrastructure, such as roads and telecommunications,
to support industry.
. Streamline permit processes to make development easier for businesses.
. Provide tax and other incentives to attract industry.
. Reduce regulations that inhibit business growth.
. Support the development of new, entrepreneurial businesses.
. Help identify new domestic and overseas markets for business.
Many supporters of Approach One
believe that overzealous government regulations stifle job creation and undermine our
businesses’ competitiveness in the international marketplace. The regulatory burden is
particularly great for small businesses, the
type of businesses that are now responsible
for most of the job growth in our economy.
Figures from the Institute for Policy Innovation put the cost of complying with federal
regulations alone at more than $5,500 per
employee for small firms.
Environmental regulations are often
among the most daunting. In 1995, the cost
of environmental regulations to American
businesses and taxpayers was estimated to be
$170 billion, according to the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce. Yet in looking at a single program, the Superfund cleanup of hazardous
waste sites, less than
half the money was
actually spent on
cleaning up
waste, and the
rest went to
administration or
lawyers.

Regulations all too often have huge costs
relative to only marginal benefits, point out supporters of Approach One. It’s not right that
boarded-up factories stand vacant in inner-city
neighborhoods where jobs are needed, passed
up by developers worried about liability concerns and too-stringent clean-up standards.
Why require groundwater at an abandoned railway yard to be cleaner than our drinking water?

In Support

If we create jobs, everything else will follow. People will have the money they need
to buy good houses and send their children to good schools. You don’t have a
high quality of life if you don’t have a job.

Business development generates the

tax revenue needed to operate schools,
pick up the trash, and fight crime. Residential development rarely pays its own
way in terms of taxes. Without business
development, home owners would either
have to pay more for community amenities
or cut back on services.

New business development provides

alternatives for employment and makes our
communities more resilient.
Niculae Asciu

10

Create Jobs

Growth attracts people to our communities and helps keep our property values high.

More development means more convenience and more choices. It’s convenient
to have a grocery store, gas station, and
video rental store down the street.

A strong and growing economy generates resources to protect the environment. A look around the world shows
that it is poor areas that are most likely
to pollute.

A growing economy provides the

opportunities needed to keep our young
people at home. Without growth, our
children will need to move away in order
to make a living.

ONE

✗ Incentives divert money that might otherwise be spent on schools, medical
care, and other services that would make
our communities more attractive in the
long term.

✗ Competition for new business pits

one community against another. Those
areas with fewer resources (especially
rural communities and inner cities) find
it difficult to compete with already-thriving communities.

✗ Uncontrolled development can hurt

economic development in the long run
by making the community less attractive
to potential workers and businesses.

In Opposition

✗ Business growth doesn’t necessarily
reduce unemployment. Faster-growing
communities often attract new residents
just as quickly as they create new jobs.

✗ Not all jobs are good jobs. While all the
talk is about high-paying computer jobs,
the reality is that many of the new jobs
being created are still in low-paying
positions, such as janitors, waiters, and
retail sales clerks.

✗ We already have enough jobs. The

unemployment rate is at a 30-year low.
We should be worrying more about how
to help businesses fill the jobs that are
going unfilled due to a lack of skilled
workers.

✗ Attracting new industry can be expen-

For Further Reading/ Create Jobs

. Bob Davis and David Wessell, Prosperity: The Coming Twenty-Year
Boom and What It Means to You (New York: Random House, 1998).

. National Association of Manufacturers, Pro-Growth Agenda.
View on-line at www.nam.org

. Naomi Lopez, Barriers to Entrepreneurship: How Government Undermines
Economic Opportunity, IPI Policy Report #149 (Lewisville, TX: Institute for
Policy Innovation, June 15, 1999) and Naomi Lopez, Tom Giovanetti and
W. Michael Cox, “Turning Lemonade into Lemons: How Government Puts
the Squeeze on Entrepreneurs, IPI Insights (Lewisville, TX: Institute for Policy
Innovation, June 1, 1999) both at www.ipi.org

. See also the Web sites of the Heritage Foundation at www.heritage.org,
the Cato Institute at www.cato.org, and the Competitive Enterprise
Institute at www.cei.org

sive, both in terms of infrastructure
required, as well as an increased need for
services by new workers moving to the
community. New development often
doesn’t pay the full costs of its impact on
the community, especially where businesses have been given tax breaks.

11

TWO

Pictor/Martin Rogers

Develop Human and
Community Resources First

Education is the key to success,
Approach Two advocates say.

D

own along the Mississippi Delta,
one of the birthplaces of the
blues, you’ll find Jonestown,
Mississippi, home to about 1,500 people.
Cotton once provided all the work people
needed, but that day is past. Now people
drive or ride the bus for miles, to towns like
Clarksdale or Tunica, to get to their jobs —
or they move out of Jonestown.
Jonestown used to have businesses,
doctors, and schools of its own. Today
trash collects in the empty storefronts along
Main Street. The old school building has
stood vacant for years. It’s said that people

12

have even burned their dilapidated old homes
in the hope that Habitat for Humanity would
build them new ones. Two-thirds of Jonestown’s people live in poverty and the community is plagued with illiteracy, teen pregnancy,
unemployment, and teen violence.
“Most people here worked out on the
farms at one point,” said Jonestown’s mayor,
Joe Phillips. “But not as many people are
needed to work the crops as used to be. So
they moved to the town. But they really didn’t
have the education or the skills to get other
jobs. And there wasn’t enough work anyway.”

TWO


In communities such as Jonestown,
problems often are so ingrained they can’t be
fixed simply by bringing in a shiny new manufacturing plant, even if one could be convinced to locate there. Approach Two argues
that communities need to develop their personal and economic capacities before they
can participate in the opportunities of today’s
economy.

Those who advocate Approach Two
believe true prosperity will be elusive or
incomplete until a community makes the
development of its people and its resources
the first priority. Only then can a community
develop its economy from a position of
strength rather than weakness.

Build Self-Sufficiency
Towns and small cities across the South,
far outside the booming cities, are in a
predicament similar to Jonestown’s. Often,
they relied on a single industry, such as cotton, or textiles, or tobacco, and when those
jobs disappeared through uncontrollable
shifts in the national or international economy, people were left with few prospects. Even
some of those living in the Sunbelt’s booming
cities do not have the education or the
resources to take advantage of the good times.
Vance County, North Carolina, wants
some of the prosperity that has transformed
the Triangle region of that state. Instead,
Vance County is full of empty tobacco warehouses and textile mills; it has one of the
state’s highest unemployment rates and workers who don’t have the skills or the education
that employers need. It’s a potentially devastating combination that could not only endan-

Percentages of U.S. Growth Company CEOs Reporting
Skilled-Worker Shortages as Top Barrier to Growth
70
60
50
Percent %

Education and retraining are particularly
important. Too often, we have left some people, particularly minorities, in low-paying,
dead-end jobs that require few skills. We must
also pay attention to deep-seated issues, such
as race relations, that we often put off in favor
of easier, but potentially less lasting, solutions
to community problems.

America’s CEOs Say That Skill Shortages
Are the Number One Barrier to Growth

40
30
20
10
0

1993

1994

1995

1996

Source: Winning the Skills Race, Council on Competitiveness, 1998
(from Coopers Lybrand data)

ger the county’s future but become a costly
burden for state and federal taxpayers.
“Most people aren’t taking applications,”
said Patricia Williams, age 41.“There’s just
so many people out there out of a job.” She
used to make less than $9 an hour at Burlington Industries and thought she would always
work there. But Burlington closed the plant
and Williams realized her 18 years there hadn’t prepared her for any other job. Recently,
Williams started taking classes in early childhood education at a community college,
planning to become a teacher’s aide or day
care worker.
In the old economy, it was traditional
and safe to rely on one source of jobs. Not
anymore. When a company leaves or an
industry collapses, the upper-level executives
and managers can find new jobs or move. But
low-paid employees, frequently minorities
and usually poor, never learned other skills
and must scramble to find a new living.
Such is the legacy of the coal industry
in Letcher County, Kentucky. “They took
the raw materials, the resources, and the man13

1997


NYT Pictures/Bruce Berman

TWO

When factories close and businesses move
out, they leave behind workers without needed
skills to pursue other economic opportunities.

power that was available and used them to
make their millions of dollars,” Charles
Hawkins, a longtime resident, told the Southern Rural Development Initiative. “When they
got all they wanted, they sold out to somebody
else — and then they came in and got all they
wanted.”
Many in the community are understandably wary of pinning their hopes for the future
on bringing in another big business. Instead,
Letcher County residents are looking to build
their future on the strengths of their community, including strong family relationships and
rich cultural traditions. Creating programs to
teach parenting and life skills, promoting community schools, and further developing the
community’s arts and crafts traditions are
among the ideas that have emerged from Sowing the Seeds, a citizen-initiated planning
process.

Educate and Retrain
Despite significant progress, citizens of
many Southern states lag in math, science, and
reading achievement; high school dropout rates
are higher than average; and there is a lower
rate of adult literacy than in other parts of the

14

country. Other factors such as poverty,
teenage pregnancy, and lack of prenatal care
also put our children at risk for failure in the
future.
Supporters of Approach Two believe
these are the true roadblocks to prosperity in
the region. Investment in quality education,
skills training, and health care is essential not
only for individual success, but for community success. If we develop healthy, educated
citizens, well-paying jobs will follow — the
kind that will sustain our families and communities in the long term.
Investing in education, research shows,
provides the kind of returns any Wall Street
trader would approve of. One dollar spent on
quality preschool for a child saves us $7 that
we would otherwise spend later on special
education, social programs, and other costs
for that same child, according to a long-term
study. Developing our communities and our
citizens simultaneously is a smart strategy.
In Little Rock, Arkansas, one program
provides adult education and preschool in
the same building. So, while Mary Glover
studied for her GED, her sons Zachariah and
Caleb attended a preschool program across


Both of Mary’s boys are doing very well
in school. “The benefits they received from
the classroom are countless,” she said.
Those benefits are greater than ever.
Education is the ticket for success today.
Despite a booming national and regional
economy, income inequality is at its highest
level since the U.S. Census began tracking
this data in 1947. Many economists say the
main reason for this gap is the rising value of
education. On one end of the scale are highpaying jobs in fields such as microelectronics,
robotics, and electronic commerce. At the
other end are service sector jobs that require
fewer skills and command lower pay. A 12
percent unemployment rate for 25- to 34year-old male high school dropouts stands in
sharp contrast to an unemployment rate of
only 1.5 percent for those with at least a
bachelor’s degree.

South’s population grows increasingly
diverse. The issue is no longer just black and
white. For the U.S. as a whole, growth rates
for Hispanic and Asian populations are
almost double that for blacks or whites. Four
Southern states, led by Arkansas, are among
the top five states in the nation in terms of the
growth rate of the Hispanic population. To
put things in perspective, today, one in six
Nashville residents is foreign-born. Approach
Two envisions communities working together
to find ways to turn this diversity into a
source of strength rather than tension.

Make the Community a
Desirable Place
Vance County, North Carolina, is building an arts center because people there understand that jobs and new businesses by themselves don’t make a community whole. Many
executives who work in the county still
choose to live in Raleigh’s suburbs because
they want its cultural amenities.
Henderson, Vance County’s principal
town, has recruited native son and prominent
television journalist Charlie Rose to produce
a fund-raising video. The town is hoping to
raise $15 million to build the new arts center.
Pictor/Martin Rogers

the hall. Mary was proud to be a role model
for her children, and parenting education
classes helped make the family stronger. At
the end of their first year, Mary started a new
job as an assistant in a Head Start classroom.
She soon enrolled in pre-algebra and computer classes at a local college as a first step
toward fulfilling her dream of becoming a
child psychologist.

TWO

Bridge Racial and
Cultural Divides
In Fort Myers, Florida, a new shopping
center at the corner of Sabal Palm and Martin
Luther King, Jr. boulevards serves as a symbol of progress in a community that was once
referred to as one of the most racially segregated in the South. The shopping center,
which serves a low-income area, is just one
of the more tangible results of a process that
brought citizens together to address issues
of race, racism, and segregation in the
community.
This kind of pulling together will only
become more important in the future as the

When coal mines in Letcher County, Kentucky, closed, coal miners were out of work.
A citizen initiative, called Sowing the Seeds, now looks to developing other strengths
in the community.

15

TWO


What Can Be Done?
Supporters of Approach Two generally favor the following measures:

. Spend more money on education, from preschool through higher education.
. Implement aggressive dropout-reduction programs.
. Develop programs to provide training and retraining to those already in the work force.
. Strengthen families through programs in family literacy, parent
education, abuse prevention, and other areas.
. Make sure everyone has easy access to quality health care.
. Increase home ownership as a tool for building family wealth and stronger
communities.

. Conduct programs to help bridge racial and cultural divides.
. Provide incentives to encourage investment in inner cities and rural areas
that have been left behind in the new economy.

. Develop programs to build community leadership and civic engagement.
Similarly, Jonestown is embarking on
a project with Mississippi State University
to reclaim and renovate its old school
building as a community center. The goal is
to provide a focus for the town’s activities
and provide some much-needed services
such as day care, recreation, and adult education in one place.

“As a mother of a three-year-old, I was
amazed to hear that many young mothers
leave their homes at 5 a.m. to catch a bus to
Tunica to work,” said Shannon Criss, director of the Small Town Center at Mississippi
State University. “After working for eight
hours, they then travel back to be home by
8 p.m. Who attends to their children?
What kind of family life is there for these
kids?”
Jonestown also is building a small
nature trail on the bayou near the school
building, and the local community college
is renewing its effort to provide job training. Those who live in Jonestown are committed to changing their lives and their
community from the ground up, making it
a better place, before any new businesses
come in.

Niculae Asciu

16


In Support

Education is the ticket to success
today. A growing percentage of business leaders say that skills shortages
are the number one barrier to business
growth. Communities that develop a
skilled work force will be well on their
way toward attracting high-growth,
high-wage businesses.

The South’s population is becoming
more diverse. With the economy
becoming increasingly global, we
would be wise to find a way to turn
this diversity into a strength rather
than a source of tension.

Strong families are the backbone of
prosperous communities. Studies
show that teens who have close family
relationships are least likely to engage
in risky and violent behaviors.

The health of our inner cities and

our rural areas affects the entire region.
We all pay when these areas suffer
business closings, high unemployment,
and low wages.

Research has shown that strong com-

TWO

✗ Investments like the ones we’re talking
about are expensive. We would have to
raise taxes to pay for these programs and
that would slow economic growth.
Besides, there’s a lot of waste in government programs already.

✗ We have been trying to improve our

educational system for decades. Throwing money at the problem doesn’t seem
to work. Per pupil funding for K-12 education has almost doubled in the past 30
years and we still lag in achievement.

✗ Everyone should be able to make it on

their own if they just work hard enough.
Government should not be meddling in
family affairs.

For Further Reading/ Develop Human and
Community Resources First

. Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American
Community (New York: Simon Schuster, 2000). See also, Robert Putnam,
“The Prosperous Community,” in The American Prospect, Volume 4, Issue 13,
March 21, 1993 at www.prospect.org/print/V4/13/putnam-r.html

munity groups and involved citizens
are a key ingredient in a community’s
economic success.

. Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy,

In Opposition

. Michal Smith-Mello, Reclaiming Community, Reckoning with Change

✗Having everyone hold hands and sing
“kumbaya” sounds nice, but realistically, how is this going to solve a community’s long-term problems?

✗ Investments in prenatal care, early

childhood education, and the like will
take a long time to show any payback.
We need to improve economic
conditions now.

The Value of Investing in Youth (Morino Institute).
See www.brookings.org/es/urban/morino.pdf

(Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, December 1995).
See www.kltprc.net/PDFs/Reclaim.pdf

. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Now Is the Time:
Places Left Behind in the New Economy (Washington, D.C.: HUD, April 1999).
See www.hud.gov/pressrel/execsumm.html or order a free copy through
HUD USER at 1-800-245-2691 or www.huduser.org

17

Pictor

Manage Growth

THREE

Atlanta is among the most prosperous
cities in the nation. But at what price,
proponents of Approach Three ask.

tlanta burned during the Civil War,
but you would never know it now.
Between 1990 and 2000 alone,
the metropolitan area’s population grew by
more than one-third, to 4.1 million people.
Suburban development around the city consumes 50 acres of forest every day. The average commuter drives 35 miles a day, more
than anywhere else in the U.S., and often in
heavy, aggravating traffic.

Georgia’s leaders are trying to get things under
control. But years of habits in decision making
— to build more subdivisions, more malls and
more highways — are hard to turn around.

Growth is swallowing up once-rural
counties and small towns. Ozone and smog
levels are so high the federal government
began to withhold money that would build
roads. The very health of Atlanta’s residents
has been threatened. Scientists even say that
Atlanta now has so much pavement, it is creating its own weather.

Supporters of Approach Three say
Atlanta’s predicament illustrates that if we
don’t manage growth, the South as we know it
will disappear. Blindly allowing more development, in the name of prosperity at any price,
will leave us with an ugly place where no one
wants to live — and that’s not prosperity by
anyone’s definition.

Fearing that such growth will choke the
region’s future prosperity in traffic and smog,

“So many American cities today have lost
their souls — they have let go of the very character that made them special,” observed John

A

18

“We’re trying to slow down the Queen
Mary, and we’ve just now seen the rocks in the
water ahead,” said Lucy Smethurst, director
of Atlanta’s Clean Air Campaign, in the New
York Times.

THREE

Manage Growth

Williams, chairman of the Metropolitan
Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, in testimony
before Congress. “We have adopted an Anywhere, USA, persona that is damaging to local
economic growth.”
Those who advocate Approach Three
think the best strategy is to manage growth in
a rational way, using all the expertise available. Growth is still better for a community
than the alternative, but it needs to be properly planned. Communities can and should be
able to preserve their unique qualities. That
includes the way our cities and neighborhoods look, the number of trees we allow to
be uprooted, the kind of jobs we want our
children to have, and the level of daily stress
we’re willing to tolerate.
Simply leaving those choices to larger
economic forces is not the best way to build
the future. Emphasizing economic development over planning, even with a focus on the
people and places left out, is a dangerous
course to take. Witness the overcrowding in
so many of our children’s schools. When
communities can’t build enough schools to
keep up with growth, that should sound an
alarm. Get control of the growth first, and
other problems will be easier to tackle later.
If we take stock of what we value,
whether it’s a river, a historic district, or a
park, we can lay a solid foundation for making
intelligent decisions.
This kind of planning benefits everyone
with a stake in the future: suburban commuters tired of battling heavy traffic; rural
towns worried about being swallowed up by
expanding metropolitan areas; farmers who
need to know whether they’ll be able to develop their land; and low-income residents who
don’t want to be left behind in the rush to
build.

Planning for the Future
Bringing in more jobs and new residents
is good for a community, keeping it vibrant
and diverse. Any growing community should

Planning Saves Money
Costs of public services in a planned growth area, in an unplanned
area, and in a rural area ten miles from existing public services, 1989
Costs of public services per dwelling unit
$50,000
$48,000

$40,000
$35,000

$30,000
$20,000
$18,000

$10,000
$

0

In a planned area

In an unplanned area

In an unplanned
rural area

Source: J. Frank, “The Costs of Alternative Development Patterns:
A Review of the Literature,” Urban Land Institute, Washington, D.C., 1989

consider itself fortunate, because many towns,
particularly in the Midwest and Northeast,
actually have lost jobs and population. And
Approach Three does not necessarily mean
growth must be tightly controlled. A community may decide that at this particular time, it
wants a significant rate of growth. But every
city should give conscious thought to that
choice and make the decision in full awareness of its advantages and its consequences.
Elaine Ogburn, 65, once saw farms and
trees through her kitchen window in Varina,
Virginia, east of Richmond. Now she sees
new houses.
“I used to be able to know who was in
the cars driving on Midview Road, but not
anymore,” Ogburn told the Richmond TimesDispatch. “It’s been a real change to see houses pop out of the ground on land that was
cultivated.”
The farm her family once operated has
been cut up into subdivisions, like many others. Ogburn and her neighbors, and even

19

THREE

Manage Growth

Pictor

of the city. Between 1950 and 1990, the area’s
population increased by only 39 percent,
while the amount of land consumed increased
by 219 percent. Father James Edwards, a
Catholic priest active on this issue, put it
this way in the St. Louis Review: “The core
area has been emptying out for several
decades, with consequences for everyone.
The taxpayers keep paying for new infrastructure, new sewers and roads in new areas,
while the older infrastructure suffers.”

Williamsburg,Virginia. Historic sites are
part of a community’s character, and
it is important to maintain their
integrity by controlling development
around them.

some of those new residents, fear that the very
qualities they saw in Varina are vanishing.
Sometimes that’s unavoidable. We
change the places we move into, simply by
moving there. But if that is repeated over and
over, without any thought to the consequences, the results can be devastating.
This is a particular concern in the South,
which has historically had a strong sense of
identity and place. Growth increases stress on
people and livelihoods in many ways.
Farming, a long and respected tradition
in the South, has come under pressure from
growth in the last 50 years. Of the ten states
identified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as experiencing the highest conversion of
farmland to development, four are located in
the South. In Georgia alone, an average of
37,000 acres of farmland are being developed
each year.
Our cities, too, are facing pressure as
both residents and businesses flee to the suburbs. In St. Louis, the regional population has
grown slowly but land development in suburban areas has accelerated, as people move out
20

In similar ways, our current patterns of
development do little to bring us together as a
community, caution supporters of Approach
Three. As we abandon our downtowns, we
are increasingly becoming divided by race, a
phenomenon also playing out in St. Louis.
“This is a society that, since the beginning,
has always equated moving up with moving
out. We happen to be in a city, St. Louis,
where if you move west, you’re making
progress,” a law enforcement officer told Ray
Suarez, former host of National Public
Radio’s “Talk of the Nation.” Although blacks
make up only 18 percent of the metropolitan
area’s population, they account for 51 percent
of those living in the central city.
Supporters of Approach Three believe
we can address these issues if we take the
reins of growth firmly in our hands.
We already know a lot about how communities grow. Knowing what kinds of houses
are being built, we can calculate how many
more cars will be on the roads and how many
people will commute between certain communities. Using that kind of information, we
ought to be able to better manage that growth.
We should tap into the expertise of planners,
people we pay anyway in every city and town,
and consider their best advice.

Learning from Innovation
One approach is what’s called “planned
communities.” These kinds of towns, usually
small, are carefully planned from the start.
Frequently, businesses and homes are kept
closer to each other than they are in most

THREE

Manage Growth

Pictor

suburbs, more like the way towns used to be
built. At its best, this approach eliminates
sprawl and maximizes community identity.
Seaside, Florida, is one example of a
planned community; where the emphasis is
on walking, not driving, where houses have
front porches and smaller lots. In Atlanta,
some builders are now putting up urban villages close to downtown, designed on similar
principles.
Not everyone can live in a planned community because there aren’t that many;
they’re small, and they can be expensive. But
there are lessons we can learn from the idea,
particularly about community character.
Planned communities know exactly what
they want to be. Ideally, every decision
springs from that self-image, and everything is
built with that picture in mind. That can be
useful in any city, because the wrong kind of
growth often results when people lose track of
what they want their community to be.

CORBIS/Steve Chenin

Many towns have a river, a hill, a forest,
or another natural feature that is an integral

part of the town’s character. If new houses
and businesses are built without keeping that
in mind, a community may start to lose a vital
aspect of its identity. This should be part of a
community’s deliberation: Are there waterways that contribute to the urban character?
Do people identify the region with particular
natural resources?

Planning gives people more control over residential, commercial, and industrial development
that affect their communities.

21

Farms are increasingly pressured by
urban sprawl. Of the ten states with
the highest rate of conversion of
farmland to development, five are
located in the South.

THREE

Manage Growth

The Tennessee River runs through the
city of Chattanooga, but by the 1980s no one
went near the river, which was lined with
empty warehouses and dilapidated factories.
In 1982, the city brought residents together
to talk about what they valued and what
ought to be done. During the months of discussions that followed, it became clear that
people cared about the river. A master plan
for the riverfront, which emerged from those
discussions, has produced a rebirth of interest
and investment along the Tennessee River.
More than $350 million has been invested in
revitalization projects, such as the Tennessee
Aquarium, most of it from private sources.
People in Chattanooga are enjoying the
river again, something that reminds them why
they love their city.
Similarly, historic buildings and sites
form part of a community’s character and are

What Can Be Done?
Supporters of Approach Three generally favor the following measures:

. Use regulations and incentives to direct development to specific areas.
. Favor existing communities rather than new developments when
making public infrastructure investments.
. Ensure that new developments in outlying areas pay the full costs of services.
. Provide incentives to encourage historic preservation and the reuse of
vacant buildings.
. Encourage more compact, mixed-use, pedestrian- and transit-oriented
developments through zoning regulations and incentives.
. Re-create small, close-knit communities through design features such
as front porches, smaller streets, and shared open spaces.
. Undertake comprehensive efforts to revitalize inner cities.
. Preserve farmland and open space through acquisition programs,
incentives, and/or regulations.
. Provide more transportation choices, such as rail, bus, and/or bike lanes.
. Enact regulations to protect the environment.
22

equally vulnerable to development. Should
certain buildings be preserved by working
with business and government? Is there a
neighborhood that would be threatened by
encroaching development?

Coming Full Circle
Many cities are learning that growth
needs to be kept in line with the community’s
plans for the future. Otherwise, it can endanger prosperity in the long run, damaging the
quality of life and driving people away.
Some businesses are beginning to see
that managed growth is economically preferable to uncontrolled growth. The quality of
life in a community has become increasingly
important to businesses, as the Internet and
other technological advances have made it
possible for them to locate just about anywhere in the world. The key question then
becomes, “Where would my employees want
to live?”
“We could almost go brain dead here
and still get economic development,”
observed a Nashville, Tennessee, metropolitan-area leader during a series of discussions
on the future of the region. But, he said, “I’m
really concerned about transportation, roads.
We keep moving forward a step and then slide
two back. That’s what could stop us — the
quality-of-life issue. I see us hurtling toward
Atlanta conditions, just ten years behind.”

In Support

Growth is threatening our quality of life.
We are stuck in traffic jams, taking time
away from our families; our children go
to class in trailers because their school
buildings are bursting at the seams; and
our health is threatened by increased
pollution.

Uncontrolled development is hurting

our long-term economic prospects by
making our communities less attractive
to potential workers and businesses.

Manage Growth

Communities are losing their unique

✗Growth restrictions discriminate against

character as sweeping landscapes and
historic buildings give way to identical
shopping malls and cul-de-sacs all
across the South.

THREE

newcomers to the community, including
immigrants. The elite want to pull up the
drawbridge after they’ve arrived.

Our communities are becoming geo-

graphically divided by race, with
minorities concentrated in inner cities
that have been all but abandoned as
growth flows to the suburbs.

It is a waste of taxpayer dollars to abandon infrastructure in our inner cities
and rebuild it in our suburbs.

Sprawling residential growth often

costs more in terms of public services
than it generates in taxes.

Our very way of life is threatened as

farmlands and open space give way to
development. The natural resources of
the South are critical to maintaining a
lifestyle that draws and retains residents, businesses, and tourists.

Our natural resources are finite. Once
they’re gone, they’re gone.

✗Restricting growth would hurt our

economy. We need business development
in order to pay for our schools, fire protection, and other community services.

✗Growth is exaggerated as a problem.

Only 5 percent of the land in the U.S. is
now developed. Advances in technology
mean that we now need less land for
farming, and that our industries and cars
are cleaner and less likely to pollute.

✗ Purely localized growth management

will not solve the problem. It may even
make it worse by forcing growth to
more outlying areas without growth
restrictions.

For Further Reading/ Manage Growth

.

In Opposition

✗Growth restrictions violate personal
property rights. If individuals want to
buy property and build a house in the
suburbs (or sell their land to provide
money for retirement) that’s their right.
People should be able to decide where
they want to live and in what type of
house. We don’t need planners to
decide for us.

✗Growth restrictions will make houses

more expensive and put the American
dream of home ownership out of the
reach of more and more people.

.
.
.

Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck, Suburban
Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream
(North Point Press, March 2000).
Richard Moe and Carter Wilkie, Changing Places: Rebuilding
Community in the Age of Sprawl (Holt Co., April 1999).
Richard Florida, “Competing in the Age of Talent: Quality of Place and the
New Economy,” a report prepared for the R.K. Mellon Foundation, Heinz
Endowments, and Sustainable Pittsburgh ( January 2000). View on-line at
www.heinz.cmu.edu/~florida/talent.pdf
National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals,
Profiles of Business Leadership on Smart Growth (Washington, D.C.:
NALGEP, June 1999). View the executive summary on-line at
www.nalgep.org/smartgrowth.htm or order through NALGEP at
202-638-6254 or www.nalgep.org

✗It’s not realistic to believe that people
will use mass transit. It’s simply not
convenient. We shouldn’t throw more
money after an idea that hasn’t worked.

23

SUMMARY

ONE

Comparing the
Approaches

Create Jobs
Jobs are the key to
prosperity for all.
If we create jobs,
everything else
will follow. This
approach, more
than any other, has
made the South what it is today. Why change what’s already
working?

“It’s the end of the world as we know it…(and I feel
fine),” penned by the Southern rock band R.E.M., is a
song remarkably attuned to recent times.
You could make the song relevant for any decade of
the twentieth century and its unprecedented pace of
change. It was the end of the world as we knew it after
World War II, when the South used its cheap labor, cheap
land, and low taxes to bring thousands of manufacturing
plants, and jobs, to our states. It was the end of the world
as we knew it when farms and small towns, once the hallmark of the South, began to give way to development. It
was the end of the world as we knew it when the first desktop computers armed us with powerful spreadsheet and
word-processing applications, and again when the Internet
forever altered the ways in which we communicate.

What Can Be Done?
x Invest in infrastructure, such as roads and telecommunications,

to support industry.
x Provide tax and other incentives to attract industry.
x Reduce regulations that inhibit business growth.

In Support
x Jobs are what make a community prosper; without them, it

stagnates and dies.

R.E.M.’s song is no less relevant today. But how fine
do we feel? What do we think of our quality of life? Many
of our most successful communities bemoan commute
times and other by-products of rapid growth while more
economically deprived areas hunger for jobs at almost any
cost.

x Job creation provides the opportunities needed to keep our

young people at home. Without growth, our children will need
to move away in order to make a living.
x Business growth generates the tax revenue needed to operate

schools, pick up the trash, and fight crime.

Faced with all the changes that are taking place
around us, what is the best pathway to prosperity for our
communities? Our purpose here is not to suggest a single
correct path, but to support exploration of many pathways,
each with its own trade-offs and consequences. To spur
conversation, deliberation, and action, three possible pathways are outlined in this summary. These options and the
guide itself are intended to serve as the beginning points
for a community’s discussion about what is important as it
pursues sound, informed decisions about its future.

In Opposition
x Not all jobs are good jobs. Many of the new jobs being created

are in low-paying positions such as janitors, waiters, and retail
sales clerks.
x Attracting new industry can be expensive. This money might

be better spent on schools, medical care, and other services that
would make our communities more attractive in the long term.
x Uncontrolled development can hurt economic development in

the long run by making the community less attractive to potential
workers and businesses.

A Likely Trade-off?
x Focusing solely on job creation may result in undesirable side

effects, such as traffic congestion and air pollution, which
endanger a distinctive and valued way of life.

24

QUESTIONAIRES
SUMMARY

TWO
Develop
Human and
Community
Resources First
The region’s
economic
progress has left
many behind.
Unless we address long-standing problems such as illiteracy,
poverty, and poor health, prosperity is likely to remain elusive for
many people and communities.

What Can Be Done?
x Improve education and training programs for children and adults.
x Provide incentives to encourage investment in inner cities and

rural areas that have been left behind in today’s economy.
x Develop programs to build community leadership and civic

engagement.

In Support
x Education is the ticket to success today. Communities that

develop a skilled work force will be well on their way toward
attracting high-growth, high-wage businesses.
x The health of our inner cities and rural areas affects the entire

region. We all pay when these areas suffer business closings,
high unemployment, and low wages.
x Research has shown that strong community groups and involved

citizens are a key ingredient in a community’s economic success.

In Opposition
x Investments in things like education take a long time to show any

payback. We need to improve economic conditions now.
x Providing cultural amenities and building nature trails are worthy

activities but, realistically, how will they solve a community’s
long-term problems?
x We’ve been trying to address these types of problems for decades.

Throwing money at them doesn’t seem to work. They’re likely
to be with us always.

A Likely Trade-off?
x Investing in human and community resources may be a wise

strategy in the long run, but this approach is likely to take a long
time to show results.

THREE
Manage Growth
If we don’t do a better
job of managing growth,
we will destroy the
quality of life that
makes our communities
attractive to citizens
and businesses. Growth
is still better for a community than the alternative, but it needs to
be properly planned.

What Can Be Done?
x Use regulations and incentives to direct development to specific

areas.
x Favor existing communities rather than new developments when

making public infrastructure investments.
x Preserve farmland and open space through acquisition programs,

incentives, and/or regulations.

In Support
x Growth is threatening our quality of life. We are stuck in traffic

jams, our children’s schools are bursting at the seams, and our
health is threatened by increased pollution.
x Uncontrolled development is hurting our long-term economic

prospects by making our communities less attractive to potential
workers and businesses.
x Current development patterns are often economically inefficient

and waste taxpayer dollars.

In Opposition
x Restricting growth would hurt our economy. We need business

development in order to pay for community services.
x Growth restrictions violate personal property rights. People should

be able to decide where they want to live and what they can do
with their land.
x Growth restrictions are elitist, making houses more expensive and

putting the American dream of homeownership out of the reach of
more and more people.

A Likely Trade-off?
x Taking a more pro-active approach to planning for growth may help

protect a community’s natural resources, but it is likely to restrict
individual property rights and may slow economic growth.

25

PRE-FORUM QUESTIONNAIRE

Choosing a Future for Your Community
One of the reasons people participate in discussion forums is that they want others to know how they feel about certain issues. So that
we can present reports on your thoughts about the issue, we’d like you to fill out this questionnaire before you attend a forum. At the
end of the forum, your moderator will ask you to fill out the Post-Forum Questionnaire. Before answering the questions, please make up
a 3-digit number and fill it in here:
.
1. Which statement best describes your thoughts about what should be done to build
prosperity in your community and the region? Check one.
a. I am not at all sure what should be done.
b. I have a general sense of what should be done.
c. I have a definite opinion about what should be done.
2. Do you agree or disagree with the statements below?
a. While much of the region prospers, too many people are left behind.
b. Professional planning is needed to manage growth.
c. Building an educated, skilled work force should be our top priority.
d. Government regulations stifle business growth.
e. Uncontrolled growth threatens our quality of life in both rural and urban areas.
f. Business growth is the key to prosperity for all.
g. Community input is needed to manage growth.

Strongly
agree

Somewhat
agree

Somewhat
disagree

Strongly
disagree

Not
sure

Somewhat
favor

Somewhat
oppose

Strongly
oppose

Not
sure

3. Are there any other things that trouble you about growth in your region? Please explain.

4. Do you favor or oppose each of these actions?
a. Reduce regulations that inhibit business growth.
b. Provide incentives to encourage investment in declining inner cities
and rural areas.
c. Spend more money on education and training programs.
d. Use public funds to preserve farmland and open space.
e. Provide tax and other incentives to attract new businesses.
f. Use zoning laws and other regulations to direct development to specific areas.
5. Are you male or female?

Male

6. How much schooling have you completed?
Less than 6th grade
6th – 8th grade
Some college
College graduate

Strongly
favor

Female

Some high school
Graduate school

27

High school graduate

PRE-FORUM QUESTIONNAIRE

7. Are you:
African-American
Other (specify)
8. How old are you?
17 or younger

Asian-American

Hispanic

Native American

White

18 – 29

30 – 49

50 – 64

65 or older

9. For which type of business or organization do you work?
Government
Business
Nonprofit
I’m a student
I’m not currently employed

Educational institution
Other (specify)

10. In what state do you live?
AL
KY
NC
TN

GA
MS
SC
Other (specify)

AR
LA
OK
VA

11. In which type of community do you live?
Rural
Urban

FL
MO
PR
WV

Suburban

Please give this form to the forum leader, or mail to: Linda Hoke, Southern Growth Policies Board, P.O. Box 12293,
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.

28

POST-FORUM QUESTIONNAIRE

Choosing a Future for Your Community
Now that you’ve had a chance to participate in a forum on this issue, we’d like to know what you are thinking. Your opinions, along
with those of others who participated in forums, will be reflected in a summary report that will be distributed to officeholders, the
media, and others in the region. Since we’re interested in whether you have changed your mind about certain aspects of the issue, a few
of the questions will be the same as those you answered earlier. Fill in your 3-digit number here:
.
1. Do you favor or oppose the actions listed below?
a. Communities should make every effort to increase job opportunities
through business growth, EVEN IF that may result in undesirable
side effects such as more air pollution and traffic congestion.
b. Communities should focus on solving deep-seated social problems,
EVEN IF it takes a long time to show any results.
c. Communities should work with city planners to control whether,
where, and how growth should occur, EVEN IF this restricts where
people can live and what they do with their property.
2. Do you favor or oppose each of these actions?
a. Reduce regulations that inhibit business growth.
b. Provide incentives to encourage investment in declining inner cities
and rural areas.
c. Spend more money on education and training programs.
d. Use public funds to preserve farmland and open space.
e. Provide tax and other incentives to attract new businesses.
f. Use zoning laws and other regulations to direct development
to specific areas.
3. Do you agree or disagree with the statements below?
a. While much of the region prospers, too many people are left behind.
b. Professional planning is needed to manage growth.
c. Building an educated, skilled work force should be our top priority.
d. Government regulations stifle business growth.
e. Uncontrolled growth threatens our quality of life in both rural
and urban areas.
f. Business growth is the key to prosperity for all.
g. Community input is needed to manage growth.
4. Which statement best describes what you think should be done to build
prosperity in your community and the region? Check one.
a. I am not at all sure what should be done.
b. I have a general sense of what should be done.
c. I have a definite opinion about what should be done.

29

Strongly
favor

Somewhat
favor

Somewhat
oppose

Strongly
oppose

Not
sure

Strongly
favor

Somewhat
favor

Somewhat
oppose

Strongly
oppose

Not
sure

Strongly
agree

Somewhat
agree

Somewhat
disagree

Strongly
disagree

Not
sure

POST-FORUM QUESTIONNAIRE

5. What principles or deeply held beliefs should guide our approach to building prosperity?
Please explain.

6. Are you thinking differently about this issue, now that you have participated in the forum?
Please explain.

Yes

No

7. Do you see ways for people to work on this issue that you didn’t see before?
Please explain.

Yes

No

8. What, if anything, might you do differently as a result of this forum?

9. What else, if anything, troubles you about the challenges of building prosperity? Please explain.

Please give this form to the forum leader, or mail to: Linda Hoke, Southern Growth Policies Board, P.O. Box 12293,
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.

30

About the Southern Growth Policies Board
Formed by the region’s governors in 1971, the Southern Growth Policies Board
is a unique public-private partnership devoted to strengthening the South’s economy
and creating the highest possible quality of life. With the region’s governors, legislative
leaders, and private citizens as members, Southern Growth is a catalyst for the creative
and sustained actions needed to build a better South. Thirteen states — Alabama,
Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia — and Puerto Rico participate in and support Southern Growth’s work.
Southern Growth is especially focused on globalization, technology and innovation,
the changing nature of the workforce, and the vital role of community. Advisory bodies
comprised of leading citizens from across the South guide Southern Growth’s work in
each of these areas. For more information, call Southern Growth at (919) 941-5145 or
visit our Web site at www.southern.org.

Acknowledgments
The Southern Growth Policies Board would like to thank the Kettering Foundation
for its support in developing and publishing this issue book. Special thanks are due to
David Mathews and Estus Smith, who saw the promise of developing materials to engage
citizens in dialogue aboout issues of importance to the South; to Carolyn Farrow-Garland, who helped shepherd the project along in its development; and to Ed Arnone, Bob
McKenzie, and Bob Kingston, who helped guide the process of defining and framing the
issue.
Special thanks also go to members of the project’s advisory committee, who were
involved in every step of the project. Their contributions included conducting interviews
to help identify different points of view on the issue, framing the issue and developing
alternative choices, clarifying the presentation, and conducting test forums. Members
include Christine Chadwick, Executive Director of FOCUS St. Louis; Fred Sheheen,
Director of the Center for Citizenship at the University of South Carolina’s Institute of
Public Affairs; Susan Taylor, of Taylor and Associates, representing the University of
Georgia’s Fanning Institute for Leadership Development; and Angela Woodward, Director of Leadership Kentucky.

For Additional Copies
For additional copies of Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your
Community, contact: Linda Hoke, Senior Program Manager, Southern Growth Policies
Board, P.O. Box 12293, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. Phone: 919-941-5145.
Email: lhoke@southern.org

At Southern Growth Policies Board
Executive Director: Jim Clinton
Senior Program Manager: Linda Hoke

Writers
Tony Wharton and Linda Hoke

At the Kettering Foundation
Editor: Ilse Tebbetts
Publisher: Edward J. Arnone
Production Manager: George Cavanaugh
Copy Editor: Betty Frecker

Design and Graphics
Design: Long’s Graphic Design, Inc.
Cover Illustration: Long’s Graphic Design, Inc.
Inside Illustrations: Nicolae Asciu
Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your Community
Copyright 2001 by Southern Growth Policies Board
All rights reserved

P.O. Box 12293
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
(919) 941-5145
www.southern.org

Moderator Guide
Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your
Community
Rapid growth has transformed the South from the poorest region in the nation to the
world’s third largest economy in the span of a single lifetime. But even as many
communities prosper, continued commercial and population growth raise troubling
questions. What of those left behind? Does our enthusiasm for economic progress
endanger a distinctive and valued way of life? How do we convert growth into
prosperity?
The Pathways to Prosperity discussion guide is designed to encourage communities to
think about these questions and to choose a path to the future for their community. The
guide does not advocate a specific solution or point of view. Rather, it is intended to
inspire thoughtful examination of differing points of view and a movement towards
common ground around which the community can make plans for its future.
Equipment/Supplies Needed
Pathways to Prosperity issue book (or “Comparing the Approaches” summary)
for each participant
Pathways to Prosperity video
Pre-Forum and Post-Forum Questionnaires for each participant
Pencils/pens for completing the questionnaires
VCR
Flip chart and markers
Ground rules poster (optional)
Copies of the issue book ($3 each) and the starter video ($12) can be ordered from the
Southern Growth Policies Board. Call Niraj Goswami at (919) 941-5145 to place an
order. The issue book can also be downloaded from the Internet at
www.southern.org/pubs/ptp/pathways.shtml . Moderators are free to copy the entire
book, or just the “Comparing the Approaches” summary and Pre-Forum and Post-Forum
Questionnaires.

Suggested Format for a Two-Hour Forum
Welcome (5 minutes)

Introduce yourself and tell participants about the organization(s) convening the forum.
Stress the co-sponsorship if several organizations are involved.
Give a brief introduction about the importance of the Pathways to Prosperity topic
(growth and economic development) to the community.
Explain that the results of the forum will be shared with Southern leaders through the
Southern Growth Policies Board, by saying something such as the following:
Participating in this forum means that your views will be heard by Southern
leaders. This issue book was prepared by the Southern Growth Policies Board, a
regional, multi-state organization. Southern Growth’s work focuses on
strengthening the South’s economy and creating the highest possible quality of
life in the region. The organization was formed by the region’s governors in 1971
and counts the governors, legislative leaders, business leaders, and citizens as
members. Fourteen states, including [your state], participate in and support
Southern Growth’s work. Southern Growth plans to prepare a report on forum
results that will be presented to the governors and other Southern leaders in
2003.
Pre-Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes)
Pre-

Ask participants to complete the Pre-Forum Questionnaire. Explain to participants that
the Pre-Forum Questionnaire is a way to get everyone focused on the issue and a way for
each participant to take inventory of their initial feelings on the issue. Tell them that
there’ll be another questionnaire for them at the end of the forum.
Ground Rules (5 minutes)

Review ground rules with participants before beginning the discussion. Make clear that
the forum is not a debate. Stress that there is work to do (this is not just a free flowing
discussion with no purpose), and the work is to move toward making plans for the
community’s future. The work will be done through deliberation.
The following are suggested ground rules:
•

The moderator will guide the discussion yet remain neutral.

•

The moderator will make sure that:
o
o
o
o
o

Everyone understands that this is not a debate
Everyone is encouraged to participate
No one or two individuals dominate
Every approach is considered fairly and fully
An atmosphere for discussion and analysis of alternatives is maintained

o Participants listen to each other
The moderator should ask the group if they agree with these rules and invite them to
suggest others to add to the list.
Moderators can call the Kettering Foundation at (800) 433-7834 to request a free poster
that outlines these ground rules.
Starter
Show the Starter Video (15 minutes)

Explain that the video reviews the problems underlying the issue, then briefly examines
three policy alternatives. In so doing, it sets the stage for deliberation. (Starter videos
can be ordered from the Southern Growth Policies Board for $12. Call Niraj Goswami at
919-941-5145).
Personal Stake (10 minutes)

Connect the issues to people’s lives and concerns – in the first few minutes – by getting
participants to talk about their personal experiences with the issue. This makes the issue
human rather than abstract. Some questions you might ask include: “Has anyone had a
personal experience that illustrates the problems associated with this issue?” “Within
your family or circle of friends, is this an important issue?” “What aspects of the issue are
most important to you?” “When you think about this issue, what concerns you, and
why?”
Reviewing Possible Approaches (45 minutes)

The next step is to review and deliberate on each approach, one-by-one. Deliberation
requires weighing the “pros” and “cons” of different approaches so it is important to be
sure that both are fully aired. Questions to help ensure a fair and balanced examination
of each approach include:
•

What makes this approach a good idea? What do you find most appealing about
this approach?

•

What are the costs or consequences associated with this approach? Is there a
downside to this approach?

•

How might others see this approach?

•

What would someone who favors this approach be likely to say?

•

If we followed this approach, what would be the effects on your life?

•

How might your concerns differ if you were poor? Lacked a high school
education? Were a business owner?

Review of Approach One: Create Jobs
Begin with an overview of the approach, such as:
In this view, creating jobs is our road to prosperity. If we create jobs, everything else
will follow. People will have the money they need to buy good houses and send their
children to good schools. This approach calls for providing incentives to attract
businesses, easing government regulations that tend to stifle the development of
business and industry, and investing in infrastructure to support existing businesses
and attract new ones.
Initiate discussion by using the general questions outlined above and/or some of the
following:
•

Do the job opportunities in your community adequately meet your needs?
What about the needs of young people who want to remain in the community
after completing their education? The needs of others in the community?

•

What barriers does this community face in attracting or creating jobs?

•

How active a role do you think government should play in encouraging
business growth?

•

What should we do about rural communities and other areas that have not
been able to attract or create new jobs?

Review of Approach Two: Develop Human and Community Resources First
Although considerable progress has been made, many Southerners lack the education
and skills needed to keep up in today’s changing workplace. Supporters of this
approach maintain that this and other social problems, such as poverty and poor
health, are the true roadblocks to prosperity. Remedies include spending more
money on education and worker training, ensuring easy access to health care,
creating programs to help bridge racial and cultural divides, and developing
community leadership skills.
following:
•

Does this community have the human and community resources needed to
take advantage of opportunities in today’s economy? If not, what areas are in
need of improvement?

•

What role does education play in ensuring the community’s future prosperity?
If people received more education and/or training, what impact would that
have on the community?

•

How would you describe the relationships between racial and cultural groups
in the community? What impact would improving relationships between
racial and cultural groups have on the community’s future prosperity?

•

What role do you think families play in building a strong community? What
do you think should be done, if anything, to help strengthen families in the
community?

Review of Approach Three: Manage Growth
Supporters of this approach are not apposed to growth. But, they fear that
uncontrolled growth will choke the region’s future prosperity. In their view,
prosperity is about more than making a living, it’s about making a life. If we don’t do
a better job of managing growth, we will destroy the quality of life that makes our
communities attractive to citizens and businesses. Planning is the answer, in this
view. Both professionals and citizens should be involved in making deliberate and
rational choices about whether, where, and how a community should grow. Leaving
those choices to larger economic forces is a poor way to build the future.
following:
•

What do you like about living in this community? What traditions/values
make the community special? As the community grows, what do you want to
retain?

•

Does anything concern you about growth in the community?

•

Do you think we need to manage growth and development in order to ensure
your desired quality of life in the future? In order to ensure that the
community will be attractive to businesses?

•

What role, if any, do you think government should play in managing growth?

Working through tensions or conflicts (10 minutes)

Help participants see and work through the tensions or conflicts between the approaches
by asking some of the following types of questions:
•

What do you see as the tensions between the approaches?

•

What are the conflicts that grow out of what we’ve said about this issue?

•

What would be an argument against the approach that you like best?

•

Can anyone think of something constructive that might come from the approach
that is receiving so much criticism?

•

Should communities make every effort to increase job opportunities through
business growth, even if it may result in undesirable side effects such as more air
pollution and traffic congestion?

•

Should communities focus on solving deep-seated social problems, even if it takes
a long time to show any results?

•

Would you support working with city planners to control where and how growth
should occur, even if this restricts where people can live and what they do with
their property?

Moving towards a shared sense of purpose (10 minutes)

Remind people that the objective is to work toward a decision. Test to see where the
group is going by asking questions such as:
•

Can someone suggest areas that we seem to have in common?

•

Would someone identify the values that seem to be clashing?

•

What trade-offs are we willing to accept?

•

What trade-offs are we unwilling to accept?

•

What are we willing to do as individuals or a community to solve this problem?

Ending the Forum (10 minutes)

Before ending a forum, take a few minutes to reflect on what has been accomplished.
Questions like the following have been useful:
Individual Reflections
•
•
•
•

Did you hear anything that surprised you?
Has your thinking about the issue changed?
Has your thinking about other people’s views changed?
How has your perspective changed as a result of what you’ve heard in this
forum?

Group Reflections
•

What remains unsolved for this group?

•
•

Can we identify any shared sense of purpose or direction?
What trade-offs are we, or are we not, willing to make to move in a shared
direction?

Next Steps
•
•
•

What do we still need to talk about?
How can we use what we learned about ourselves in this forum?
Do we want to meet again?

PostPost-Forum Questionnaire (5 minutes)

Ask participants to complete the Post-Forum Questionnaire. Please collect both pre- and
post-forum questionnaires and return them along with a Moderator Summary Sheet to
Linda Hoke, Southern Growth Policies Board, P.O. Box 12293, Research Triangle Park,
NC 27709. This information will be used to help inform Southern leaders about citizens’
views on this issue.

Moderator Summary Sheet
Pathways to Prosperity: Choosing a Future for Your
Community
After the forum, please complete this brief response sheet and return it with the
questionnaires from the forum.
Moderator’s Name:____________________________________________________
Phone:_____________________________ Email:___________________________
Date of Forum:____________________ Number of Participants:______________
Location of Forum:________________________(City) _________________(State)
Briefly describe the audience of your forum (age, ethnic diversity, educational
background, etc.):

What concerns about growth/economic development emerged from the discussion?

What were areas of disagreement?

Was there a shared sense of the direction the community should take in the future?

Did the group identify possible actions or next steps? Please describe.

What unique information came out of the forum that Southern leaders need to
know?

Please return this Summary along with the Pre-and Post-Forum Questionnaires to:
Linda Hoke
Southern Growth Policies Board
P.O. Box 12293
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Phone: (919) 941-5145
Fax: (919) 941-5594
Email: lhoke@southern.org

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