The Faces of Poverty in the Black Belt Region

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The Faces of Poverty in the Black Belt Region

• In the Shadows of Poverty
• Strengthening the Rural Poverty Research
  Capacity of the South
• Memphis, TN
• July 21, 2003
• Sokoya Finch, ED, Florida Family Network, Inc.

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What is Poverty

• The condition of having little, or no wealth or
  material possessions
• Destitution
• Deprivation
• Vulnerability of exclusion from society
• Victim of every disparity
• Being without
• A status that increases the wealth of others who
  have

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Poverty in the Black Belt Region

• Economic Education Social Housing
  Demographic Conditions Access
• How different is the face of poverty in 2004 than
  in 50s, 60s 70s?
• Is the Southeastern region better off in 2004
  than in previous history of U.S.?

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A View of the BBR

• The BBR is made up of 623 counties in 11 Southern
  states
• BBR has 30 of all Americans and 34 of the
  nations poor
• BBR is connected by clusters of poverty they
  are among the most impoverished in the nation

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The Dismantling of Persistent Poverty in the BBR

• The involvement of University of GA
• The Tuskegee Study A Community Based
  Perspective
• The value of participatory research
• The look of poverty was the same across the region

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What does it Really Mean - The Impact

• Health
• Housing
• Economic Development
• Local Infrastructure

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The Results

• Empowerment
• Federal Commission
• Broad representation inclusive of low-income
  representative- Constituency Representation Board
  (CRB)
• CRB will administer 20 of Authoritys total
  appropriation
• Input from community strategic planning
  priorities for local communities

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Redefining Poverty The Data Belongs to the
People

• Start to look at poverty and data in different
  ways
• Whose owns and control the data?
• Allow communities their voice and to be heard
• What how you imply, infer, concur the meaning of
  their words, families, communities, life, etc
• Be inclusive find a way to celebrate their
  greatness versus being driven by the disparity
• Forging relationships

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The Face of Poverty