A Region Too Long Left Behind…
Testimonials
Melissa Gardner
Melissa Gardner is an example of the difference LOUD has made in peoples’ lives in one corner of South Carolina. Before the program, the 37- year-old divorced mother and her two children lived with her mother. She had no job, no car, and no work experience except for short stints at temp agencies. Each time she had tried to get her college degree, money troubles, lack of childcare, and lack of transportation blocked her path.
Gardner took advantage of LO/UD’s Certified Nurse Aide course and gained her license. She started out at a St. George nursing home at $6 an hour, but quickly moved on to a better job that paid $12.75. LO/UD referred her to an Earned Income Tax Credit program; the return she got helped her buy a car for getting to and from work. She also joined an Individual Development Account (IDA) program to save money that will later be matched for a down payment on her first house.
The northern part of Orangeburg County is home to historically black South Carolina State University, Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College, and an assortment of cultural amenities. Similarly, the southern part of adjacent Dorchester County benefits from an overflow of Charleston’s vibrant economy and growth.
But elsewhere in the two-county region – in “Lower” Orangeburg and “Upper” Dorchester (LO/UD) – things aren't so rosy. These less developed rural parts of the two counties have long suffered from a dearth of resources, good jobs and opportunity. Economic distress has been as common in LO/UD as farmland dirt. Traditional employment in LO/UD, such as it has been, is fading. And now the region and its people face a changing global economy that promises to leave them even farther behind.
- Unemployment is high, the hope of a good job is low, and LO/UD's workforce is largely undereducated and under-skilled.
- LO/UD is losing its best and brightest. The high school dropout rate is 10 percent higher than the statewide average. High school graduates with the means to move away do so, while those with no money, skills, or degrees are left behind to fall farther behind.
- Needed remedial education and training is difficult to access. A lack of public transportation and prevalent poverty keep too many LO/UD residents from accessing resources and opportunities that lie just to their north or south.
- State development initiatives have been focused on the state's growth centers, leaving LO/UD and other rural areas dependent upon local initiative.
Community-Based Catch-Up
In 2003, a group of concerned residents thought the time had come to do something to lessen economic distress in LO/UD. They represented the faith community, private business, grassroots organizations, state and local agencies, government, education, and LO/UD's left behind citizens. They established goals to increase employment and income and to develop the leadership, community structures, and resources the region needs to pursue long-term economic renewal.
Despite formidable odds, over the next four years they made significant breakthroughs. As the statistics below illustrate, with employer involvement they planned and implemented highly successful job training programs that prepared scores of unemployed people for jobs that provided a living wage and offered advancement opportunities.
The LOUD development team paved the way for two technical colleges to bring their teaching and resources to the region – it had never before had such local college services. They organized local agency resources into a job training and placement pipeline that matched newly trained participants with employers in the two counties. And they introduced rural entrepreneurship training to teach local people to start local businesses that would create jobs.
And they are building the local leadership, structures, and resources that will be needed to undertake long-term economic renewal in the region.
Future Steps
The next step is already underway. It is to create a nonprofit to sustain local economic renewal activities and develop the local leadership needed to ensure the region's future prosperity. This is community action. Joint it. Support it. Click here to Contact Us.