Lewis, 'grandmother of Appalachian studies,' dies at 97; paper in her native Ga. county paid tribute before her death

Appalachian historian, sociologist, and women's rights activist Helen M. Lewis died Sunday at age 97 following complications from Covid-19. From her obituary: "Helen spent a lifetime as a radical educator and activist, working for justice from the Deep South to Appalachia and internationally. Helen taught in colleges and prisons; went to jail for civil rights and stood on picket lines; planted gardens and wrote poetry. In all her work she connected, supported, and pushed people to work together and go a little farther to build communities and make change."

Helen Lewis in a coal mine in the 1960s
(Appalachian State University photo)

Lewis often advised organizations such as the Center for Rural Strategies, which publishes The Daily Yonder. The Yonder called Lewis a "towering figure in the fields of Appalachian studies and scholar activism," and noted: "In the late 1960s and early 1970s, while on the faculty of Clinch Valley College in Wise, Va. (now the University of Virginia College at Wise), she pioneered new courses that opened mountain students’ eyes to their history, culture, and pressing social issues like the environmental cost of strip mining. She later joined the Highlander Research and Education Center, where she developed techniques for communities to conduct their own solutions-oriented research on local social and civic issues. Her areas of scholarship and activism included environmental justice, community development, empowerment of women, and community health."

Mike Buffington of the Jackson Herald in Jefferson, Ga., in Lewis's native county, wrote a tribute to her last year, which concluded: "While she lived in Georgia with her sister, she gave a sermon to the small church she attended in Cherry Log. In that sermon, she said the following: 'We don't all have to be protestors, but let us remember those who have confronted pharaohs, governors, county commissioners, corporations and unjust laws. Let us remember those who broke the law to do the right thing, and those who are developing alternatives and building and rebuilding communities.' Helen Matthews Lewis lived a remarkable life of purpose and protest."

In its tribute, the Yonder excerpted two of Lewis's essays from a 2012 book with writings by and about her. In the essays, "She argues that rural community development must begin with a moral economy," the Yonder says. From "Rebuilding Communities: A Twelve-Step Recovery Program":

Rural communities are still part of national and international economies, the agendas of which do not include preserving or reviving small rural communities. Until the needs and agendas of these communities are included in national and international development plans, community efforts will be stalled and short-circuited. Rural communities will continue to be disposable, and the creativity and participation, which these grassroots movements encourage and develop, will be ignored. That is why communities must also enter the policy arena, change development policies so that this vigor, energy, and social capital can be used to develop socially responsible, democratic, and sustainable communities throughout the world.

From "The Highlander Center: Working for Justice and a Moral Economy": I am seeing the beginnings of a new social movement of students and young people questioning the status quo and asking for a new social order. There are many community grassroots groups trying to rebuild their communities, deal with environmental problems, develop coalitions. Many women have emerged as leaders trying to rebuild communities. But people seem less confident of what to do about the many problems. The inaccessibility of economic decisions leaves people feeling both frustrated and very vulnerable. We need something today to bring people together to deal with the destruction of our communities, degradation of the environment, growing poverty, economic distress and alienation and not just in our country but worldwide. We cannot hide from the fact that we are part of a global economy, but we can work to be cooperative, helpful and not exploitive. We live on a fragile planet—we are all spinning around together and need to come together to save us all.

E. Ky. leaders consider a severance-tax trust fund, are warned that small-county rivalries must end

Eastern Kentucky leaders trying to get the region's coal-based economy out of a depression seemed interested in ideas from the Iron Range in northeastern Minnesota, presented yesterday to a crowd of 1,500 people at an event in Pikeville convened by Kentucky's Democratic governor and the region's Republican congressman. Coverage from the Lexington Herald-Leader is here.

But as they considered the idea of setting aside part of the state's coal severance tax revenue in a trust fund, and using only the interest for current projects, as the Iron Range does, some wondered if the idea was too late, given the parlous fortunes of the Central Appalachian coal industry. "It probably should have been done 20 or 30 years ago," state Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson, told Lexington's WVLK-AM Tuesday.

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear said at a news conference that the next state budget will be so tight, "we can't be fooling" with the current 50-50 split of severance-tax revenue between the state and the region, but he told Bill Goodman of Kentucky Educational Television that the idea of a regional economic planning fund like the one in Minnesota "ought to be on the table" for the future.

The conference moderator, Rural Policy Research Institute Director Charles Fluharty warned summit attendees were that they needed to get over rivalries among counties in Eastern Kentucky, where many counties are small. "These counties and towns are competitive," U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset, told Goodman. "It's hard to weld together a regional organization because many of those counties have some animosities from 80 years ago."

Just before the conference began, former Gov. Paul Patton of Pikeville told The Rural Blog that the effort would require a continued commitment by Beshear, who must leave office in 2015, and Rogers, who must give up his House Appropriations Committee chairmanship at the end of 2016. "the congressman and I are committed to the long haul," Beshear said. "We're also committed to some big, broad issues." For coverage from Ronnie Ellis of Community Newspaper Holdings, which has 10 papers in Appalachian Kentucky, click here. For his severance-tax story, go here.

Arrival of big-box store in nearby city prompts a 'shop local' editorial in a country weekly

With Black Friday turning into Brown Thursday and some big stores already offering holiday discounts, it's also the season for "shop local" editorials in rural newspapers. But sometimes such editorials run out of season, when a big-box store comes to a nearby town and threatens the retail base of a small town and the advertising base of its paper. One leads the latest edition of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors newsletter; it's by Tim Waltner, publisher of the Freeman Courier in South Dakota and a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which publishes The Rural Blog.

Responding to mailers from a new Costco store in Sioux Falls, 45 miles away from his town of 1,300, Waltner wrote, "It’s all good for Sioux Falls, which gets 2 percent of every sale in municipal sales tax revenue to help fund Sioux Falls infrastructure and Sioux Falls services. But it’s not so good for small towns like Freeman. In fact, it’s really bad for small towns like Freeman. . . . On the other hand, every dollar spent at a Freeman business bolsters one of our local businesses. . . . We enjoy a vibrant local retail community—two full-service grocery stores, for example—because we support it by purchasing our goods there."

Waltner acknowledges that there are things in Sioux Falls that you can't find in Freeman, "But the overwhelming majority of all our basic needs can be filled with purchases in Freeman. Buy them here and support our local businesses and our local economy. Buy them in Sioux Falls and support the Sioux Falls businesses and the Sioux Falls economy (or Mitchell's or Yankton's). It's really that simple." (Read more)

Arizona community newspaper examines legal tool developers use to subsidize projects

Residential and commercial developers in Arizona rely on commercial financial districts to finance public improvements, which allows them to sell homes for less while municipalities deal with obtaining streets, water and sewer lines and other public infrastructure. In Prescott Valley, Ariz., CFDs were created during development of three subdivisions and a commercial corridor along a highway. In a three-part series, Ken Hedler of The Daily Courier in Prescott (A on Google map) "examines the residential CFDs, where bonds issued by the districts finance water and sewer lines, and other improvements," and explores the pros and cons of CDFs.

The first part of the series discusses CDFs' financing of improvements in subdivisions, for which homeowners will pay long-term through property taxes. Hedler reports two Prescott Valley subdivisions with CDFs went out of business and a third sold out to another developer. The second part explains how laws govern CFDs, and the third part is a response from Prescott Valley town officials who told Hedler they are "unlikely to approve community facilities districts for master-planned communities in the foreseeable future" because of the continuing housing slump and previous problems with CDFs.

Appalachian commission grant will help create community foundations for local investment

Local non-profit community foundations, like the Community Foundation of Hazard and Perry County in southeastern Kentucky encourage local philanthropy and community development by tapping into local or expatriate wealth. Now, that group, with three other area non-profits, is using a $1 million grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to help 11 other counties establish community foundations as part of the newly created Appalachian Rural Development Philanthropy Initiative.

The 11 counties are Bell, Clay, Elliott, Knott, Knox, Lawrence, Letcher, Lewis, Magoffin, Martin and Whitley. Tom Eblen of the Lexington Herald-Leader writes in his column the initiative's goal in those counties is to "tap into local resources and focus them in meaningful ways," like providing funds for education, the arts, health care, the environment and housing. There are about 700 community foundations across the U.S., mostly in large cities, though some in rural Iowa and Montana have been very successful. Eblen writes the initiative faces a challenge in creating foundations in the 11 selected counties, which are all very poor: Where will the money com from?

He already has the answer: "The non-profit Kentucky Philanthropy Initiative published a study last year that estimated Kentuckians' wealth at $311 billion. The study estimated the amount of that wealth that will transfer from one generation to the next at $72 billion over the next 10 years and $173 billion over the next 20 years. If just 5 percent of that transferring wealth were donated to community foundations, the impact could be huge: $8.7 billion over 20 years. (Read more)

Study finds locally owned businesses are better for communities; keep money at home

Locally-owned businesses with fewer than 100 employees have a positive relationship to economic growth but large, non-local businesses have a negative correlation to with it, according to a study from the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development at Penn State. Researchers found that community economic development efforts are often "off-track" because they invest in bringing outside businesses into an area rather than in local start-ups.

Jon Bailey of the Center for Rural Affairs writes that locally owned businesses are better for economic development because they don't outsource their operations in the way larger businesses tend to do. Bailey says in-sourcing keeps money in a community and it multiplies several times, building the local economy from within. Small businesses also bring innovation and productivity to the community. According to the study, this brings a focus to local start-ups, on which many rural communities depend.

Unfortunately, local businesses often have a hard time obtaining capital with which to start, said Al Cross of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. "Local banks ownership and policies can mean a lot," Cross said. "Most loan-making decisions are no longer made in rural areas because of the consolidation of banks." Often, locally-owned banks are under-capitalized or they can be overly conservative, leaving local start-ups with no way to generate capital or get a loan, Cross said.

Bailey says the study should be a lesson to communities about long-term economic growth that locally-owned businesses can provide. This should make local leaders understand that attracting non-local businesses that normally provide short-term employment should not be their main focus. The study makes clear the importance of initiatives that provide capital and assistance to local businesses, he says. One of the study authors, Stephen Goetz, sums it up another way: "We can't look outside of the community for our economic salvation. The best strategy is to help people start new businesses and help them grow and be successful." To read the complete study, click here.

Republicans allege 'war on rural Maryland'

Republican legislators "from rural (or once-rural) parts" of Maryland have introduced bills to fight Gov. Martin O'Malley's efforts to "clean up the Chesapeake Bay, to limit new development on septic systems and to use state funds more effectively in fighting rural sprawl," accusing the Democrat of waging "war on rural Maryland," Tim Wheeler reports for The Baltimore Sun.

"None of the measures is likely to get a hearing, much less a vote, until the General Assembly returns for its regular 90-day session in January. But the rural lawmakers were serving notice they intend to push back against O'Malley's initiatives," Wheeler writes. "The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring local governments around the bay to submit bay cleanup plans by next year, and a task force is looking at whether to resubmit failed O'Malley legislation to limit new large-scale development on septic systems." The group 1000 Friends of Maryland "argues that rural Maryland is already under assault by sprawling development, and it will only get worse" if such bills pass. (Read more)

Nebraska community revitalized with 1% sales tax

Rural communities that are struggling economically might take a lesson from Valley County, Nebraska, Julie Ardery of The Daily Yonder reports. From 2000 to 2008 the non-agricultural employment in the county increased 46 percent, compared to 7 percent statewide and 6 percent nationally over the same period. The current unemployment rate is 2.9 percent, less than a third of the national average. (Wikipedia map)

The city of Ord, the county seat, dedicated a 1 percent sales tax in 2001 to economic development countywide. Ardery writes that the "impacts have been dramatic" on employment, business, the arts, housing development, health care facilities and architectural preservation. The City of Ord, its Chamber of Commerce, Valley County and the non-profit Greater Loup Valleys Activities created Valley County Economic Development to provide loans from the revenue created by the tax to economic development projects. Director Caleb Pollard told Ardery these loans funded 38 business development projects over eight years, and 105 new businesses have opened since 2000. The additional tax brings in about $400,000 a year with an additional $180,000 coming from loan repayment.

The City of Ord was the first in Nebraska to spend revenues from city taxes countywide, but Pollard is proud of this fact, telling Ardery: "A rising tide raises all ships." The increase in revenue has drawn several Valley County natives back to the area to open businesses and caused "an epic shift in attitude," Pollard said. He told Ardery he's not worried about backlash from the "anti-tax crowd" when the issue is up for reauthorization in 2016 because there are many success stories as well has actual numbers to back up the relevance of the one percent tax. (Read more)

Natural gas industry talks how to make nice

The natural-gas industry is trying to improve its image in the wake of protests and voiced concerns from officials and other residents in the Eastern U.S. concerned that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been labeled as an environmental hazard. Last week, at a conference titled "Commitment to Excellence in Hydraulic Fracturing," the American Petroleum Institute and other industry groups to discussed how best to "court communities" that are new to drilling.

The industry is also burnishing its image through television commercials and magazine advertisements. Companies such as Exxon Mobil tout the industry's "rethinking" of gas drilling, the abundance of the resource and how clean it burns. Chesapeake Energy has partnered with Goodwill Industries to show how they are investing in local communities. Others attempt to show the softer side of gas drilling. And the American Natural Gas Association highlights how the industry could create American energy independence.

Mike Soraghan of Energy & Environment News reports on topics discussed at the conference in Pittsburgh, which included ways to prevent trucks from stopping up rural traffic, recycling wastewater, "basic housekeeping" of well pads and how to best explain to people that drilling occurs more than a mile below drinking water supplies. One API official talked about how companies have to get a "social license to operate" in rural communities now rife with gas drilling prospects.

Soraghan notes few environmental-group representatives attended, and those who were are skeptical that the words spoken by industry representatives will translate into actions. There's also concern the ideas discussed won't translate well to those actually working on the well pads. Soraghan reports that one engineer at the conference said the good practices presented at the conference were about more than "warm feelings and good publicity." The engineer said: "If everyone's comfortable with it, you can get your permits through faster. . . . We don't get pushback from management if (environmental protections) are really protective." (Read more)

Without risking tax dollars, rural Wyo. town creates a fiber broadband network that makes money

A town of 5,000 people in a county with only four people per square mile might seem to be one of the last places to get fiber-optic broadband to everyone who wants it. But "a team of community planners, IT pros and financial experts helped put together a locally owned broadband fiber network" for Powell, Wyo., just east of Yellowstone National Park, the Daily Yonder reports.

"Powell’s network broke even in 18 months and has operated profitably ever since," Craig Settles reports. "Two service providers, including the town’s partner, Tri-County Telecom, compete for subscribers of data, voice and video services. And most stunningly, this $5 million project put no taxpayer dollars at risk."

How Powell did it "is relatively easy to describe," Settles writes. "The devil, of course, is in the details. Every community is different and each will need to tailor the approach." (Read more)

National Rural Assembly is June 28-30 in St. Paul

Registration is open for the 2011 National Rural Assembly, scheduled for June 28-30 in St. Paul, Minn. The Assembly has identified several objectives: Articulate a message that raises national awareness of rural issues; raise a call to action for assembly members around the issues identified in the Rural Compact; provide opportunities for action planning on rural policy issues; create opportunities for participants to make connections that will forward their work on policy issues; and educate policymakers and other leaders on issues prevalent in rural policy.

The event will include several work sessions, which will "provide participants with the opportunity to go deep and build a set of recommendations that will then be carried forward to policymakers by the Rural Assembly in the coming year," the assembly says in a news release. Session topics include housing, climate change, tribal issues, philanthropy, immigration, the Farm Bill, youth policy and rural education grants, Social Security and green jobs. Registration costs $150, and participants are expected to pay for their own travel and lodging expenses. Meals are included in the registration fee. You can register for the event here.