Case Study Fayette County, WV The Challenge: Fayette County, and its county seat, Ansted, is located in the heart of West Virginia, where the rich bituminous coal and railroads controlled the economy for more than a hundred years. Until mechanization of mining emerged to reduce the number of men needed to extract the fuel, most of the villages in that part of the state qualified as company towns. Beginning in the 1950’s, more and more families lost their income source, as well as their population. Today’s statistics indicate the region is still behind in such important figures as per capita personal income and average wages and salaries. In 2010, the figures for per capita personal income stood at $24,644, and average wage and salaries, $34,425.1 With population having declined in the 2009 estimates, Fayette County is as white as all the others in the study, with an estimated 93% Caucasian and 5% African-American. Outsiders have frequently labeled people from Appalachia as being “hillbillies”: those without intelligence or sophistication. Addressing this stereotype is part of the problem facing the leaders. Citizens have internalized that image of themselves and “diminished expectations” is the result. Families provide the good values to their children, help each other, do good work, love the Lord, but they also teach them to wait for someone else to bring relief. “We can’t do that”. Residents have been beaten down by poverty and few opportunities, so they have either gotten out vowing never to return, or they have remained in the quagmire of scarcity and dependency on others. No longer do they look to the mines or railroads for jobs, rather they count on transfer payments to help them to survive. This is the greatest challenge the counties, towns, and villages of Appalachia face. They must change a culture of dependency that has spanned decades. Some of the sparkplug communities are successful in shifting this paradigm, others are not. What would you do if this were your village? How would you fight generations of tradition of depending on someone else to take care of them? Where We Are: An area settled in the 1790’s, Fayette uses its rich past to attract followers of mining, railroad, and the Civil War histories. Their natural beauty draws those who love the outdoors, and a more relaxed way of life. The area has been assisted by the Blueprint Community Team, an eastern group focusing on Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware, “a revitalization and leadership initiative that serves as a catalyst for creating sustainable communities in our region.”2 Teaching such skills as strategic planning, assessment, Fayette County has created a community development team. Technology is one of the up and coming economic bases for the region, based on the inclusion of the area in a broadband program. This will offer the opportunity of wider use of call centers and home based catalogue workers. They are dealing with the dilapidated buildings in town, some are being renovated, and some are being torn down. The historic Page Vawter house is being renovated. Entrepreneurism is encouraged. Outside grants are forthcoming to deal with affordable housing. There is a sense that change is on its way The Sparkplug: Pete Hobbs is currently the mayor of Ansted, but distinguishes between borders of towns and areas of influence. So, though he is the mayor of the village, he is an integral part of the county governance as well, understanding that growth today is often of a regional nature. Born and raised in Fayette County, as a young man about to graduate from high school, his dad took him down the shaft of the coal mine. He could not see the light from the tunnel, and said, “Dad, I won’t go any further, and I won’t be down here again.” His deepest desire at that time was to get as far away from West Virginia as possible, and never come back. There was a dominant attitude of “diminished expectations” in that place, he says. Fayette, and others like it, waited to have others rescue them, because they believed they were poor (the poverty rate was 25% when he left) and uninformed and could do no better. He wanted out. And so did many of his cohorts. With $13 in his pocket and a bus ticket, he did just that. He didn’t return for 27 ½ years. His career took him far away, but he learned much to bring back to a place he found that he loved. After seeing other places progress in spite of difficulties, he questioned whether the same forward movement could happen in Fayette. At the same time, his employer was experimenting with telecommuting, so he and his wife decided they might look to retiring “back home”, and decided to volunteer for the experiment. That brought him back to Appalachia to challenge the traditional thinking there. Once back there, he threw himself into community development work. Using the skills he had acquired over the past quarter century, he set the goal of shifting the paradigm that assumed there were but limited opportunities and that one had to leave to make a living. At first, they were perceived as “strangers”, but soon he overcame that obstacle to be respected as a trusted leader. Driven to give something back to a community that had provided basic education, values, and work ethic, he wanted to challenge the youth and to empower them to change the future. A leader at AT&T once said “The dinosaur is no longer here because he could not change. He could not adapt to a changing environment.” That philosophy has become Pete’s mantra. He sees change as endless, and recognizes that adaptation is a necessity. If Appalachia is to survive and thrive, change must be addressed. Chief characteristics of this sparkplug: * Leaders create networks and use them. * Leaders tell the story, more than once, to gain support. * Leaders encourage others to be leaders, and then train them. * Leaders understand time management and priority setting. * Leaders are not afraid to delegate authority. * A leader’s word is his/her bond. * Leaders are not afraid to challenge the status quo. * Leaders are the sum of their experiences, and are eager to continue to learn. 1 Appalachian Region Income report - 2010 2 Blueprint Communities www.fhlb-pgh.com/housing-and-community/programs/blueprint-communities.html