“The work they have done for the Black Belt, and state of Alabama as a whole, should not go unrecognized but it could not have been done without the help of our generous donors. Encouraging this deeper understanding of the Black Belt region allowed and enabled this team to cite their own research studies, and cite media reports about their own research studies, in previous and ongoing grant opportunities, aimed to lift up and develop the region.”
In May of 2019, Governor Kay Ivey invited Educational Testing Service (ETS) President Walt MacDonald and his senior staff to visit Alabama to assess how ETS might help the state with planning and programming to lift up its economically challenged Black Belt region. The Governor wants to fully incorporate the Black Belt as part of her Success Plus initiative that will add 500,000 new workers with degrees, certificates, and credentials by 2025. Governor Ivey’s Education Policy Adviser Nick Moore and Steve Katsinas, Director of the University of Alabama’s Education Policy Center (EPC), created an agenda for ETS’ Senior Vice President for Policy Evaluation and Research Michael T. Nettles and Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation, Higher Education, Global Education Javarro Russell. They visited Montgomery and the Black Belt in July 2019. To follow up, the EPC was asked by ETS Senior Vice President Nettles to provide background and an initial road map for ETS’ entry into Alabama.
The Black Belt series has been a project partnering the Education Policy Center at UA with AL.com (assisting in data visualization and publication), as well as the Center for Business and Economic Research at UA, aiding in gathering data.
More can and should be done to brighten futures in Alabama’s Black Belt. A long-term comprehensive approach that includes transportation, childcare, food security, and housing, as well as braiding the federal funding streams for workforce training, welfare-to-work, and adult literacy with secondary and higher education is needed. Three recent examples show state officials understand this challenge: First, Governor Kay Ivey created the Governor’s Office of Education and Workforce Transformation, to coordinate the braiding of these funding streams. Second, flowing from this, the Governor has been working with economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to focus on mitigating the negative impact of marginal tax increases, otherwise known as “benefits cliffs.” Third, in August 2019, Brenda Tuck became the first Rural Development Manager at the Alabama Department of Commerce. Ms. Tuck worked in Dallas and Wilcox counties, and directed the Marengo County Economic Development Authority.
The Education Policy Center’s issue brief series on the Black Belt examines several topics relevant to the region and its residents: population decline, enrollment decline, unemployment, low labor force participation, Pre-K access, healthcare and broadband availability. The series also seeks to provide a comprehensive definition of what parts of Alabama constitute the “Black Belt,” a seminal step in understanding these issues. By compiling, publishing, and publicizing the right data, the EPC hopes to raise awareness of the challenges facing the Black Belt for citizens and policymakers alike.