Monday, September 27, 2004

Sept. 27, 2004

WILMINGTON, N.C. – The University of North Carolina Wilmington Center for Social Work Research and Practice is collaborating in the National Conference on Job Loss and Recovery in Rural America. Displaced workers, community developers, policymakers, researchers and students are scheduled to attend the Friday and Saturday, Oct. 1 and 2, conference at the Southeastern Farmers Market on U.S. 74, one mile east of I-95. The conference is open to the public.

The two-day conference features 20 workshops and is produced in collaboration with many national, state and local partners. The workshops will cover everything from starting small businesses to sustaining family farms to addressing and developing state and federal policies and programs to promote economic recovery across rural America.

“UNCW is involved in many projects working to improve the quality of life in rural southeastern North Carolina, and this conference is an excellent forum to find out what others are doing and discuss future needs for regional rural development,” said Dr. Art Frankel, director of the center.

Rev. Mac Legerton, conference organizer and director of the Center for Community Action (CCA) in Lumberton, said the purpose of the conference is to seek solutions for what ails rural North Carolina and America.

“We invited rural people and organizations to come together from across the U.S. in order to discuss the directions that we need to go and the programs and policies that will help us rebuild our economies and communities,” Legerton said.

The decision to hold a national conference was the result of a meeting with the bi-partisan, Congressional Rural Caucus in Washington, D.C., last March. About 150 displaced workers, community leaders, small business owners, faculty and students delivered research on the impact of joblessness and four policy recommendations to the caucus.

In his announcement of the national conference, Congressman Mike McIntyre said: “The challenges and issues facing rural communities are unique, and this national conference on job loss will put a spotlight on forming solutions to help create jobs and lift our citizens up!” A member of the Congressional Rural Caucus, Congressman McIntyre will address the conference Saturday morning, Oct. 2.

The Center for Community Action, along with faculty and students at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke developed a conference Web site at www.povertyeast.org/jobs, which includes an invitation, travel and accommodation information, registration form, workshop content and a list of collaborating partners. The registration fee for the entire conference is $50.

For more information on the National Conference on Job Loss and Recovery in Rural America, contact the Rev. Mac Legerton, executive director, Center For Community Action, 910/739-7851 at cca@carolina.net, or Dr. Leslie Hossfeld, lead researcher and assistant professor, UNC Pembroke Department of Sociology at 910/231-6802 or at hossfeld@uncp.edu.

Collaborating Partners:

National: American Sociological Association; Southern Initiative of the Algebra Project, Inc.; Southern Rural Development Center; Rural School and Community Trust; Society for the Study of Social Problems; Rural Sociological Society; Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation; Center for Rural Strategies; Green Map System; Southern Rural Development Initiative

State: N.C. Rural Center; Land Loss Prevention Project, Good Work, Inc.; NC REAL; N.C. Conservation Fund; N.C. Association of Community Development Corporations; NC State University, Institute for Emerging Issues; University of North Carolina at Wilmington Center for Social Work Research and Practice; N.C. Council of Churches, NC Justice Center; Robeson County Office of Economic Development; Unified Robeson County NAACP; Robeson County Community Development Corporation; Robeson County Family Support Program; Legal Aid of N.C. – Pembroke Office; Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and The University of North Carolina at Pembroke’s Regional Economic, Community, and Professional Development Center; Leadership and Service Opportunities Program and Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice