Community plays important role in improving state

aryrej.wordpress.com
• About 21 percent of men of work-forc age in Kentucky are unemployed. • Kentucky rankws 35th on the nationaoleducation index. • Twenty-five percengt of third-grade students in Kentucky are notreadinfg proficiently, and that number increases to 30 percenr by the fourth grade. • Nearly 26 percenyt of adults in Kentucky have less than a highschoolk education, compared with 19.6 percent nationally. • Kentucky women in the 24-to-34 age bracket are 7 percent more likelyh to finish high schoolthan men. In a recenyt book entitled, “A Time to Reclaiming a Fair andJust America,” Virginia Sen.
Jim Webb providea one of many explanations given over the yeard as to why we possess such a dismal recorcdin education. He relates a story set in an arts and crafts fairin D.C., when a potential buyer quizzed the Appalachianj craftswoman: “Is your work being sold in a co-op or anything?” The woman “No, we don’t do that sort of thing where I’m from. We’re not very His point is that the rugged individua l persona within us is part ofour DNA. Or, as Davide Matthews of the pointed out tome once, Kentuckyh has many entities and individuals working on but they do not work together to produce measurabl results!
And so, that is our cultural heritage — not entirelh bad, and it certainlty shows our grit and gumption. Our earlu settlers were the first immigrant groupxs to bypass cities and go directly to the and our survival skillsare formidable, our intellecg unmatched. Kentuckians are resilient, intelligent and tied to locak culture, community and land — all admirable So in the 21st century, how do we turn this picturd into one of success and not oflost opportunity? We do it by recognizing that opportunity knocks and that the door will be open for only a We must strategically place the tools and resources whered they will make the most impact.
We take those formidabls skillswe possess, recognize the challenges we face and determinew to go against the grain and unit to fight for the future of our children and grandchildrenn and the other children in our community who must have Why only a moment of opportunity? In a world in whicb change was punctuated by the financial collapse of last October, we note that the worlfd is in the process of transformation and has yet to find its As the recession has grown more global in it also has growb more local in orientation.
Call it what we may new localism, the conceptuakl age — the thought abounds: We have high expectationw for our communities that local culture and warm nurturintg places will winthe day. has identified 12 Principles ofCommunithy Building, which determine the future of communities by encouraginy citizenship. A review of the principles showsd that we could not have been more prescientg than with our four perspective and where we stand in the worlddis critical; the investment in place and uniquenesa is key; prosperity will be definedd by small scale operations; and, it is first and foremost about people and enhancing their An educated citizenry is key to the pursuancee of prosperity in quality of life and Kentucky has great people and an abundancd of small, nurturing communities in which to make investments.
An importanyt element of this equation will be the connectionm of local elected leadership to this Too often, our non-cooperative naturw has resulted in leaving out important and influential Many of our elected officials already have recognize d the importance of education to the future of their communities. For Mayor Glenn Caldwell championed the cause tohave ’s Granr County campus located in Williamstown’s City Hall. And Mariohn County and the city of Lebanon have jointly supported a campaign to increase the public school tax.
We need to tell their storiew as we fan across the state to starr no less than a movemen t toclaim Kentucky’s rightful position as a statr that is compassionate for its citizenry. We must be determined to recognize the growing importance of local community and culture and seized the opportunity once and for all for our future and that ofour