The Face of Albany, GA

Here is a video showing a few clips from our interviews in Albany, GA. 

Albany Wrap-Up

Watch here as we wrap up from our stop in Albany, GA.  We had a great tour of the city, and met many wonderful people involved in the Strive2Thrive Circles Campaign.

Site #3: Albany, Georgia

One of the revitalizing efforts in Albany was the placement of the

 Flint River Turtle statues throughout the downtown area.

Yesterday we departed the Blue Ridge Mountains and arrived in the Deep South.  Albany, Georgia is gorgeous. The natural beauty of the Flint River and Radium Springs combined with the antebellum architecture of the city produce a picturesque southern community.  Like many other places in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, Albany was built on the backs of slaves.  The marketplace that once held human auctions is still visible in the downtown area.  Plantations that once produced cotton by the tons now serve as a quiet reminder of a prosperous but painful history.  

The deep wounds of slavery and segregation have left ugly scars  that, according to Circles coordinator Ausha Jackson, must be acknowledged before many of the obstacles faced by low-income families can be overcome.  In one southwestern neighborhood in Albany, where much of the city's poverty is concentrated, the racial makeup is 96% African-American.  While efforts have been made to revitalize the downtown with a beautiful river walk and brand new river aquarium, many residents live in 600 square foot homes made out of concrete slabs in deplorable conditions.  A lieutenant from the Albany police force gave us a tour of neighborhoods that were greatly damaged by a severe flood in 1994 and have never quite recovered.  

These are the issues that Circles, under the direction of Strive2Thrive, faces as it looks to tackle poverty in southwestern Georgia.  Earlier this year, they graduated their Getting Ahead class, and twelve more families became Circle Leaders.  More encouraging than their involvement was the 250 community members who came out to celebrate their graduation.  With over 800 churches in the Albany area, Ausha Jackson is working to bring together a divided society to end poverty in this community.  "This is not only the Bible belt, but it is the Bible buckle," she said with a smile.  Circles has partnered with the chamber of commerce and a growing contingent from the faith community to foster relationships that once would have seemed impossible.  

Check back to see some footage of those relationships and this growing Circles community.  

Our team with Strive2Thrive coordinator, Ausha Jackson in front of the Ray Charles Plaza in Albany.

More footage from Wilkes County, NC

Yesterday we had the chance to meet and interview many people involved in Wilkes County Circles of Care.  We have't had a chance to go through all the footage yet but we wanted to show you a little bit  of what we could.   Watch this video as Teresa Plumley shares some of her experiences with us.

Goodnight from Wilkesboro

We are working on editing the interviews and neighborhood footage from our visit to Wilkes County.  In the meantime, we've posted our thoughts from the first two days on the road...

Site #2: Wilkes County, North Carolina

The Faces of Circles Tour has brought us to Wilkes County, North Carolina.  We moved from a post-industrial, declining Midwestern town in Springfield to a small, rural community in the Appalachian Mountains.  As we surveyed the signs of poverty (trailer parks, low-income housing, empty warehouses), we were surprised to find that Wilkes claims to have the highest number of millionaires per capita in the United States.  Just a few short years ago, the unemployment rate in this community was 3%.  Thanks to the Lowes Corporation and Holly Farms, along with North Wilkesboro Speedway, many people had made a substantial amount of wealth, and employment opportunities were plentiful.  However, 15 years ago NASCAR pulled out of North Wilkesboro, removing a major economic contributor to the area.  Six years ago Lowes relocated their headquarters to Mooresville, North Carolina, eliminating many of the mid to upper level jobs that provided a stable source of income.  In the words of Ed McKinney, pastor of Arbor Grove United Methodist Church, "All the things we know...have moved out."  A community proud of its entrepreneurial heritage is now seeking to redefine itself.

This is why Pastor McKinney is a big advocate of Wilkes Circles of Care.  As one of many community members who was concerned about the poverty in the county (spiking unemployment and 35% functional illiteracy), he found that Circles provides an interaction between the middle-class and low-income residents that did not exist previously.  Of the 15 members who began the Getting Ahead class (the precursor to Circles) in March of 2010, 14 became Circle Leaders and remain matched with their Allies.  Annette Snider, the Wilkes Circles Coordinator, sees these Circles members meeting their goals, expanding their social network, and beginning the process of finding their way out of poverty.  Even though the opportunities are not as prevalent as they were in the past, Circles is helping people in this community bring about change that may have seemed impossible before.

Check back soon to see some of our interviews from Wilkes.

On the Road!

As I write this post, we are driving through Southern Virginia toward Wilkesboro, North Carolina.  While our first tour visit was on April 14th in Springfield, today marks the first day of the road trip.  Over the next twelve days we will be visiting six sites in six states with populations ranging from 1,500 to 160,000 in their communities.  Our tour will take us as far east as Wilkesboro, as far south as Baldwin, Louisiana; and as far west as Longview, Texas.  The schedule breaks down like this:

Today and Tomorrow (May 3rd & 4th):  Wilkesboro, NC
Thursday and Friday (May 5th & 6th):  Albany, GA
Monday (May 9th):  Pensacola, FL
Tuesday (May 10th):  Baldwin, LA
Thursday (May 12th):  Jackson, MS
Friday (May 13th):  Longview, Texas

We will be doing our best to update the blog on a daily basis as we travel with content much like our Springfield posts.  For more frequent updates, check out our twitter account (see above or follow us @CirclesTour).  Each Circles site we visit has its own unique story, and we intend to capture that as best we can and pass it along to you!  So stay tuned...