DARLA MOORE
SPEECH TO THE URBAN LEAGUE OF THE UPSTATE CEO DINNER

OCTOBER 12, 2005

Thank you, Minor, for such a nice introduction. Every time I come to Greenville to speak, I am amazed at the progress in your region and community. I could spend a great deal, if not all, of my time stating the obvious facts, Greenville and the Upstate Region as a whole is very successful, competitive, progressive and your sights are fixed firmly on the future.

There are many reasons for this.

• Leadership:
• Minor Shaw
• Mack Whittle
• Bill Barnett
• David Shi
• Hayne Hipp
• Bill Whitney

The list goes on and on, everyone one in this room knows who I am talking about.

• Strong Community Institutions.
• Excellent Schools.
• Growing Industry poised on the leading edge of the new global economy.

You have it all; the envy of every other region of the state. Life is good and there is no reason to worry. Right?

Wrong! While everything I have just said to you is absolutely true, it's simply not the whole picture. We all know of the economic and education disparity between the African-American and white population statewide; guess what, it exits right here in Greenville County. According to statistics produced by Randolph McKetty & Associates for the United Way of Greenville, the median household income for whites is $44,644 but only $27,226 for African-Americans.

The economic, educational, and health condition of a substantial part of the state's citizenry is the part of the picture that we all have to bring into better focus.

That is why we cannot rely solely on facts without a framework to understand them - without digging beyond just the numbers and the averages; we are not doing justice to the critical issues. Let me give you an example. A well known fact is that South Carolina has deep pockets of poverty. 2004 Census data shows South Carolina has 635,000 individuals or 15.7% of its population living in poverty. We have been talking about these statistics for years and they are not improving. That is why real research and problem solving must go beyond just the facts. There must be a conceptual framework for understanding and interpreting such facts. Judging facts without such a framework or, even worse, judging facts using the wrong framework will not lead to any viable solutions.

Let me take it a step further.

I would venture to say most of us tonight believe in what I will refer to as the "Horatio Alger Theory" of America being the land of freedom and unlimited opportunity. Therefore, anyone willing to work hard can climb the ladder of success and go as far as he or she desires. Taking such theory to its logical conclusion would lead us to say that poor people are poor through their own fault. They will never get out of poverty because they lack self-discipline and the moral fiber to work hard and to try and better themselves. What we need is to eliminate welfare and make them get out and work like the rest of us because that is the only way we will ever get these people out of poverty.

Of course, such a theory would be rejected immediately because most of the poor are working poor. In South Carolina, 53% of children in low income families have at least one parent who is employed fulltime year round, and another 29% have at least one parent who is employed part-time. So, I would recommend a different theory that, I believe, will give us a real framework to address poverty. The approach I am suggesting is contained in a book entitled "A Framework for Understanding Poverty" by Dr. Ruby K. Payne. "Ruby K" - you know a person with such a name has to be from Texas - believes an individual brings with him or her hidden rules of life and class that, if not understood and overcome, will prevent one from even communicating with such individuals much less helping them climb out of poverty. In fact, Dr. Payne believes there are only four reasons one can get out and stay out of poverty:

1. The individual has a specific talent or ability that provides an opportunity for such escape,
2. A situation so dangerous or painful exists that it leads the individual to believe anything would be better,
3. A mentor shows and convinces the individual of a different way to live, or
4. A goal or vision of something they want to be or have.

So, here we are tonight attending this wonderful dinner as guests of our gracious hosts, the Shi's, on the campus of an outstanding, private university in the middle of a region that is working extremely hard to be competitive in the new global, knowledge-based economy.

Why am I discussing poverty?

What does helping the disadvantaged have to do with South Carolina being competitive? You, know, I actually heard one of our policymakers ask that very same question. Very simply put, the reason we are striving for South Carolina to be more competitive is because we want a more prosperous life for our citizens. To be successful at such an effort, we need to improve the quality of life for everyone, not just a select few. I say this not out of compassion for the poor, which we all share, but out of necessity for the state to be competitive. Mayor Joe Riley put it so well in that heart rending piece, Corridor of Shame, when he said that the future of South Carolina is the future of our poor and our rural communities; the State as a whole cannot succeed if they fail.

Right here in Greenville, out of 92,195 persons under the age of 18, 12,600 are classified as poor. That is 13.7% of your future workforce that may be lost to you - who may not be able to participate in any meaningful way to help the Greenville community be competitive. By the way, the rate for the entire state was 18.8% in 2000 but has risen to 21% in 2004. So, when I speak of addressing poverty, I speak of it with the same, if not a higher, level of urgency as I speak of doing everything we can to make ICAR work, to make our workforce more highly skilled, and to support our institutions of higher learning to be catalysts for economic development. It is a task we must address. If we fail, the state fails, and that is not acceptable.

To no one's surprise, I want to suggest some specifics.

First and foremost, we must refrain from placing blame and instead, plow that energy and time into finding real solutions.

As Dr. Payne so clearly states in her book - education - education - education is the key to getting out and staying out of poverty.

I understand housing, health care, and reliable infrastructure are also critical. Please do not think I am ignoring these needs. But, look around at the world today - there is a convergence of fierce competition for jobs with a diminishing supply of inexpensive, abundant energy. To stay competitive we must ratchet up our efforts to employ innovation, to build technical skills, to encourage self-reliance, and to instill in our youth the life changing importance of obtaining a quality education.

In a report entitled "The State of the South 2004" published by MDC, a North Carolina research foundation, the basic theme was: "Fifty years after Brown v. Board of Education, race still matters; but, poverty, regardless of race, matters even more." Their solution was even more to the point: "The only road out of poverty runs by the schoolhouse."

But, let's get more specific - there are two issues that need your attention now. They don't need great debate - they don't need litigation - they simply need action.

Last session, the General Assembly adopted the Education and Economic Development Act. The legislation gives South Carolina the opportunity to fundamentally change the framework of our education system so we can connect our young people to the education pathway that will prepare them with the knowledge and skills to find and fill higher wage jobs all across the state. Do you remember one of the ways Dr. Payne believes individuals can get out of poverty? It is having a vision or goal of something the individual wants to do or be. This is precisely what this legislation does. It integrates academic and career-technical education into a unified system that helps students connect education to careers of their choice -- a choice made with appropriate counseling and parental involvement with the student.

In other words, early in their education, students will have a vision or goal of how to achieve a successful career of their choice. The legislation also increases the number of guidance and career counselors to achieve a 300 students to 1 counselor ratio. Today the state average is closer to 600 to 1. What is so important about reducing the ratio? Again, remember one of the ways to get out of poverty is through guidance and mentoring of individuals in poverty. I truly believe the legislation is a new framework for success, particularly when you add it to our recent successes in improving our student's basic math and reading skills.

But, the passage of the legislation is just the beginning. The tough part is to make sure it is now implemented and appropriately funded. As always, powerless children need powerful friends. That is why I ask your support tonight in strongly communicating to the General Assembly the need to provide the appropriate funding necessary to make the new system a reality. In the overall scheme of our educational funding, it represents a very small portion of the budget - around $30 million. But, I believe it is a critical element of our efforts to make South Carolina more competitive.

A second critical need for our education system is to strengthen our four-year old kindergarten program. The studies and statistics are simply too compelling not to do everything possible to make sure children, particularly children at risk, enter the first grade at a readiness level necessary to succeed and progress. It is an issue the Palmetto Institute will be discussing in more detail in the near future. Presently, there are approximately 17,000 4K children being served by the state's public schools, which is approximately 10,000 short of serving all at-risk children. The existing budget is $20.8 million for half-day 4-year-old kindergarten. It is estimated by the Department of Education that it would cost an additional $22.5 million to serve all at-risk 4-year-olds in half-day programs. They estimate it would cost approximately $101 million to serve all 4-year-olds in half-day programs and $216 million to serve all 4-year-olds in full day programs.

So, as we work to find ways to increase the number of 4-year-old children attending kindergarten -- and increase the number we must -- it is imperative that we find the most cost-efficient means to support this program, and we must begin now -- not later.

These two issues we can address now. They are solutions that sound research tells us will help our children be better prepared for the competition we face globally. There are, of course, a number of other critical issues we need our policymakers to address, but I am going to leave those for another time. I do have a few more generals thoughts to impart.

For this state to have a real chance to succeed, for us to implement any of these ideas to improve our educational attainment, we have to build partnerships between communities - between organizations - between the different faiths - between the private and public sectors - and between all segments of our diverse population.

We must demand more of our leaders. I am not talking just about political leaders, but also faith leaders, leaders of organizations such as yours, and community and local leaders. Everyone must take responsibility for our present conditions.

We have to stop waiting. That's right, we have to stop waiting. We have to stop waiting for another Martin Luther King to show us the way. It is our responsibility to lead the way now.

We must give our young people hope. We must do everything we can to prevent them from becoming disconnected. If a student makes the effort to graduate from high school and then seek additional education and training, South Carolina should have an economy strong enough to offer them good job opportunities with solid wages, the chance for advancement and, most important, a chance for participation.

That is our role - it is our calling - it is what our efforts are all about. As I travel across the state, I can tell you that young people are hungry to be challenged for some greater purpose.

Most importantly - if we are going to approach these tasks as honest brokers and succeed - there is one issue which we must face head on. This issue, if not addressed, will continue to hold our state back. Of course, I am talking about the continuing racial divide which still today in 2005 permeates every aspect of our lives in South Carolina.

Leonard Pitts, a Pulitzer Prize winning African American columnist, summed it up remarkably in one of his columns. He stated that, "Blacks seldom publicly concede some of the dysfunction suffered by the black underclass is self-inflicted for fear of giving aid and comfort to bigotry. So, when analyzing racial progress or the lack thereof, black folk tend to emphasize racism. Whites, on the other hand, are often loathe to concede racism remains the great ball and chain of black life for fear the admission will besmirch their benign self-image or be used to make them feel guilty. So they tend to emphasize dysfunction instead." He illustrated his comments by making the point that, for some, a white boy on crystal meth is "troubled," while a black boy on crack will be described as proof that 37 million people are "unredeemable." Pitts went on to make this point which I want to emphasize today: "Much as some white folk pretend otherwise, racism did not vanish one fine day long ago. It lives here, now, still. And it is, by definition, not something black people can cure through self-improvement…And yet, this also is true: For all the woes it brings, racism is not the proximate source of all the ills that beset the black underclass."

On this persistent, nagging topic, I offer you the very, very wise words of Jewell Jackson McCabe, Founder of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, who said, "You factor in racism as a reality and you keep moving."

Well let's factor it in, but let's work every day - day in and day out - to erase this terrible reality. If we work hard, racism can be consumed by hope, opportunity, dedication and a shared to commitment to improving ALL of South Carolina.

Let me close with these thoughts. Economic power is the only way to make your voice heard. I would not be here tonight except for my economic power. Political power is fleeting at best, and if you do not have any, then you really need economic power.

All over the state I hear of small successes - with organizations such as the Urban League - with churches looking after their members - with dedicated people like Minor Shaw being involved. We have successes - we just have to connect the dots and build on them.

The responsibility is ours - it is our challenge. I believe that challenge begins and ends with us providing opportunities to succeed, to break out of poverty, and to participate in a greater good that requires every one of us to leave here tonight, taking that responsibility home with us.

Thank you.