[Georgia] Univ. makes effort to rid Athens of poverty

From The Red and Black

By CRISTEN CONGER

The University is joining other community branches in an effort to reduce poverty in Athens-Clarke County.

A group of leaders across the community announced Thursday the formation of Partners for a Prosperous Athens.

The PPA task force — comprised of an eight-member executive committee and a 30-member steering committee — is coordinating efforts from the government, business, education and social services in Athens to lower the county’s poverty level.

Athens-Clarke County is one of the poorest counties in the state, with about 28 percent of the population living below the poverty line. Twelve months ago, community leaders felt they needed to address the issue, said task force chairman, Clarke County Superior Court Judge Steve Jones.

“The University can help tremendously,” Jones said. “It has some of the greatest minds in the world right here.”

The PPA effort — the first of its kind in the state — will encompass the whole county, and students will be allowed to join committees.

“There’s going to be an opportunity for students to get involved, and I hope they do,” Jones said.

As the largest employer in the county, the University will play a dual role in the PPA in terms of examining its economic influence as well as taking advantage of its academic resources to come up with long-term poverty solutions, Jones said.

“In general, that’s our mission, to work on community and economic development,” said Joe Whorton, director of the University’s Poverty Initiative and PPA executive committee member.

The J.W. Fanning Institute’s Poverty Initiative will provide data and analysis to the PPA as requested, Whorton said.

The first hope for the PPA effort on campus will be to engage the faculty, Whorton said. Secondly, PPA presents an opportunity for students to get involved in service learning.

Currently, the two PPA committees are working toward what “we hope to be hundreds of people working on and identifying parts of the problem,” said Pat Allen, University director of community relations.

Like the response to Hurricane Katrina, Allen said he believes that since the poverty issues are now public, the University and the Athens communities will unite to eradicate local poverty.

“Once our community is fully aware of the problem and the cost of poverty on the community, people will come; people will rally,” Allen said.