Connected Communities

Ensuring the viability, sustainability, and resilience of local economies. The most critical infrastructure of our nation.

The very fabric of our country has been strained as a result of a number of conditions, circumstances, and issues which have been thrust upon us and some of which we have promulgated by our own actions or lack thereof. For decades we, as a nation, have ignored or have chosen not to address or confront many of these issues. Elected officials have for years chosen to kick-the-can down the road hoping some future leader will be able to muster the necessary support to bring about systemic changes to our society as a whole.  

The off-shoring of jobs and the consolidation of farming into corporate mega-farming operations has hit rural areas of our country the hardest.  A significant number of rural counties across America have been devastated by the loss of the few industrial operations that existed in their jurisdictions being closed so the products could be produced by low cost labor in a foreign country. The loss of industrial jobs coupled with the near elimination of the family farm has caused havoc in these rural communities.  Local businesses that had been supported by local economies evaporated with the loss of industries and family farms.

As the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the country it exposed inadequacies in America’s ability to effectively respond to a crisis of such unprecedented proportions. It has also illuminated inadequacies in our ability to respond to the needs of the underserved, disadvantaged, and impoverished populations that are impacted by geopolitical, social, and systemic-level factors which comprise a wide range of determinants affecting rural and urban communities across the nation.

Amid the devastating impact, this global pandemic has been disproportionately ravishing on communities of color. Long-standing outrage was unleashed about racial inequity and distrust directed at law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and elected officials across the country. The nationwide outcry for societal change has never been more energized. Criminal justice reform will likely be expedited and dramatic transformations of how law enforcement is envisioned and delivered is  underway in many communities. How these changes will evolve is what remains to be seen and the big question is whether they will be lasting or result in the desired outcomes that minority communities are demanding. Unfortunately, violent antagonists and anarchists continue to infiltrate many of the peaceful demonstrations and protests across the nation, which has negatively impacted the overall messaging the peaceful protesters have sought to bring forward. 

If we are to institute systemic changes to address these persistent conditions of economic, social and racial inequality, quick fixes will be insufficient and will only lead to further division. Thoughtful, innovative and bold new approaches that are rooted in addressing the underlying conditions that create these disparities will be necessary. This will only be achieved by engaging all stakeholders in the process. Empirical research is necessary to ensure that precise changes are identified which will be required for policies, laws and perceptions. It cannot be addressed by continuing to ignore decades-long disparities and injustices. Nor can it be resolved by vilifying the criminal justice and law enforcement structure or implementing knee-jerk changes which will inevitably result in significant unintended consequences. 

The National Economic Security Alliance (NESA) is developing and implementing Connected Communities projects initially in depressed rural areas of the country facing significant issues.  The first of these efforts targets the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) which encompasses a portion of bordering counties on both sides of the Savannah River in South Carolina and Georgia.  The NESA has established a Rural Revitalization Model Project in the CSRA that is initiallybased in McCormick County, South Carolina.  A majority of McCormick County residents were forced into adjuct poverty with the closure and off-shoring of jobs at three area large textile mills and a major saw mill, leaving McCormick COunty one of the poorest counties in South Carolina.

Contact us for more information about initiating a Connected Communities project in your jurisdiction.