Babcock Project Black Participation in Regional Planning & Development Report (Folder)

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legal! ^fense e K d NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 • (212) 586-8397

BLACK PARTICIPATION IN REGIONAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 

A Report to
Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

Submitted by:
Jean Fairfax, Director 
Division of Legal Information 

and Community Service

March 7, 1980

Contributions are deductible for U.S. income tax purposes



BLACK PARTICIPATION IN REGIONAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 

I. Introduction

In the spring of 1978, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 
Fund, Inc. (LDP) developed a proposal for a fifteen-month pilot project 
in Eastern North Carolina. The proposal expressed LDF's concern and 

commitment: concern that blacks in small Southern cities and rural areas 
have been largely bypassed by the civil rights movement, and a commit­
ment to target resources to small communities. We recognized the need 
for comprehensive strategies to enhance the status of black persons in 
these areas that would be designed to reflect the interrelationship of 
civil rights and economic problems and that would build on promising 
trends, especially where regional economic development is occurring or 
anticipated through new and expanding industries, public works projects 
or service institutions. We proposed to provide research, technical as­
sistance and legal services to blacks in Eastern North Carolina, in a 
joint effort to fashion and implement such strategies. Our projected 
budget was $43,000.

By fall, we had received a grant of $10,000 from the Mary Reynolds 
Babcock Foundation. Unable to raise the full budget and to hire a 
team of field workers, we decided to limit the scope of the project to 
Black Participation in Regional Planning and Development, to focus on 
Region Q in Eastern North Carolina, and to rely primarily on existing 
staff resources.

The following report covers activities from the spring of 1979 until 
February 2, 1980. During these nine months, Robert Valder, director 
of LDF's Southeastern Regional Office, devoted about one-third of his 
time to this project. The total cost was about $20,000. The Babcock



grant was used for travel, conferences, materials, and secretarial as­
sistance. It was matched by an allocation of $10,000 to this project 
for staff and other costs from a general support grant from the Revson 
Foundation to LDF in 1979 for monitoring governmental agencies.

During the spring of 1979, Valder developed an inventory of state 
agencies and officials that have responsibilities for economic and com­
munity development and manpower. Visits to key offices in Raleigh were 
scheduled to get an overview of the General Assembly's commitments, 
Federal-State relationships and funding patterns, and the administrative 
structure for development; to identify the appropriate state agencies 
and their regional counterparts; and to secure statistical information 
about Eastern North Carolina counties.

In the early fall, visits were made in the Eastern Region - to the 
Mid-East Commission in Washington, to field offices of state agencies 
and to the East Carolina University Regional Development Institute. Black 
citizens, whom we had originally approached in 1977 and who had been ap­
prised of our fact-finding efforts, were invited to help us plan a work­
shop on regional planning.

"Black Participation in Regional planning and Development" was the 
theme of the consultation that was held in "Little Washington" Decem­
ber 7 and 8, 1979. Louis Randolph, Mayor Pro-tern of Washington, a mem­
ber of the Board of the Mid-East Commission and also of the Board of 
Governors o;̂- the University of North Carolina, was the host. Eleven 
North Carolina counties, including all five in Region Q were represented 
among the 61 persons who attended this briefing and strategy conference. 
Participants received kits of materials, information about key state 
and regional agencies, county data profiles, and reports on Valder's 
interviews.

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A steering coimnxttee, selected at the workshop, met in Washington 
on February 2, 1980, and voted to form an organization, the Eastern 
Carolina Black Conference, to promote full participation of blacks in 
the formation, -implementation and benefits of development, policies in 
the Eastern region of the State.. . Rosalind Gray, an attorney in New 
Bern, was elected chair.

11• Regional Planning in North Carolina
A. A State Overview

By the late 60's, there were more than seventy multicounty 
organizations in North Carolina, which was also divided by 

state agencies into a variety of more than seventy-five administrative 
units. Pursuant to the Federal Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 
1968 and to a mandate from the General Assembly to develop uniform con­
figurations for planning. Governor Robert Scott created seventeen multi­
county regions in 1970 by Executive Order. In the following year, he 
announced that a single planning agency, a Lead Regional Organization 
(LRO), would be recognized in.each region.

Inasmuch as the legislation that orginally authorized regional 
organizations preceded this uniform system, agencies that eventually 
became LRO’s - there are now eighteen - came into existence under sever­
al different statutes. Thirteen were chartered as Regional Councils of 
Government, and four with the simultaneous designation of Regional 
Planning Commission and Economic Development Commission.

As the comprehensive planning agency for its region, the LRO must 
establish regional goals, design an overall program and annual work 
plans, coordinate overlapping Federal and state programs, provide policy 
direction for multijurisdictional program development and serve as the 
A-95 Clearinghouse. Subsequent governors elaborated on this basic concept.

-  3 -



In 1974, Governor Holshouser established the Intergovernmental Human 
Service Program that brought Family Planning, Child Development, Aging, 
Manpower/and Women and Infant Children's Nutrition Programs under the 
LRO umbrella to assure coordination at the local level.

In April 1979, the General Assembly enacted the North Carolina 
Balanced Growth Policy Act and declared state policy "to bring more and 

better jobs to where people live; to encourage the development of ade­
quate public services on an equitable basis for all of the State's 
people at an efficient cost; and to maintain the State's natural environ­
mental heritage while accommodating urban and agricultural growth."
It called for the designation of growth areas (at least one per county), 
citizen participation, and a State-local partnership for balanced state­
wide growth. It declared state policy to be diversified job growth 
'with particular attention to groups that have suffered high unemployment; 
the expansion of family-owned and operated units in agriculture, 
forestry and the seafood industry; accessibility to a full range of 
human development services, quality education, technical training for 
high-skill jobs and cultural opportunities; transportation systems link­
ing growth areas to these services; and the development of natural re­
sources and energy while protecting the environment.

The Interim Balanced Growth Board combines the State Goals and 
Policy Board, that played a major role in the enactment of this legisla­
tion, and the Local Government Advocacy Council that was established by 
the Act. Administrative coordination is achieved through an Interagency 
Group on Balanced Growth, with Howard Lee, Secretary of the Department of 
Natural Resources and Community Development, chairing the section on 
strategies for small cities and rural areas development.

_  4 -



The criteria for designation as one of the six categories of 

growth centers include the willingness , potential and capacity to accom­
modate orderly growth and "livability" or quality of life. Of the 
400 potential growth centers, about 160 will be selected and will re­
ceive priority consideration for certain State and Federal funds for 
economic development and public services. Competition for funds, ap­
plications for which must be received by May 1980, will be high,for 
some communities may become ineligible for funds that they currently 
receive.

Whether blacks in Eastern North Carolina actually benefit from 
the Balanced Growth Policy will depend upon whether its commitments - 
especially the upgrading of the workforce, the attraction of new in­
dustries, the reversal of outmigration and the stimulation of small 
entrepreneurs - are implemented with racially affirmative programs.
Black dissatisfaction with current industrial development programs in 
the Eastern region is already on record. A memorandum, dated March 19, 

1979, from an ad hoc committee, convened by the Office of Minority 
Enterprise in the Business Assistance Division of the North Carolina 
Department of Commerce, expressed concern that industrial clients by­
pass rural areas with high minority concentration and severe unemploy­
ment. The Department was urged to undertake positive programs to attract 
new industries and to provide assistance to minority entrepreneurs in 
Northeastern counties.

The appointment of Joe M. Parker, owner of the Roanoke-Chowan 
News Herald in Ahoskie, to a key position on the Goals and Policy Board 

could result in a higher priority to Eastern counties within the overall 
State effort. So long as Secretary Howard Lee, who is black, is the 
senior administrative official with responsibility for implementing the

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new policy in rural areas and small cities, blacks have an advocate in 

a high office. His Department of Natural Resources and Community Develop­
ment should be expected to play an increased role in black development 
not only because of its ongoing programs - CETA, community development, 
housing - and this new mandate, but because blacks are already holding 
important positions in these programs at the State and regional levels.

The Industrial Development Division (IDD) of the Department of 
Commerce and the Community College System (CCS) supplement each other 
in the State's efforts to attract new industries. IDD recruits and 
assists incoming companies. A central role in training workers for new 
and expanding industries has been assigned to the community colleges 
and technical institutes. CCS's Human Resources Development Program is 
coordinated by a black woman, Ms. Linda Lindsey.

Data compiled and disseminated by State agencies provide an es­
sential foundation for effective regional planning. The North Carolina 
State Data Center, one of four such programs launched in the nation in 

1978, is located administratively in the Research and Planning Services 
Section of the Division of State Budget and Management. This Center pro­
vides services through a consortium that includes the Institute for Re­
search in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill and the State Library. The North Carolina State Occupational 
Information Coordinating Council tSOICC) was awarded a Federal grant to 
develop a national model for Congressionally mandated SOICC's. A state 
plan for a multioccupational and career information system, a clearing­
house of information on labor market needs, job vacancies, training pro­
grams and completers, is being implemented across the state. Its centers 
will asses:s: characteristics of client job-seekers and match them with job 
vacancies.- Supply and demand data will be annually available to each LRO.



The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HDD), the 
Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the Department of Com­
merce, and the Coastal Plains Regional Commission (CPRC) are key 

sources of funds for planning. HDD's #701 program provides planning 
money for LRO's as well as half the budget for the staff director of 
the State Goals and Policy Board in the State Division of Policy Develop­
ment. EDA provides grants, loans and technical assistance for water and 
sewer projects, industrial and community facilities,and other projects 
that contribute to economic development. For example, EDA has subsidized 
an EDA District Office in Bertie, airports in Hertford and Hyde Counties, 
industrial park studies in Martin and Northampton, waterlines for the 
Campbell Soup Company in Robeson and the Squibb Pharmaceutical Company 
in Johnston Counties, projects at technical institutes and community col­
leges, and many projects in Pitt County, including the construction of the 
Eastern Carolina University Development Institute. EDA funded a feasibility 
study for a Regional Development Institute for St. Augustine College 
(a black private college) that was undertaken by the Phelps-Stokes Fund.

Forty-four counties in the East are in CPRC. CPRC provides supple­

mental grants for water and sewer projects and for new and expanding in­
dustrial parks, seed money, and 100 percent support for innovative pro­
jects and demonstrations. CPRC provided the following financial support 
in FY 1978 and 1979 to projects in Region Q: $94,580 to Beaufort Techni­
cal Institute's Hearing Resources Center supplemented HEW, State and local 
funds for a total budget of $982,537. A technical assistance/demonstra- 
tion grant of $175,000 provided most of the funds for the restoration and 
addition of a Human Services Center to the Dr. Walter Reed Home. Another 
grant substantially underwrote the renovation and berthing of the Fry­
ing Pan Lightship Museum. $300,000 supplemented major funding from



the Farmers Home Administration and State and local sources for a 
$3.5 million water system for Bertie County. An excellent study by the 

University of Georgia on economic projections in the CPRC region was 
released in 1970.

B. Region Q: An Overview

The Mid-East Commission, the LRO for Region Q, is headquartered 
in Washington, North-Carolina, and serves five counties:

Hertford, Bertie, Martin, Pitt, and Beaufort. In 1970, about 40 percent 
of the region's 178,667 residents was black. The population had declined 
between 1960 and 1970, largely as a result of black outmigration. Two 
counties, Hertford and Pitt, that account for most of the urban population 
had gained population by the Immigration of whites. The Commission re­
ported in 1979 that the region's population was 190,400, a 6 percent 
growth over 1970 and that the proportion of blacks was: Beaufort, 34.6
percent; Bertie, 53.4 percent; Hertford, 49.5 percent; Martin, 44.5 per­
cent and Pitt, 34.4 percent.

Rural farm residents, 62.5 percent of the population in 1940, had 
decreased to 15.5 percent by 1970. But the proportion of rural nonfarm 
residents, 47.6 percent, was about the same as the statewide percent.

A programmatic response by public and private bodies to the needs 
of the people in the region, as reflected in the documentation of their 
low social and economic status, is long overdue. With one third of its 
citizens below the poverty level in 1969, the region's per capita in­
come was lower than the statewide average. In 1970, only 12.6 percent 
of blacks owned their homes, in comparison to 39 percent of whites.
The percentage of black persona over 25 years of age with fewer than 
eight years of .schooling ranged from 61.8 percent in Pitt to 69 percent in 
Bertie. The region's infant mortality rate of 29.9 per thousand was



sxibstantially higher than the State's and nation's, that were 24 

and 20 per thousand respectively. The ratio of persons to physicians 
in Bertie County was 2,982 in comparison to the statewide average of 
928.

There may be some signs of hope in the region's increases in per­
sonal income at a rate higher than the statewide average and in the 
reversal of outmigration. Furthermore, there is some recognition of 
the cost to the region of poverty and outmigration. The Data Profile 
of the Mid-East Region, published by the Commission in 1976, concluded 
that the basic needs of many of its people are unmet and that, "The 
loss of 21,000 people at an estimated cost of ... $40,000/ person, 
equals a net cost on the Region of 840 million dollars."

The Mid-East Commission has stated its goal as follows:

The Mid-East Commission works in cooperation with, lo­
cal, state and Federal levels of government to provide 
programs which stimulate orderly and necessary growth 
and development in the Region...(and) assists local 
governments in solving regional problems through its 
planing services and implements regional projects 
which expand and improve the living conditions of its 
citizens.

The Commission provides technical assistance to its 36 member 
governments in the preparation of grant applications to CPRC and Feder­
al agencies. As the regional Clearinghouse, the Commission reviewed 
over lOQQ Notifications of Intent to Apply for Federal Assistance 
between 1971 and 1979, From July 1̂  1978 to June 30, 1979, it reviewed 
projects totaling almost $49 million.

The Mid-East Commission is involved in comprehensive planning as 
well as planning in economic development, cultural resources, community 
development, criminal justice, manpower and older adults programs. It 
administers programs in emergency medical services and older adults



nutrition. In the Coiranission's 1978-79 Annual Report, the following 

Program Appropriation Budget was presented, 36 percent of it was 
Federally funded, while the State was the source of only ,2 percent. 
The budget reveals the proportion of funds allocated to the Commis­
sion's various program planning functions in FY 1979.

Program Appropriation Budget
July 1, 1978-June 30, 1979

Economic Development Planning..................... $
701 Comprehensive Planning........................
Transportation Planning...........................
Criminal Justice Planning.........................
Coastal Plains Regional Commission................
Historic Planning.................................
Title V Coordination..............................
Older Adults Planning.............................
Older Adults Coordination & Service...............
Title IV-A Employment for Aging...................
Family Planning...................................
Title XX Planning.................................
Employment & Training Program (Manpower).........
Emergency Medical Services........................
Senior Activity Center Program....................
Town Advisor......................................
Community Development Planning....................

-  10 -

73,634
48,000

- 0 -
47,071

6 , 0 0 0
- 0 -
- 0 -

35,324
113,020

2,000
374,759
33,500
66,022
16,175

270,290
26,667
36,389

$1,148,851

Federal
State
Local
Other

$ 984,568
2,700 

107,368 
54,215

$1,148,851



The Mid-East Commission, according to its bylaws, "shall be com­

posed of one representative from each of the member governments, and 
an appropriate number of minority members to ensure that 25 percent of 
the Commission is representative of that group, but in no case less than 
two minority members per county." Each county board of commissioners 
appoints the "appropriate number of minority representatives" from a 
slate of three nominees for each minority position submitted by a caucus 
of minority organizations. In 1979, twelve of the fifty—two members 
of the Commission, that meets annually, were black.

The real power is in the Board of the Commission, which meets 
monthly, and a majority of which must be local elected officials. The 
Board is composed of an appointee of each county government, a representa­
tive chosen collectively by the municipalities, the chairmen of region­
al advisory committees, the immediate past chairman and a number of 
minority members sufficient to meet the 25 percent quota. Each county 
must have at least one black representative on the Board. In 1979, five 
of the nineteen Board members were black. The only advisory councils 
on which minority representation is assured are the Regional Older Adults 
Advisory Council and the Manpower Advisory Committee. Apparently, there 
are no requirements affecting the racial composition of the Planning Ad­
visory Committee, the Family Planning Advisory Committee, the Nutrition 
Project Council and the Emergency Medical Services Committee. All ad­
visory committee chairmen were white in 1979.

The Commission's Affirmative Action Plan, dated July 1979, reported 
one black out of ten professionals and projected the employment of four 

blacks out of sixteen professionals by 1981.
East Carolina University Regional Development Institute, under the 

Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement and Planning, is supported

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by an annual legislative appropriation of about $250,000. Its facility 
was constructed with EDA funds. Since its establishment in 1964, the 
Institute's primary objective has been to promote economic growth in 
thirty-^two counties of the Coastal Plains. Its current staff of nine 
persons, which are all white, is augmented with CETA employees, students 
on work-study and faculty members serving as consultants. Project and 
not policy-oriented, the Institute serves private and public clients 
who must request assistance. Over 1800 projects since its inception 
have involved management counseling, marketing and feasibility studies, 
technical assistance, fundraising, and financial packaging, promotion, 
structural design, land use planning, and program evaluation among other 
services. For example, the Institute staff prepared and monitored ap­
plications for the funding of the new regional jetport in Kinston and 
a classroom building at the College of the Albemarle and helped nego­
tiate the acquisition of land for the Seafood Industrial Park at Wanchese. 
Black clients have included Wheeler Airlines, Bertie Industries and the 
QIC in Roper.

The Eastern Carolina Health Systems Agency provides technical 
assistance and recommendations for the approval or disapproval of Feder­
al grant proposals from 29 counties. Fifty-one percent of the board 
of directors must be consumers. Appointments are made by the county 
commissioners.

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III. Findings and Conclusions
A. The decade of the 70's was an important era in regional plan­

ning for economic and community development in North Carolina. 
Beginning with the creation of a uniform system of regional planning 

organizations, the State ended the decade with a ringing affirmation 
of Balanced Growth as public policy.

These developments have not occurred without criticism. Region­
alism, we were told, is in trouble - criticized for intervening an 
additional layer of government and for creating new power centers large­
ly controlled by local elected officials. The relationship between 
Balanced Growth as a policy and Lead Regional Organizations as the 
structure for development is not clear. The requirement to designate 
at least one growth center in each county is felt by some to be incon­
sistent with the commitment to groups who have suffered high unemploy­
ment, and could lead to a fragmentation of resources. Conflicts over 
funding will be inevitable if the targeting of Federal and State resources 
results in the denial of grants on which communities have become dependent. 
Concern has been expressed that the transfer of programs along with 
their substantial Federal funds, in order to give credibility to the 
Balanced Growth concept, would undermine existing planning agencies.
For example, to bring health programs under the Balanced Growth umbrella 
would threaten both the Health Service Agency and the LRO's.

Development's early emphasis was on physical facilities and hard­
ware - water and sewer systems, airports, industrial parks. Over the 
years, increased attention has been devoted to improvements in the quality 
of life - in housing, education, public safety, transportation, health 
and more recently, to recreational and cultural opportunities. Many 
charge, however, that North Carolina still assigns a much higher priority

-  13 -



to physical than to human resource development and, especially to the 

enhancement of the quality of life of the economically disinherited, 

educationally disadvantaged and racially oppressed.
B. Blacks are justifiably concerned that their needs have been 

largely ignored by the planning and economic development pro­
cesses. Whether exclusion from the benefits of development is just 
another manifestation of institutional racism, or whether policymakers 
and officials have been guilty of deliberate acts of discrimination, 
there is ample evidence that blacks have been bypassed. We referred 
above to the complaint that industrial clients avoid areas of high 
black concentration in Eastern North Carolina. The role that East 
Carolina University Regional Development Institute played, according to 
its Annual Report, in preparing the applications and following them 
"through political processes to approval" for a $3.5 million building

at the predominantly white College of the Albemarle leads one to question 
why the predominantly black Elizabeth City State University in the same 
city did not receive similar help. A reply that ECSU did not request 
it would not be convincing. The system as it normally operates does 
not work for blacks.

C. North Carolina has available an enviable wealth of data to 
undergird planning and development. The totality of statisti­

cal information - in the North Carolina Data Center, the State Occupa­
tional Information Coordinating Council, the Apprenticeship Division 
of the North Carolina Department of Labor, the Industrial Development 
Division of the Department of Commerce and the North Carolina Employment 
Security Commission, in addition to Federal data - is mindboggling!
We were heartened to learn that regional centers will help individuals 
access their characteristics in order to prepare for and secure high

-  14 -



skilled jobs. We have a few documents in which data were employed as 

compelling arguments in support of recommendations for particular pro­
grams to address black needs. However, to our knowledge, these data 
are not being systematically assembled and mobilized for use in advocacy 
and action programs to enhance the status of blacks as a group. There 
is a crying need for what has been called "the strategic use of informa­
tion" as a powerful weapon for reform.

D. Planning, economic and industrial development in North Carolina 
are enterprises controlled and administered by whites. There­

fore, we are pleased to discover some blacks in key positions in 
Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina. Howard Lee, as Secretary of the 

Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, is undoubted­
ly responsible for the appointment of blacks to senior positions in his 
Department: Eva Clayton, Assistant Secretary for Community Development;
Lawrence Cooper, Deputy Director of CETA; Lenwood Long, Director of the 
Division of Community Assistance; Edwin Caldwell, Assistant Director 
in the Division of Community Housing. Blacks are also in program posi­
tions in regional offices.

There are four blacks on the Interim Balanced Growth Board and
O.K. Beatty is Co-director of the Office of Local Government Advocacy.

Linda Lindsey is State Coordinator of Human Resources in the Indus­
trial Services Division of the Department of Community Colleges.

Spurgeon Cameron, a specialist in urban planning, is on the faculty 
of North Carolina State University. Dr. Donald Ensley is a Professor 
of Community Health at East Carolina University.

Louis Randolph is a member of the Board of the Mid-East Commission. 
Ricky McGhee is Director of Comprehensive Planning.

-  15 -



16

E. The decision of the North Carolina Legal Services Corporation 
to expand its program into Eastern counties has brought new 

resources to the region. Three new offices have recently been opened 
with experienced, competent and deeply committed young black attorneys 
as directors. Under John Garland, the Legal Services of the Coastal 
Plains, based in Ahoskie, is developing an eleven-county program that 
will concentrate on the delivery of municipal and social services and 
on preventing black land loss. Susan Perry, executive director of Region 
Four Legal Services in Wilson, will be involved in a range of advocacy 
efforts on behalf of low-income people in six counties. Rosalind Gray, 
coordinator of Region Two Legal Services, currently headquartered in 
New Bern, is specializing in the equalization of municipal services 
and has a special interest in equal opportunities for minority contractors 
and community based corporations. As citizen-volunteers in their com­
munities, as well as in their official capacity, these lawyers will be 
bringing skills and resources to this region that has been underserved 
by professionals.

F. A concentration on planning and economic development, question­
able in isolation from other vehicles to enhance the status of 

blacks in Southern small cities and rural areas, is an essential component 
in a series of comprehensive and coordinated strategies to promote ra­
cial and economic justice. We are convinced that such a focus in Eastern 
North Carolina is timely and long overdue. With its high concentration 
of blacks, many of whom are below the levels of income, education and 
health enjoyed by their fellow citizens across the State, Eastern North 
Carolina justifiably places demands on the consciences and resources 
of public and private officials and agencies.

There are some indications that the climate for change might be 
favorable in the 80's, although one hesitates to. be hopeful when signs



are mixed. Urban clusters, and especially those under 50,000, are. 
growing at a higher rate than the State as a whole. But with Bertie 
County still classed as entirely rural, a concentration on urban pro­
gram strategies will not meet the needs of the current black population. 
The mix of jobs is changing, but the region is still dominated by low- 
wage industries. New industries, a significant number of which are 

coming into Coastal Plains, are not labor-intensive and require skill 
levels above those of the present black laborforce.

The Mid-East Commission, mandated by its bylaws to maintain a 
black presence equal to 25 percent of its membership and its Board, 
offers an opportunity to test out the State's commitment to citizen 
participation and the Federal mandate to achieve stated minimum numerical 
levels of minority representation in planning. The stakes are high.
(See Federal and State Assistance for Economic Development and Job Train­
ing, Appendix 1 ) When a small group of Board members of the Mid-East 
Commission can pass judgment in one year on almost $49 million in grant 
proposals, covering so many programs that could benefit blacks, the 
accountability of that Commission to the 40 percent of its constituency 
that is black must be assurred.

The issue, then, is whether the system which is in place can be 
made to work for blacks.

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IV. Recommendations
A. Tta organization should be established to be the collective 

voice of and the watchdog for blacks in Eastern North Carolina
on issues and programs related to regional planning and development.

It should be engaged in advocacy, monitoring and educational programs, 
and in fashioning strategies to ensure maximum black participation in 
the benefits of development.

This should be a private, nonprofit and nonpartisan body, wholly 
or primarily financed with private funds.

We commend the Eastern Carolina Black Conference, a group that is 
in the process of being organized to promote the above goal.

B. The organization's initial geographic focus should be on Region 

Q and the Mid-East Commission, but its program should be ex­
panded as soon as practicable to include other regional planning units.

C. The organization should have a staff of sufficient size and 
with the range of skills required to accomplish objectives.

D. The following objectives and program ideas might be considered:

1. Re the Mid-East Commission
a. To arrange for a caucus of minority organizations, 

required by the Commission's bylaws, to submit 
nominations for membership on the Commission and 
its Board.

b. To increase the effectiveness of minority members
of the Commission and its Board by providing technical 
assistance to them; e.g., assistance in analyzing 
statistical information or in reviewing proposals.

c. To facilitate channels of communication between 
the black community and its representatives on the 
Commission so that the latter will feel accountable



to their constituency.

d. To support Commission members in the development 
of strategies to increase the number of blacks 
on advisory committees and as officers of the 
Commission.

e. To keep pressure on the Board to increase the num­
ber of blacks on the Commission staff, especially 
in professional positions.

2. Re the Balanced Growth Policy
a. To facilitate channels of communication between 

the black community and representatives on the 
Interim Balanced Growth Board who are black or 
who reside in Eastern North Carolina.

b. To monitor the implementation of the Policy with 
special attention to the selection of growth 
centers, setting of priorities, allocation of 
funds and the potential impact on program deci­
sions on blacks.

Re East Carolina University Development Institute
a. To ensure that blacks are proportionately repre­

sented among the professional staff, student and 
CETA workers, and consultants.

b. To disseminate information about the Institute 
facilities and services to potential black clients.

c. To make specific proposals concerning how the 
Institute could more adequately address black 

needs and concerns.

-  19 -



4. Re Industrial Development, Jobs, Training, Minority
Entrepreneurship
a. Through regular visits to state agencies in Raleigh, 

the staff should keep abreast of major developments 
at the State level and their implementation in the 
region, with special attention to public works pro­
jects and the role of public agencies in private 

ventures.
b. The organization should develop specific proposals 

concerning how existing agencies could become more 

responsive to the needs of black communities, in­
stitutions, entrepreneurs and citizens.

5. The Strategic Use of Information
a. The organization should become a clearinghouse for 

information about blacks in Eastern North Carolina 
and assemble all available data in one central loca­

tion.
b. Data should be packaged so that they could be under­

stood by lay persons and used for interpretation, 

education advocacy, program planning and the de­
velopment of strategies.

5. Community Education
a. A roster of black leaders and organizations should 

be developed and maintained as an up-to-date list 
of constituents.

b. A publication service to this constituency might in­
clude: an annual report on the state of blacks in
the region; periodic newsletters or bulletins on 

specific topics; information about service programs.



releases concerning new industries; analyses of 

State and regional developments of concern to 
blacks.
Community outreach programs through existing 

organizations and churches should be sponsored.

-  21 -



BABCOCK FOUNDATION GRANT 

Financial Report
January 1, 1979 - February 15, 1980

-  22 -

Travel
R. Valder 
J. Fairfax 
Consultant

Telephone
Postage
Meeting Room
Xerox
Brochures
Secretarial Assistance
Conference December 7-8, 1979 

Hotel accommodations 
and meals 

Travel 
Xerox
Hospitality

Conference February 1-2, 1980 
Meals 
Travel

$2,067.37
178.82
35.04

1,547.31
481.90
923.75
50.00

226.87
317.02

$ 2,281.23

670.96
284.31
25.00

263.41

54.96
2,901.25
3,002.96

$10,027.97



Agencies Contacted 
Department of Administration

Billy Ray Hall, Staff Director, State Goals and Policy Board 
Asst. Director, Division of Policy Development 

Kris Baggett, A-95 Clearinghouse
0. K. Beatty, Office of Local Government Advocacy 
Joyce Kinnison, Exec. Dir., N.C. State Occupational Information 

Coordinating Council

Department of Natural Resources and Community Development

John L. Booth, Director, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs 
George Sherill, Coastal Plains Regional Commission 
Eva Clayton, Asst. Secretary for Community Development 
L. G. Cooper, Deputy Director, CETA 
John Coan, Division of Community Assistance 
Lenwood Long, Director, Division of Community Assistance 
Edwin Caldwell, Asst. Director, Division of Community Housing 
Tom Richter, Regional Office, Division of Community Assistance 

(Washington)
Department of Commerce

Mike Rakouskas, Research Chief, Industrial Development Division 
U.S. Economic Development Administration 
Dale R. Jones

Division of State Budget and Management, Research and Planning Service 
Section: North Carolina State Data Center

Department of Community Colleges
Joe Sturdivant, Industrial Training Program
State Goals and Policy Board

Joe M. Parker, Parker Bros. Publishing Co., Ahoskie, N.C.

East Carolina Dniversity Regional Development Institute, Greenville, N.C. 
Thomas W. Willis, Director

Eastern Carolina Health Systems Agency, Greenville, N, C.
Ernest Brown, Project Review Director 
Interim Balanced Growth Board

Graham Previer, County Manager, Beaufort County; Member, Technical 
Advisory Group



Mid-East Commission, Washington, N.C.
Ricky McGhee, Director, Comprehensive Regional Planning 
Irene M. Mills, Director, Fiscal Department 
John Robertson, Director, Manpower Development 
Louis Randolph, Member of the Board

State Department of Labor, Eastern Region, Greenville, N. C. 
Edward D. Hartsell, Apprenticeship Division
Economic Development Division Field Office, Greenville, N. C. 
Roger A. Critcher, Jr., Field Representative



BLACK PARTICIPATION IN REGIONAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 
Documents and Materials

Names, addresses and identification^f black contacts in Eastern 
North Carolina. '

Rosters of key North Carolina agencies and their Eastern regional 
field offices and the Lead Regional Organizations; names,addresses 
and titles of officials in Raleigh and Eastern North Carolina.
Statutes, regulations, directories, statistical printouts and 
analyses, descriptive and promotional brochures, program reports, 
publication lists, lists of boards and commissions. A partial 
list follows:

U.S. Commimity Services Administration

Geographic Distribution of Federal Funds in North Carolina
Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

Directory of Economic Development Districts and Area Grantees, 
January 1976

Directory of Approved Projects as of March 31, 1978
Field Study Report, Feasibility of EDA University Center 
St. Augustine's College, Raleigh, N.C. Prepared by the 
Phelps-Stokes Fund, May 21, 1979

N.C. Department of Administration
Per Capita Personal Income by Counties
North Carolina Tomorrow: One State's Approach to Citizen
Involvement in Planning for Its Future, May 1978
North Carolina Tomorrow: The Next Step, 1978 Year-end
Report of Recommendations, November 1978

State Goals and Policy Board re balanced Growth Policy
General Assembly of North Carolina, Session 1979. Ratified 
Bill, Ch. 4/2, House Bill 874, An Act to Establish the North 
Carolina Balanced Growth Policy

Membership of Interim Balanced Growth Board, Technical Advisory 
Group, State Agencies Interagency Group on Balanced Growth; 
Proposed Criteria to be Used in Designating Communities as 
Growth Centers



Coastal Plains Regional Cominission

Economic Profile of the Coastal Plains Region, 1970, prepared 
by the University of Georgia

N. C. Department of Commerce, Industrial Development Division
Special Minority .-Report on North Carolina as it Relates to 
Industrial Development
Confidential Economic Growth Record Survey
North Carolina Profiles; Bertie County, Beaufort, Hertford, 
Martin, Pitt Counties
Factors Favorable to Industry in North Carolina
Directories of North Carolina Manufacturing Firms
Statistics Relating to North Carolina Economic Trends
Sectorial Analysis of New and Expanded Industrial Investments, 
July 1979
Industrial Expansions, 1972-1977
New and Proposed Industries Reported or Announced for N. C« 

(statewide reports from 1975 through October 1979)
Geographic Distribution of New Industry
Geographic Distribution of Manufacturing Employment
A Concise Presentation of North Carolina’s Resources for Plant 
Location Decision Mal^rs (p^ket of seven brochures)

N. C. Department of Natural Resources and Community Development
Directory of State Aids to Local Governments, 1978
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, an Informational Booklet 
for Community Development Block Grant Administrators

N. C. Employment Security Commission
Comparison of Unemployment Rates in North Carolina and the Nation,
September 12, 1978
Labor Supply and Demand in North Carolina for 1978

Department of Community Colleges, Industrial Services Division
New and Expanding Industries 1977-78 and 1978-79

Performance Summary on the Human Resources Development Program 
FY 1978 and FY 1979



5 -

N. C. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship Training Division

Computer Printout of data on program participants
Division of State Budget and Management: Research and Planning Serv.

Profiles of North Carolina Counties, updated 1978
Projected Population by County, April 1, 1980’, By Age, Race 
and Sex, Also for July 1, 1985

Eastern Carolina Health Systems Agency
Eastern Carolina Health Systems Plan 1979-1984
Progress Report about Medical and Related Health Profession 
Opportunities at East Carolina University, April 1979

Mid-East Commission
Data-Profile of the Mid-East Region
Annual Overall Program Designs for 1978-81, 1979-82, 1980-83 
Comprehensive Employment and Training Manpower Plan FY 1979



(Prom the State Goals & Policy Board) 

Federal and State Assistance for Appendix 1

Economic Development and Job Training

2 .

3.

5.

I. Direct Federal Funding for Local Governments:

A. Entitlement Funds:

1. HUD Community Development Block Grants - To improve urban 
living by improving facilities such as streets, sewers and 
housing and expanding economic opportunities.

2. DOT - Urban Mass Transit - Funds to purchase and/or lease 
equipment and facilities for mass transit systems and to 
help with operating expenses.

B. Discretionary Funds (competitive)
1. HUD - Small Cities Community Development - Supports

activities to improve urban life in smaller communities.
HUD Urban Development Action Grants - For community 
development activities in areas with below average growth 
and high need.
HUD Public Housing - Funds are used to build and maintain 
housing for low income and elderly residents unable to 
find adequate housing in the rental market.
HUD - Section Eight Housing - Provides housing assistance 
payments to private owners and public agencies to provide 
decent, safe and sanitary housing for low income families. 
HUD 701 - Comprehensive Planning (urban areas get direct 
federal grants) ^ can be used to support planning and 
management activities including the improvement of govern­
mental coordination.
FmHA Community Facilities - Loans to provide or support 
overall community development in rural areas such as fire 
departments, municipal buildings, etc.
FmHA Water and Waste Disposal Systems for Rural Communities 
- Loans and Grants for new and improved water and waste 
treatment systems to alleviate health hazards and to promote orderly growth.
FmHA Business and Industry - Guaranteed loans and grants 
for improving; the economic and environmental conditions 
in rural areas.
FmHA - Low to Moderate Income Housing - These are direct 
loans to rural low to moderate income families to enable 
them to obtain safe housing.
FmHA - Rural Rental Housing - To provide funds to construct, 
purchase, improve or repair rental or cooperative housing 
in rural areas.
FmHA - Rural Housing Site Loans - To assist public or 
private non-profit organizations to acquire and develop 
land in rural areas to be subdivided as housing sites for 
low to moderate families.
FmHA - Very Low Income Housing Repairs - Both direct loans 
and grants to low income rural home owners to enable them 
to make essential repairs.
FmHA - Industrial Development - Grant funds for the acquisi­
tion and development of industrial sites in rural areas.

9.

10 .

1 1 .

12.

13.



Both loan and grant funds to assist in 
f public facilities needed to promote

EDA Public Works 
the construction 
economic growth.
EDA Support for Planning Organizations - To develop 
multi-county district planning capability to plan for 
creating full-time permanent jobs for the unemployed.
EDA - Business Development - Loans to finance industrial 
and commercial expansion in redevelopment areas by 
providing financial assistance to businesses.
EDA - Economic Adjustment - Special funds for State and 
local areas to meet needs arising from real or threatened 
unemployment.
LEAA - Safe Streets and Crime Control - To implement and 
carry-out the State's law enforcement and criminal justice 
program.
LEAA - Juvenile Delinquency - to develop and implement 
programs for preventing and controlling juvenile delinquency 
through community-based alternatives.
DOT - Airport Development - Grants for constructing, improv­
ing or repairing a public airport.
EPA 201 Construction - Grant funds for the planning and 
construction of waste treatment systems.
HEW Community Health Centers - Funds to construct and 
operate community health centers for primary health care.

II. Federal Programs Administered by State Government for Local Government

A. Entitlement
1. LEAA - Block Grants for Juvenile Delinquency.- Grant funds to 

plan and operate juvenile delinquency programs at the local 
level.

2. LEAA - Comprehensive Planning - To develop and administer 
comprehensive law enforcement and criminal justice plans.

3. DOL - Comprehensive Employment Training Act - To provide job 
training for low-income and unemployed persons. -

4. DOT - Highway Development - Funds for the Construction and 
maintenance of the highway system.

5. DOT - Urban Mass Transit - funds for the operation and develop­
ment of mass transit systems in smaller urban centers.

6. DOT - Rural Transportation - Grants for public transportation 
systems in non-urban areas.

B. Discretionary

HUD 701 - Comprehensive planning - smaller areas receive their 
planning funds through
DOL - CETA - Job training funds for local governments
BOR - Recreation - Grant funds for the construction and
operation of parks and other recreational facilities
EPA - Solid Waste - Grant funds for the planning and operation
of sanitary land fills
CAMA - Planning and Enforcement - Grant funds for land use 
planning and permit enforcement in the coastal area.



6. HEW - Emergency Medical Systems - Grant funds for the planning 
and operation of a network of emergency systems such as 
ambulances, etc.

7. LEAA - Safe Streets and Crime Control - Funds for the improve­
ment of law enforcement at the local level through training and equipment.

8. Appalachian Regional Commission — Grant funds for the promotion 
of economic development in the 29 western counties of N.C.

9. Coastal Plains Regional Commission - Grant funds to promote 
economic development in eastern N.C. Projects include the 
construction of shell buildings and revolving loans for industry.

10. EDA - Section 304 - State Discretionary grant funds which are 
used to promote economic development in areas where economic 
growth is lagging.

11. CSA - Weatherization - To winterize homes for low income residents
12. DOL - Apprenticeship - To train people for specific job 

opening requiring fairly high skill levels
III. State Programs for Local Government

A. Entitlement
1. Clean Water Bond Act - These funds are used for the construction 

of water systems and sewage treatment systems.
2. School Construction - Funds to build local school facilities.

B. Discretionary

1. Community Development - grant funds which communities can use 
to match federal grant awards