All-American City Delegation Heads to Tampa
All-American City Delegation Heads to Tampa
David Anderson
Staff Writer
Kinston Free Press
After months of planning, filling out applications and fundraising, Kinston's 35-member delegation made its final preparations Tuesday before shipping out to the All-America City finals in Tampa, Fla.
The National Civic League recognizes 10 American cities each year that show concrete examples of public-private cooperation.
Kinston's delegation will showcase the Little by Little mentoring program, The Gate Community Development Center and the Neuse Regional Water and Sewer Authority water treatment plant.
"I feel very comfortable with the three topics," Mayor O.A. "Buddy" Ritch Jr. said Tuesday. "We've got three strong topics here."
Delegation members gathered at The Gate on Tuesday evening to practice their 10-minute presentation for the National Civic League judges, and say their final good-byes.
Breana Govan and Jahnari Wade, rising fifth graders at Southeast Elementary School and members of Little by Little - which takes place at Southeast - were excited about the upcoming plane ride, and especially the planned trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa after they present Friday morning.
"I like to see the clouds go by," said Govan, who has flown before.
Brenda Griffin, a teacher with Little by Little, and Gate Director Wanda Hall Jordan said their youth members were excited about the trip.
"Everybody's excited, very excited," Jordan said.
Griffin added: "They've been counting down the days until we were ready to go."
City Manager Scott Stevens said the topics illustrate Kinston's efforts to improve education and job growth.
He said he will speak for the NRWASA plant, which provides water to eight member municipalities and non-profit water corporations in two counties.
"That shows a pretty good cooperation across jurisdictional boundaries," said Stevens, who is on the WASA board.
Several major companies, including Spirit AeroSystems, Sanderson Farms and Smithfield - which recently opened a new Kinston plant - cited a plentiful supply of water as one reason for coming to the area.
"They spent a lot of time researching the water supply," Stevens said of Smithfield. "They made it very clear they wouldn't come if we didn't have a way to provide water."
After the practice, the delegation members boarded vans and headed to Raleigh, where they stayed overnight before flying out this morning.
Ritch was confident the presentation would put Kinston in the winner's seat.
"What they look at is results, and when you look at our economic development, and look at our recruitment of the Spirit corporation and the Sanderson Farms, it looks to me like we have a winner," he said.
David Anderson can be reached at (252) 559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.
Kinston is sending 35 people to Tampa, including All-America City committee members, youth members of the Little-by-Little program and The Gate and their adult mentors, plus assorted spouses and children.
Committee members:
Bill Ellis
Amanda Engesether
Angie Garris
Lidia Guzman
Shirley Herring
Charles Herring
Edwin Jones
Adrian King
Geraldyne McCray
Edward Mills
Eleanor Petteway
O.A. "Buddy" Ritch Jr.
Greg Smith
Scott Stevens
Robert Swinson
Laura Lee Sylvester
Little by Little:
Dorothy Gooding
Breanna Govan
Brenda Griffin
Felicia Solomon
Jahnari Wade
The Gate:
Levi Howard
Tenisha Howard
Wanda Jordan
Stephen Wagoner
Tavone Green
Alice Tingle
Margaret Smith
Spouses and children:
Judy Ellis
Luis Guzman
Tony Jordan
Jonathan Stevens
Maya Swinson
Spencer Harris
Lauren Harris
Others:
Martha Bishop-TACC-9
The Kinston team will be in Tampa from Wednesday through Friday, when the awards are announced, and leave Saturday.
Here is their detailed itinerary:
Wednesday:
7 a.m. - Flight leaves Raliegh for Tampa
10 a.m. - Group checks into Tampa Marriot Waterside Hotel and Marina
3:30-5 p.m. - Orientation
5 to 7 p.m. - Welcome ceremony
7:40-8 p.m. - Presentation rehearsal
Thursday:
Noon - Presentation rehearsal
6-8 p.m. - Civic Action Fair
Friday:
8:25 a.m. - Kinston team presents to judges
10 a.m. - Group activity
7 p.m. - Awards ceremony, winners announced
9 p.m. - Post-awards ceremony
Saturday:
9:40 a,m. - Flight leaves Tampa
11:25 a.m. - Arrive in Raleigh
2 p.m. - Arrive in Kinston
Here is how the Kinston team's 10-minute presentation, done in the form of a TV news report, breaks down:
-News anchor presents issues facing Kinston
-Gate participants discuss their program and its effects
-Little by Little participants discuss their program
-Scott Stevens discusses effects of NRWASA plant
-Wrap up with a song
North Carolina's Hispanic immigrants contribute...
North Carolina's Hispanic immigrants contribute more than $9 billion to the economy, cost state budget a net $102 per Hispanic resident, a new study shows.
Raleigh, N.C. -- North Carolina's rapidly growing Hispanic population contributes more than $9 billion to the state's economy through its purchases, taxes and labor, while costing the state budget a net $102 per Hispanic resident in health care, education and correctional services, according to a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
If recent migration trends continue, the total economic impact of Hispanic spending in the state could increase to $18 billion by 2009.
These were among the key findings and conclusions of the first major comprehensive study of the state's Hispanic population and its economic impact conducted by the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC-Chapel Hill for the North Carolina Bankers Association (NCBA), in cooperation with the Mexican Consulate of Raleigh, N.C. The study assessed the economic impact of the state's growing Hispanic population and identified potential business opportunities provided by this fast-growing market.
"This study quantifies for the first time the enormous economic contributions made by our state's Hispanic population, as well as pointing to a wide range of public policy issues and business opportunities to be explored," said NCBA President and CEO Thad Woodard. "North Carolina policymakers and business leaders now have a wealth of data and information on which to make decisions about both challenges and opportunities offered by this increasingly significant segment of our state's population and economy."
Results of the study were released Jan. 3 at the 2006 Economic Forecast Forum sponsored by NCBA and North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry.
"Immigrants from Latin America, authorized and unauthorized, are dramatically changing North Carolina's demographic and economic landscape," reported study authors John D. Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute, and James H. Johnson Jr., director of the institute's Urban Investment Strategies Center. Both are professors at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School. "Hispanics live in every one of the state's 100 counties and contribute to all sectors of the economy."
Among the study's findings:
North Carolina's Hispanic population totaled 600,913, or 7 percent of the state's total population, in 2004. The average Hispanic household contains 3.7 people (compared to 2.4 people in the average non-Hispanic household) and earns about $32,000 annually (compared to $45,700 for non-Hispanics).
Hispanics accounted for 27.5 percent of the state's population growth from 1990 to 2004 and 57 percent of the total enrollment growth in North Carolina Public Schools between school years 2000-2001 and 2004-2005.
Hispanics filled one in three new jobs created in North Carolina between 1995 and 2005, with significant concentrations in the construction industry (29 percent of the labor force).
North Carolina Hispanics' after-tax income totaled an estimated $8.3 billion in 2004. With about 20 percent of that total sent home to Latin America, saved or used for interest payments, the remaining spending had a total economic impact of $9.2 billion on the state. Much of that spending occurs in the major metropolitan areas along the Interstate 40/Interstate 85 corridor, but it also supports businesses in every part of the state.
Hispanics annually contribute about $756 million in taxes (direct and indirect) while costing the state budget about $817 million annually for K-12 education ($467 million), health care ($299 million) and corrections ($51 million) — for a net cost to the state of about $61 million, or $102 per Hispanic resident.
"The net cost to the state budget must be seen in the broader context of the aggregate benefits Hispanics bring to the state's economy," researchers said. "Above and beyond their direct and indirect impacts on North Carolina business revenues, Hispanic workers contribute immensely to the state's economic output and cost competitiveness in a number of key industries."
For example, without Hispanic participation in the construction industry, economic output of this important sector would be significantly lower and annual labor costs nearly $1 billion higher.
Looking ahead, researchers concluded, clear opportunities exist to capitalize on the presence of the Hispanic market, including:
Tapping this growing consumer market by increasing the availability of goods and services that local businesses offer Hispanic consumers, particularly in rural areas, where Hispanic purchasing power is only partially tapped due to the lack of products and services they seek.
Supporting the growth of Hispanic-owned businesses, which face many of the same challenges to startup and growth as do native entrepreneurs plus additional barriers of language, lack of credit histories and limited financial backing.
Leveraging the state's growing Hispanic network to increase export trade to Latin America and attract inward investment by Latin American companies in North Carolina.
For more information, contact the North Carolina Bankers Association at (919) 781-7979 or the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at (919) 962-8201.
The North Carolina Bankers Association provides educational and training programs, media relations, legislative liaison services, insurance benefits programs, regulatory and compliance assistance and other services to member financial institutions. It also operates as a wholly owned subsidiary the Community Investment Corporation of North Carolina, which provides long-term low-cost financing for low- to moderate-income multi-family developments in the state. For more information, visit www.ncbankers.org.
The Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise pursues cutting-edge programming and research in the areas of economic development, entrepreneurship and globalization. It is part of Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For more information, visit www.kenaninstitute.unc.edu.
Contacts:
Sam Atkins, Community Affairs Coordinator
North Carolina Bankers Association
(919) 781-7979
John D. Kasarda, Director
Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
(919) 962-8201
James H. Johnson Jr., Director
Urban Investment Strategies Center, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
(919) 962-8201
Kinston couple works to assist Latino residents‏
Kinston couple works to assist Latino residents- Kinston Free Press
November 20, 2008 - 9:29 PM
David Anderson
Staff Writer
It's an idea 20 years in the making: create an organization to help Spanish-speaking residents of Eastern North Carolina get in touch with interpreters so they can get the services they need.
Luis and Lidia Guzman are doing just that; they are currently laying the groundwork for La Voz (The Voice) ENC by talking with representatives of local government agencies, businesses and service organizations and gauging their need for interpreters to serve their Hispanic clientele.
"We had a vision to do something like this 20 years ago, but it was just not the right time to do that at that point in our lives," Luis Guzman said Thursday.
Guzman and his wife Lidia, who is also the public information officer for the Lenoir County schools system, have been married for 32 years.
They have lived all around the United States and have been part of local bilingual institutions wherever they lived, including a singing group in Rochester, N.Y., and a church in Virginia Beach, Va.
Luis said he first thought of the idea when he and Lidia were living in Virginia Beach in the late 1980s. The Hispanic population there and elsewhere in the U.S. was growing at the time.
Many Latino families came to their area through military bases in Virginia Beach and Norfolk, and while the immediate family members were cared for by the military, the Guzmans noticed that other friends and relatives or Spanish-speaking residents outside the military did not have easy access to interpreters and translators.
They discussed starting an organization that could set these people up with that service, but they did not have the appropriate technology and resources at the time.
"We've always been service-oriented or community-minded," Lidia said. "It was like another need that we saw."
Their idea did not seriously take off until about two years ago when Luis applied in Raleigh to be a part-time interpreter with the local court system.
He has since become an interpreter registered with the state, and interprets for Spanish speakers in the local courts. He wanted to assist them after they left the courthouse, though.
"You interpret for that person in the courts, but what happens after that?" he asked. "There are a lot of organizations out there, but a lot of us don't know about or can't get to them because of the language barrier."
Luis and his wife have spent recent months visiting local institutions, introducing La Voz and asking if they needed the assistance it could provide.
They spoke before the Kinston City Council earlier this week, and met with a number of the groups last month, including Lenoir County Emergency Services, the Department of Social Services, the Health Department, Kinston Interchurch Outreach (ICOR), SAFE in Lenoir County, Bank of America, the American Red Cross and Lenoir Community College.
"Everybody seems to see that there is a need (for interpreters) and everybody seems to want to do something for the community," Luis said.
The Guzmans are building a pool of interpreters who work for the various groups they have contacted. Anyone who needed their service could call La Voz and be connected with an interpreter.
They are incorporated as a nonprofit group, and have established a five-member board. They are now seeking a facility, financing and a staff. Once all that is in place, they will begin reaching out to the local and regional Hispanic community.
"We're looking forward to breaking into everything east of I-95 once we get settled in Kinston," Lidia said.
David Anderson can be reached at (252) 559-1077 or danderson@freedomenc.com.
La Voz ENC offers to be the missing link.
First Community Meeting explaining the vision of La Voz ENC.
Held at Emergency Services building200 Rhodes Street Kinston, NC
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
10:00 a.m.
