2005 Rural Partners Forum
Remarks by Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue
Announcement of Small Towns Initiative
I am really excited to be here today, and honored. Some of the time we really do get to do the things that make you feel like you are building a future for North Carolina, and today is that kind of day for me. This is an important initiative that is being launched. I always take my hat off to an innovative thinker, and there's none better than the leader of the Rural Center and that's Billy Ray Hall. When I think of the accomplishments that have been made for North Carolina since I've been in public service, Billy Ray's name has been attached to the ones that are the most significant. I am grateful to the leaders now - especially Tom Lambeth - that he chose to do this because he cares so much about all of us in this state, and he has a history of that kind of service to North Carolina. Together, if you put Billy Ray's and Tom's energy and their capacity to do the right things for all the right reasons, we are on a really positive track for North Carolina. The leadership, the General Assembly that converted that money [Economic Infrastructure Fund] to recurring dollars is so important. It sends such a message that there is somebody out there who trusts us and believes in us and understands, so now is the time to recognize all of them. Thank you (applause).
You know, it's more than timely that our attention as a state and a people is being called to small towns and their importance to North Carolina, and to the overall quality of life for the people of this state. I've been a board member of this organization for five years, and I love it. I'm not fully participating, as Tom said. I wish I could be at every meeting - I'm not - but I always have somebody there and I always know what's going on. And I feel like I am a part of the success of this initiative and of all the things that have built a better North Carolina. And I've been impressed as we seen different issues brought before this board and launched to change North Carolina. The Homegrown Jobs Initiative, the fact that Billy Ray talked about small business before small business was cool. I think he might have been the one who taught me about the value of innovation and entrepreneurship. The fact that it doesn't have to happen at a university campus, it can happen right at my kitchen table. Because that is what the 21st Century allows us. You know, this one is more important than about any of them to me because I am a small town woman. I chose to live in a small town. I believe so strongly that it's where I wanted to raise my family, I wanted people to know my name. And to know my children's names when they got in trouble - and they did (laughter) - I am so glad they are grown, and now it's the police that call me (laughter). And I plan to go home after all this politics is said and done and live the rest of my days in a small town, and die in a small town. You should feel the same way that I do about it. It is so wonderful to think that finally there is going to be something to help our small towns across North Carolina succeed.
I want you to think about where we are today. Write it in your book when you go home. On November 4, 2005, this is where my small town is. I'm going to do it. And in three to five years when we come back and review and look at the milestones, I want you to chart the progress, just like you would chart the progress of your business. Because we are going to change the destiny of North Carolina through this initiative. This is only the start. North Carolina the whole economy is engaged in such a major transition. I'm not going to give you my stump speech, but I hear it from you all in this room. I heard it when I was in Marion at the dedication of a new building and the mayor talked to me about the challenges for Marion and I think used the word 'upheaval' that some of the issues have brought to his community and to other small towns across the state. And with the global economy and the things you know about as well or better than me, the tremendous competitive pressure to find innovative ways to compete and lure jobs and to keep jobs. We need every bit of help we can get. We know, without a doubt, that any growth in North Carolina has to be statewide. I love our cities and those big corridors where you see all that growth and, honest to goodness, some nights when I drive back to New Bern after working all week in Raleigh, I can count the cars from Smithfield to New Bern all the way. Sometimes you don't pass more than 100-150. And then I do that same thing on the drive on the way from Raleigh to Chapel Hill, and I wonder where all those people come from at midnight. That's the difference in urban and rural North Carolina. We know we need an educated workforce that begins with early childhood - you all believe that - and your schools and communities deserve it as much as any school or community. But we've got to begin to think about that lifetime span of work and the retraining of people who need new skills and careers as they move through their lifetime of work. That's what some of this training is going to be made available for you to do. To figure out how to think and do things differently. We know if we are going to stimulate business and entrepreneurial growth, we need places, communities, that nurture that kind of creativity. I hope some of you all saw the article this morning about what some consider the 'Paris' of North Carolina - Sen. Kinnard's little community in Orange County - how they are fostering the arts and what they doing in Carrboro to write a different future for themselves. Those are things we can do. You don't necessarily choose a place to live and work because of the size of that place. On the contrary, most of us would like to choose a place to live and work for the quality of life and the way it feels. We know that businesses are attracted to vital places without doubt, places with good schools and an attractive appearance, roads that aren't gridlocked by congestion, that waste time and gas and other resources. Many, many companies across the world are wanting to locate in small towns. They understand it's a cool place to be. So North Carolina has the best of both worlds to offer to anybody who is looking for a place to do business. We have these fabulous, vibrant cities and these remarkable towns, both small and medium, livable places with a great lifestyle. Billy Ray just said it, that about 90 percent of the municipalities in this state have less than 10,000 people. I wonder if you went outside and did a WRAL flash poll if people would agree with that data. I don't think so. I don't think people realize how important and how prevalent small towns are to North Carolina and our economy. You've got about a million living there. But the truth be told, the vast majority of North Carolina is made up of small towns, because we do like our neighborliness, our caring for each other, and our cheering on for the home team that happens all the time. We North Carolinians, unlike any group of people in this country, we feel our roots and we are proud of our roots. We love our hometowns, but for our small towns to remain vibrant and be attractive to newcomers, we've got to figure out a way as leaders of this state - and every one of you in this room today is a leader - how are we going to address all of these 21st Century challenges, especially in our small towns?
I want you to think today not just with your mind, I want you to think deep down in your heart about a better North Carolina. Let it be part of who you are, the fabric of who you are. In this state, you've heard every politician say it, including me: every North Carolinian counts. It doesn't matter what zip code you live in. Every kid in this state deserves the chance to be somebody. And you spend most of your days trying to make that happen. You've seen the examples for two days of the case studies of little towns that are wonderful places to live that are simply having a horrible time right now figuring out what to do what their future. This initiative is about this - it's about collective energy and wisdom and money to make a difference. You know, some of you I've toured with and we've talked to the folks that have lost jobs because of the global economy. As I look across the room I think about the tears some of you have shed. And some of you have talked to me like you talk to a sister up close and personal about what it's like to be the leader of a town that is in that kind of trouble and about the upheaval that you are feeling. You know when floods hit the East in 1999 with Floyd, and then when the storms hit the western part of the state last year, so many of you responded with great warmth that you could see all over this state. Little towns that didn't have much to give found the resources to give and people to do public service. The General Assembly rallied after these storms. And I bet right now we could name people from our communities who were involved in Louisiana and Mississippi in trying to help rebuild those places. So today, as part of the Rural Center board, my mission is to ask each of you and the 7.5 million people in the state who will never perhaps hear of this initiative to help convince all of us to rally to a different kind of challenge. As important as anything we've ever done after a national disaster, we've got to make sure that every single town in North Carolina is prosperous. Every single one. You believe that or you wouldn't be here. And I believe it or I wouldn't be here. The challenge is right here for each of us today. When will you 500 people come back together and at that time what will you say you have done to help transform North Carolina's small towns. That's your mission today. We've learned about some of the things that small towns need; other than money, they need advice and mentoring, opportunity. What are we going to do as a group to encourage them and assist them? And especially to those that are struggling to stay afloat. What are we going to do help them as we leave this room today, to respond to their needs? I'd suggest that kind of like the revival meeting we've all been to in our lives, that you figure it out, and not forget what you've learned here and you are going to find a piece of your energy to revitalize the entire state, the good, bad and ugly that exists. As we go back to our jobs and our work and whatever else holds us captive, you're going to resolve to do four or five things. Become part of the work that is being done by our mayors at the League of Municipalities. We need to partner together, the counties and towns, the state and the feds, in making this happen. That we'll be supportive of the School of Government and what they are about to do with the training piece. That we're going to become an active part of North Carolina's Small Towns Initiative, whether it's with an idea or with labor. I'm committed to do this, I've agreed to serve on the Small Towns Action Council. What are you going to do? What kind of time are you going to give? Are you going to be the one today who goes home and prods all those naysayers there who haven't heard about what's going on to stand up and make a difference? That's why you are here today. And I invite you to pick up the phone and call or email me if you run into any of our statewide or regional organizations that don't do their part to help support your initiatives. And when you're in a group that is making decisions and policy on rural North Carolina, stand up as you do so often, and remind us about what really is important. All of us are in this together. And finally, I want you to shake hands with Billy Ray and Tom and tell them you're going to be a partner in this Small Towns Initiative. And they've promised me that if I am a part of it, that we'll gather back here in three years and that we're going to evaluate what we've done and see what's changed in our communities. And we're going to be able to look at each other and say, "Yeah, on that beautiful fall day in November we did more than talk and eat. We made a difference." You know what that is, that is just taking care of business. Taking care of our own destiny. And you all, if we don't do it, there is no one else that is going to do it for us. It is up to us, and let's do count on each other and go to work. Thank you.
