HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 10
(By Mr. Speaker, Mr. Kiss, and Delegates Poling, Boggs,
Browning, Butcher, Campbell, Craig, Ferrell, Hrutkay,
Leach, Louisos, Mahan, Morgan, Pino, Shelton, Staton,
Stemple, Sumner, Susman, Talbott, R. M. Thompson,
H. White, Wright, Canterbury and Sobonya)
[Introduced January 28, 2003; referred to the
Committee on Rules.]
Recognizing, commending and urging the support of the work,
contributions and opportunities that West Virginia Rural
Champion Communities can provide this state.
Whereas, The Alliance of West Virginia Champion Communities has
been meeting for over a year and in the last few months has made a
commitment to form a state-wide collaborative. By working together
the group feels they can be more effective than working separately.
Within the group, there is considerable organizational capacity as
each entity has gone through a lengthy strategic planning process
to produce a document to submit to the federal government. All
have been operating as champions for up to seven years, since the
program was introduced in 1995. While the alliance itself is new,
the capacity within it is impressive; and
Whereas,
The mission statement of the alliance states the
following:
"The Alliance of West Virginia Champion Communities is a
collaboration of citizen-led community-based partnerships that are
implementing a strategic vision for change, leading to an empowered and locally-motivated people organized for mutual benefit and able
to share knowledge, strategies and activities for community
improvement."; and
Whereas,
The Alliance of West Virginia Champion Communities is
an informal network of seven federally designated Champion
Communities in West Virginia. These seven Champion Communities
represent portions or all of the following twelve counties:
Tricounty (Summers County, Greenbrier County and Fayette County),
Mountain Champion (Webster County and a portion of Nicholas
County), CAEZ (Clay County, Braxton County, Nicholas County,
Fayette County, and Roane County), and Lincoln County, McDowell
County, Barbour County and Wyoming County; and
Whereas, Each Champion Community is established to improve the
economic and community development of rural regions and to mitigate
the negative effects of a lack of employment opportunities, job
losses, lack of affordable housing, reduced educational resources
and inadequate social services on rural communities. Each Champion
Community will also create an environment for communities to find
strategies to solve their own problems and gain sustainable
development; and
Whereas, The Champion Community program is designed to afford
communities real opportunities for growth and revitalization. The
framework of the program is embodied in four key principles:
(a)
Economic opportunity. -- The first priority in revitalizing distressed communities is to create economic
opportunities - jobs and work - for all residents. The creation of
jobs, both within the community and throughout the region provides
the foundation on which residents will become economically
self-sufficient and communities can revitalize themselves.
Opportunities for entrepreneurial initiatives, small business
expansion, and training for jobs that offer upward mobility are
other key elements for providing economic opportunity and
direction;
(b)
Sustainable community development. -- The creation of jobs
is the first critical step toward the creation of a livable and
vibrant community where human initiative, work and stable families
can flourish. However, economic development can only be successful
when part of a coordinated and comprehensive strategy that includes
physical development as well a human development. A community
where streets are safe to walk, the air and water are clean,
housing is secure, and human services are accessible, and where a
vital civic spirit is nurtured by innovation design, is a community
that can be a source of strength and hope to its residents. A
community where learning is a commitment for life can foster the
skills, habits of mind and attitudes that will make work reward and
families nurturing. The Champion Community program seeks to
empower communities by supporting local plans that coordinate
economic, physical, environmental, community and human development.
(c)
Community-based partnerships. -- The road to economic
opportunity and community development starts with broad
participation by all segments of the community. The residents
themselves are the most important element of revitalization.
Others are the political and governmental leadership, community
groups, health and social service groups, environmental groups,
religious organizations, the private and nonprofit sectors, centers
of learning and other community institutions.
Communities cannot succeed with public resources alone.
Private and nonprofit support and involvements are critical to the
success of a community seeking revitalization. Partners also must
be created within and among the levels of government. Government
departments and agencies on all levels must work together to ensure
that relevant programs and resources can be used in a coordinated,
flexible and timely fashion to help implement the community's
strategic plan and that regulatory and other barriers to
sustainable growth are removed.
(d)
Strategic vision for change. -- The strategic vision for
change is a comprehensive strategic map for revitalization. It is
a means to analyze the full local context and the linkages to the
larger region. It builds on the community's assets and coordinates
its response to its needs including public safety, human and
social services and environmental protection. It integrates
economic, physical, environmental, community and human development in a comprehensive and coordinated fashion so that families and
communities can work together and thrive. A strategic plan also
sets real goals and performance benchmarks for measuring progress
and establishes a framework for assessing how new experience and
knowledge can be incorporated on an ongoing basis into a successful
plan for revitalization; and
Whereas, Rural Champion Communities are established in USDA
regulations at 7 CAR 25 and are designed by USDA from among the
pools of applicants seeking empowerment zone or enterprise
community status. The number of Champion Communities is limited to
the number of applicants that did not receive either an empowerment
zone or an enterprise community designation;
therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Delegates of West Virginia:
That the members hereby
acknowledge the opportunities that
Champion Communities bring to their counties, recognize and commend
them as citizen-led, community-based initiatives that are affording
distressed communities real opportunities for growth and
revitalization and urge the support of their mission
;
and, be it
Further Resolved, That the members by adopting this resolution
encourage the agencies of state government and elected officials at
all levels to seek opportunities to partner with these Champion
Communities to ensure that related programs and resources can be
used in a coordinated, flexible and timely fashion to help
implement the community's strategic plan and that regulatory and other barriers to sustainable growth within their scope of
responsibility are either altered or removed.
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