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Episode # 2224
North Carolina's Best Cities for Blacks
Brown: When you think of the top ten cities in the United States for African Americans to live in, what cities might you think about? Atlanta? Washington DC? How about Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina? Learn more about how North Carolina’s capital and queen city as well as the City of Medicine are in coveted spots on the respected top ten list next on Black Issues Forum.
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Brown: Good afternoon, everyone and welcome to Black Issues Forum. I am Natalie Bullock Brown. In its May 2007 issue Black Enterprise Magazine one of the most respected African American business magazines in the country revealed its top ten list of best cities for African Americans and the list may surprise you. Their survey results top winner was the Washington DC metropolitan area. But coming in strong at number three was the metro area of Raleigh-Durham. Black Enterpise’s editors say they picked this area of our state because it boasts a 3.4% rise in job growth which is the highest employment statistic among the tem cities ranked. We are going to look at what makes the Raleigh-Durham area and the southern region particularly appealing to African Americans and we will also meet our expert guests in a moment. But first producer Deborah Holt had an opportunity to meet with vice-president and executive editor of Black Enterprise Magazine, Derek Dingle at the annual meeting of the Triangle Urban League in Durham. Here is an excerpt.
Holt: Derek, what does it mean that a city earns the recognition by Black Enterprise Magazine s a top ten city? What message are you sending out and to whom is that message addressed?
Dingle: The message is to our readers. When our readers look at a list of the top ten cities for African Americans it tells them about opportunities. It tells them about a city that they can go to not only for job opportunities or entrepreneurial opportunities but for quality of life. And we thought it was important to share with our readers why these cities provided African Americans with opportunities to grow business and ultimately our goal as a magazine is to build wealth. So there were factors in these cities that was conducive for African Americans building wealth and in also living the type of live that they deserve.
In North Carolina the white poverty or white citizens living below the poverty line is 8.1%. When you look at Native Americans, when you look at African Americans and Latinos it is well over 20%. So there is a disparity there. But on the national level when you look at wealth, black wealth related to white wealth, African American wealth is 11% that of white Americas. And when you look at home ownership while most white Americans or white Americans on average have a home ownership rate of 74% African Americans have a rate of 47%. So there is a disparity in terms of wealth and we focus on home ownership because that is the cornerstone of wealth. And from our perspective there is many divides in this country. There is a health divide, there is an education divide, and we have technological divides. But those are symptoms. What the root cause of all those divides is the wealth divide.
Holt: Now, Derek, have you received any feedback that contradicts the survey results?
Dingle: Um, I think that even though we are seeing areas of development I do think that we should be mindful that the poverty rate was something that struck me. You know, even though there are opportunity there is still large numbers of African Americans that are not participating in the opportunity. And what happens to those individuals as these areas continue to grow? And I think what’s happening is we are seeing a phenomenon where you are seeing a greater divide between the wealthy and the poor. And when you see that divide the poor get left behind and virtually ignored. And I think that one of the key things that has to happen is that those who have achieved, those who have developed businesses, they have to reach back because that’s going to be important in terms of keeping the city vibrant, that’s to stem the tide of poverty as well as to increase opportunities for those who are coming in.
Brown: We’ll have the entire interview with Derek Dingle available for podcast from the BIF website at UNC-TV.org/bif. But right now I would like to introduce our guests to you. First we have Mayor Bill Bell of Durham. We also have Keith Sutton, Executive Director of the Triangle Urban League. We also have Lawrence Ray, Assistant City Manger of Raleigh. And last but definitely not least we are glad to have with us Reverend Melvin Whitley, a community activist and executive board member of the Durham Center. Welcome to all of you to Black Issues Forum.
I wanted to start off with you, Mayor Bell, and just talk about why this distinction that Black Enterprise has made of the Raleigh-Durham areas as important for your city in particular.
Bell: Well, I think it speaks to the quality of living in this community in particular. It speaks about the fact that we have persons who are highly educated, it speaks to the fact that Durham has a very rich African American heritage, notwithstanding the fact that this community was built on tobacco and textiles. We have now transitioned from tobacco and textiles into a City of Medicine, biotech, pharmaceuticals and it’s all because we were fortunate to have the Research Triangle Park to be the home base of Durham which provided a lot of opportunities in terms of bringing in people and providing jobs. We have a great community college which speaks somewhat to the question about the disparity that we feel you can overcome by having education, job training, we do these things in Durham. And it’s just a great area to be in. Quality of life, four seasons, are close to the airport, you can get to the beach, to the cities in two to three hours. It’s a great place to be.
Brown: So it would have gotten your vote, I take it? Mr. Ray, tell us about how this distinction for Raleigh helps the city potentially in terms of drawing more people. I know we know there are so many people coming to this area but how does it attract even more people?
Ray: When I first read the article in Black Enterprise I was really surprised but Raleigh-Durham area in a well kept secret for so many years as relates to African Americans.
Brown: Well, let me stop you for one second. Why were you surprised to see Raleigh-Durham on the list?
Ray: Because I did not know that we were being looked at. I had no idea that the kind of criteria they used but when I looked at it it’s true criteria. So that’s why I was surprised.
Brown: And do you think that given the criteria which includes home ownership rates and rates of employment, the number of people that are educated, that have a certain level of education and some other criteria that deal with income and just the potential to make money in this area, do you think that those criteria adequately reflect what the experience could be or is for African Americans?
Ray: I think it adequately expresses what the experience is for African Americans. This is truly an opportunity area depending on who you are, what you are looking for, what do you want to have, what kind of quality of life you want to have, it’s all here in this area, the Triangle area. And the other thing is we got some of the best schools in the world in this area which is very attractive to all people especially African Americans. Job opportunities, very attractive here. I think we probably got about three and half, anywhere from three to three and a half unemployment rate in this area, significant as compared to some of the other cities around the country. The opportunity to go into business. We try all the time to try to encourage as many African Americans and others to go into business as we can in the city of Raleigh. We got special programs for that purpose. So I think it is very attractive for the African Americans to come to Raleigh and for those that are here. The opportunity just exists.
Brown: Okay, Mr. Sutton, tell us if you think that given the work that you do at the Urban League that this distinction that the Raleigh-Durham area and even Charlotte-well, but you are Triangle Urban League so let’s stick with Raleigh-Durham. But this distinction is really a real reflection of what’s possible here?
Sutton: I think it is a real reflection of what is possible here. Like Lawrence just said, I was a bit surprised as well because again, not knowing we were being considered but when you look at those factors and some of the other things they talked about, again, home ownership, even foreclosure rates or the number of minority owned businesses, they are all when you look at the area, when you look at, again, what is happening, as Lawrence said, it is quite real. And I think what we don’t take into account is a number of people that are actually coming into both communities every day and we that live here see it and feel it as you move about in the community and I think some of the figures tally anywhere from 60-90 people per day coming to the area. And when you look at where those people are going for jobs, where they are going to schools. The rate of which our schools are growing, the impact is very much there and so, yes, I think it is a very real assessment of what is happening here, not to say that there is not work to be done and other things to address. But by the same token it is a very up and coming community.
Brown: Well, this is a good segue to Reverend Whitley because since you have lived in both Raleigh and Durham and you have seen the reality for African Americans in both those communities, what would you say are some of the challenges for living in this particular metro area for African Americans?
Whitley: Well, first I want to say that I have always thought that we have been underrated. Durham and Raleigh both, particularly Durham have people that actually-I mean, we love our city. You know, and we speak passionately about it and we take kind of a get the job done attitude to addressing different problems. And I love that. I love the exchange, I love the activism of our citizenry to look at problems creatively and use the talent that is there. But we really have, we still have problems. Everybody is not enjoying the wealth. We still have-we don’t have enough home ownership in Durham. We-and we have problems with substance abuse. We have problems with illiteracy. And we have problems with job creation and very poor neighborhoods. We got to bring businesses back to those poor neighborhoods. And we got to make it look nice and-but we got the right people to get it done.
Brown: Well, Mayor Bell? Could you talk a little bit about what you in particular because I know that your reign as it were in office, you have been trying to do some things to improve Durham. Talk about some of those things and how they will add to what Black Enterprise is already saying about Durham.
Bell: Well, the whole issue about affordability, quality of life is really what we try to focus on. It deals with trying to reduce crime in our community, it deals with a very large effort that we’ve had in revitalizing our downtown Durham area. We have done it with a public/private partnership. We have understood the history of our community being tobacco and textiles. We haven’t torn down those buildings. We have spent quite a bit of money through the private sector and the public sector to revitalize those communities to make it a 24 hour, seven day point place to visit for people who live there, work there, quality entertainment. But our next phase is to move into our inner city neighborhoods and we made some big steps in that area. We recently completed or are in the process of completing trying to address the issue of home ownership. About 40 homes, condominiums and single family homes. We have done about 32 of them now for people to move into them. We have a Hope Six [ph] program that has displaced a lot of the public housing. But by and large we recognize that for the community to be successful everybody has to feel a part of it. And we are trying to do that by improving the quality of life, streets, lighting, all those things that makes it comfortable for people to be there.
In addition to that we still feel it’s a very attractive place for people who want to start businesses. Durham has a rich heritage in terms of economic development. North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company is the oldest black life insurance company, largest. Mechanical & Farmer’s Bank, minority owned, Mutual __ Bank, NCCU is a historically black university has provided great leadership. So we are woven throughout the community and it’s an opportunity for people who want to get involved, they can get involved in Durham. Everybody doesn’t have to be an elected official but there are opportunities for people to get involved and make meaningful differences.
Brown: Well, one of the things that Derek Dingle spoke about in the interview was that there is a need for us to reach back and to do things for those of us who don’t enjoy a lot of the benefits, I guess or the privileges of the things that they use are criteria in Black Enterprise for this list. So, Mr. Sutton, talk about some of the specific programs that perhaps Triangle Urban League is working on that will help to address the disparity between those of us who have and those who have not.
Sutton: I think what’s critical about the ranking is that we have to be careful to not think that we have arrived, that because of the ranking there is no need to continue to work, there is no need to continue to have programs to address some of these issues. We focus on about five key areas, education, economic empowerment, health, civic engagement and diversity of Civil Rights racial inclusion. And all those five areas what we look at or what we refer to as opportunity gaps, those persistent economic gaps that separate African Americans from the mainstream. And so our programs range from educational programs and our achiever society that work to counter the anti-achievement peer pressure that students exert on each other with regard to being academically successful. It’s not cool or it’s not hot or hip to be a straight A student and be an African American kid these days. We also look at the health disparities. There are a number of diseases-high blood pressure, heart disease, prostate, where we blacks rank at the top on terms of the death rates. So we have programs and a web portal that we are putting together now that will disseminate information to African Americans to help them make better lifestyle choices or decisions in terms of their health. So there are a number of programs that we have that help address some of these gaps. But I think the major point and the key point is that we have to continue to focus on these problems and address these problems to maintain and even increase the quality of life that Mayor Bell talks about.
Brown: Mr. Ray, I want to ask you the same question about what’s going on in Raleigh? What sort of programs exist that are trying to deal with the disparity between the haves and the have-nots in the African Americans in particular but also are there any partnerships that the city has formed with other organizations that would help to achieve this goal?
Ray: Let me go back to something that was talked about a few minutes ago. In my opinion one of the most attractive things for this area are the colleges and universities. You got Shaw University, you got Saint Augustine’s College, you got North Carolina State University, you got Duke, you got North Carolina Central. These four or five schools are significant in the American community. They are high quality schools for the most part. They got a variety of types of people coming, so as relates to the educational side of it, Raleigh-Durham is important in the American society. When we talk about the quality of life, trying to make the changes that we are doing downtown as Mayor Bell is doing here in Durham, the whole downtown face is changing and continues to change. I am almost surprised sometimes when I look at all of this stuff that is taking place. Probably in about three or four block area downtown we probably got $2 billion worth of construction going on for the last year, for the last year or year and a half. That’s significant for downtown as compared to where it was five or six years ago. The other thing that is very attractive to this area is the variety of opportunity in business opportunity. We are not tied to just one industry. There is a variety of industry here in the Raleigh-Durham area which makes it very important for those persons who are looking for someplace to go and live and make a life for themselves because of the variety of the business. Raleigh-Durham becomes that important area. The kinds of things that we have done to reach back and to bridge the gaps between the haves and the have-nots, in the last five, six, eight years we have started some economic development activities. One of the strong ones, speaking as it relates to housing is our community development program that we have had now for several years. Raleigh is a little different from a whole bunch of other communities around the country. We did not take our community development block grants and put it in infrastructure. We put it in housing. So you will find that 80-90% of all the dollars that we receive from HUD have gone into housing. Rental housing, affordable units for individual, home ownership for individuals. In fact, Raleigh is one of the few communities in the state of North Carolina that have had a bond issue solely for housing, for affordable housing and we have had three such bond issues that have been anywhere from $15 to $20 million over the last six or eight years. That speaks volumes as far I am concerned about the dedication that the city has at it relates to trying to provide a wholesome housing, a good environment for the citizens of Raleigh. We have started some programs in economic development such as the Raleigh Business and Technology Center which is set up to help small businesses to incubate and to grow and to move out and become significant businesses in our community. That has been in place for about five or six years. That was a partnership between businesses and the city, the county, and some large businesses there in the Raleigh area.
We just created another program called the Raleigh Area Development Authority which is what I see as a financial engine for small businesses to utilize, to grow their business, to get involved in this, to start that business. They plan to raise $100 million in the next five or six or seven years to make available to small business and loans and so forth. We have reached out-one of the significant things we have done in the last five or six years is we started the Southeast Raleigh Assembly which is charged with the responsibility of identifying those issues in these communities that cause people problems. And how we can bring them together and work together to resolve those issues.
The last thing I want to say to you is that all three of-this whole area, I believe that the citizens here are very engaged, they are open for new people to come in and very engaging as it relates to that because I saw that, Bill, when we had the CIAA [ph] started. I mean, they just pitched right in and from all facets of life pitched right in and worked to make that successful.
Brown: Well, let me get Reverend Whitley in. I wanted to ask you just to expand this from just the Raleigh-Durham area into the South in general. This idea of engagement, do you think there is a-well, let me say this, that the top ten list included probably eight cities in the South other than Washington DC and, well, I guess that is in the South, isn’t it? But there were a couple of cities that were not in the South. But is there something in particular about the Southern region of our nation that is becoming more and more attractive to African Americans despite whatever issues especially historical issues that may still exist?
Whitley: Right off the top, we have better weather! You know, I am a big fan of our-you can tell by my size, I like to eat and Southern meals. But, you know, what I live about the South and what I love about our area is that we hold onto our history. And people like that. We read about. They read about it all the over world through the novels, through different books and publications. But we hold onto our history whether it’s James Chavis that taught back and white children the wrath of slavery in Raleigh or Power Street [ph], the Wall Street in Durham. We hold onto it and we need to do more about documenting houses that historical people lived in. And when you look at the trees, we hold onto the atmosphere of the South and at the same time changing attitudes. Because now we have professionals, black professionals, that are engaged with other white professionals and we changed attitudes because we love our cities and we are willing to do and to roll up our sleeves and make things happen for our cities. I am sure that happens in other regions of the country but you sure cannot eat better than we do. [LAUGHTER]
Brown: We’ve only got a little bit of time left, Keith, you wanted to say something?
Sutton: I wanted to respond to that too. The National Urban Leagues was founded by social workers and it was founded on the premise of training freed slaves, they were moving them from the South to the north, helping to prepare them in the transition from an agrarian society to an industrial manufacturing society. So as we see a demise in industrial and manufacturing sector and move into an information and technology age, I think it has a lot to do with transition of migration now back from the north back to the South because this is where a lot of the opportunities are, again, with the Research Triangle Park. And we haven’t talked much about Charlotte but it’s becoming just as large of a financial center as New York with Wachovia and Bank of America headquartered there. Yeah, I think the opportunities that are here in the South now that weren’t here before and therefore we see the population moving back this way.
Brown: I’m sorry. I apologize. I know this is a wonderful topic to talk about and we can say so much about Raleigh and Durham, they are great cities but we have got to go. So I would like to thank Mayor Bell, Keith Sutton, Lawrence Ray and Melvin Whitley for sharing their expertise with us. For information about today’s show please visit the Black Issues Forum website at www.unctv.org/bif or call us at 919-549-7167. Be sure to meet us back here each Sunday afternoon at 4:30 for more compelling conversation. For Black Issues Forum, I am Natalie Bullock Brown reminding you to be encouraged no matter what. Have a good one.
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