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ifty years after President Lyndon from a whopping 60 percent in 1960 to a stillJohnson launched his “War on Poverty” significant-but-far-less-severe 26 percent in 2010. from a humble front porch in the tiny That’s actually a pretty incredible turnaround, all Appalachian town of Inez, Ky., many things considered. Such progress occurred in spite Americans still envision Eastern Kentucky of the steady decline of the region’s once-dominant as a region without hope or promise, a coal mining industry. When coal-industry ‘black hole’ for federal and charitable dollars. A employment in Eastern Kentucky peaked in 1950, recent article in the New York Times entitled there were 67,000 miners. Now that figure has “What’s the Matter With Eastern Kentucky?” fallen to just 7,300. Abandoned mining facilities described it as a place of “desperation,” a litter the hills and valleys of Central Appalachia, “moribund area,” where the “sheer intractability but the families of those who once worked the of rural poverty” makes it perhaps “the hardest mines remain. place to live in the United States.” To those Last year, I served as a volunteer with Christian who call this region home, however, such tired Appalachian Project (CAP), founded in Eastern characterizations are an ongoing source of Kentucky in 1964 –– the same year that President frustration because they misrepresent the Johnson launched his “War on Poverty.” region as a whole and ignore the very For 50 years, CAP has helped substantial progress made here to provide the kind of relief over the past half-century. and support necessary to In the 1960s, Eastern give people in need in Kentucky was indeed a Eastern Kentucky poster child for rural and other parts of poverty in America. A Appalachia a buffer 1964 article in LIFE against hardships Magazine entitled “The and a foundation Valley of Poverty,” on which to build described the situation: healthy, productive In a lonely valley lives. Of course, CAP in eastern Kentucky, has never claimed to in the heart of the offer the solution to mountainous region Eastern Kentucky’s called Appalachia, live economic woes. an impoverished people Instead, we view our role whose plight has long been of providing relief and ignored by affluent America. support to people in need Their homes are shacks without as both a moral imperative By Ben Self plumbing or sanitation. Their and a means to help create the landscape is a man-made desolation of circumstances in which communities corrugated hills and hollows laced with polluted can flourish and development can occur. streams. The people, themselves — often diseaseWhile many may argue that our model of ridden and unschooled — are without jobs and service should be replaced with a model of even without hope. economic development, the reality is that To the extent that such a depiction was accurate nonprofit human service efforts and economic then, it certainly no longer holds true. Without development enterprises are necessarily engaged a doubt, parts of Eastern Kentucky are still very in a partnership when facing the difficult task of poor relative to the rest of the nation, but relative uplifting distressed communities. That is because to itself, progress has actually been quite dramatic, economic development doesn’t happen in a vacuum. despite outside perceptions to the contrary. The An economy cannot grow if the people do not national poverty rate fell modestly from about 22 have enough to eat, or lack health care services, or percent in 1960 to about 15 percent in 2010. By live in substandard conditions, or lack educational comparison, the average poverty rate in the 54 opportunities, or have no means to rebound from counties that make up Appalachian Kentucky fell family crises or natural disasters. CAP, alongside
THE MOUNTAIN SPIRIT | 50th Anniversary Commemorative Issue Volume 2
