Once this class of Blackburn student fellows was selected we all went on a day retreat to get to know each other. We went and spent one day at Camp Tuscoba. It is a retreat center in North Port located on a small lake, Lake Tuscoba. I would have never known this was around if it weren't for the retreat! It is a very small camp, but they have a ropes course with 2 different spider's webs and the 12ft. wall, along with others. They also have a gym/ retreat center with kitchen and a grill. It is a really cute, secluded camp.
Ok so since this whole blog project is suppose to make us talk about local issues I thought I would let you in on some local stats. As a part of the Blackburn Institute, all the new fellows had to take a class one night, Alabama 101, where we learned as much as we could about our state in 3 hours. Here are some things you might find interesting....think about them for a while!
- there are about 4.6 million people in Alabama
- that is a 3.4% increase from the census in 2000
- 24% are under 18
- 13.4% are over 65
- 19% have a college degree
- about 70% have a high school degree
- 1 million are considered disabled
- per capita is $18,200
- 16% are below poverty line
- in the Black Belt, half of the population over 25 didn't graduate from High School
These are just a few statistics that we were given that night! I hope that opens your eyes just a little bit! We are all lucky that we are here getting our college degree, which is a minority in this state! Thinking locally is a lot more important than we think! It is only with local knowledge that we can make changes for the better...and as you can see our "local" needs a lot of work.
2 comments:
My roommate was telling me about the engineering department going out to encourage high schoolers to enter the engineering field and apparently most of the places the students from the University of Alabama are going to are in the black belt. I don't know how I managed to never hear of this place but I was shocked to find out that a section of our state was considered the lowest poverty level in the United States.
Yes....it is very sad!! If you would like I have a map of all the counties that are considered apart of the black belt but i do know that Montgomery is a part of that....but i dont remember off the top of my head how far south it goes, but Montgomery is part of the northern section of the black belt!
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