Editor’s Notes: Just out of reach
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Whoever wrote the Appalachian Regional Commission's report "Classifying Economic Distress in Appalachian Counties" for fiscal year 2026 declares that ours is "a region of great opportunity," while reminding readers of the agency's mission to help Appalachia achieve socioeconomic parity with the rest of the country.
But, because as we all know bureaucracy too often exists to serve itself, the intro to the report fails to mention the agency has been puttering toward and away from parity for 60 years.
In fact, there are considerable chunks of Appalachia that are much worse off than they were in 1965. The report notes there are pockets where challenges such as economic transition in coal communities and the substance abuse crisis have limited progress.
One can't help but wonder how different the agency's efforts might have been if, back in 1965 or even 1975, the folks in Washington, D.C., hadn't placed their own labels and restrictions on what Appalachia could be and instead taken a REAL "all of the above" approach to helping us lift ourselves economically. Would the substance abuse epidemic have ever taken hold the way it did if our quality of life hadn't been so badly damaged by constant urging to look backward for our economic, social, cultural and educational cues?
We'll never know, of course.
But here we are, in the present, with the kind of data the ARC loves to churn out, telling us that of the 423 counties in the region, 75 are still labeled distressed, 90 are at-risk, 240 are transitional, 14 are competitive and only four -- FOUR! -- have reached "attainment." Those are in Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.
On the county map provided with the report, the distressed counties are a deep red. Guess where the giant blotch of red, distressed counties is. Kentucky, West Virginia, southeast Ohio and a cluster in Mississippi. (There are a few individuals scattered in other states).
"Distressed counties are the most economically depressed counties. They rank in the worst 10% of the nation's counties," the report says.
Further, some of the counties labeled at-risk or transitional have distressed areas -- census tracts with a median family income no greater than 67% of the U.S. average and a poverty rate 150% of the U.S. average or greater.
Locally, the map shows Calhoun County as distressed, Doddridge County as transitional with no distressed areas, Gilmer County at-risk with no distressed areas, Jackson County at-risk with one distressed area, Pleasants County transitional with no distressed areas, Ritchie County at-risk with two distressed areas, Roane County distressed, Tyler County at-risk with no distressed areas, Wetzel County at-risk with two distressed areas and Wood County transitional, but with SIX distressed areas.
On the Ohio side, Athens County is at-risk with three distressed areas, Meigs County is distressed, Monroe County is at-risk with one distressed area, Morgan County is at-risk with no distressed areas and Noble County is at-risk.
Counties considered competitive or having reached attainment were in shades of blue on the map. They are few and far between -- again, after six decades only about 0.95% of the counties in the ARC's jurisdiction have met the goal it set.
"Every year, ARC applies an index-based classification system to compare each county in Appalachia with national averages to understand how counties are performing. ...
"The designations are also used to determine the match requirements for ARC grants, as well as research topics and investment strategies targeting resources to the region's most distressed areas," the report's author wrote.
That sounds a lot like throwing money at a problem and not even really hoping it will go away.
In the agency's FY 2024 Performance and Accountability Report (the most recent one available on its website), Gayle Manchin, federal co-chair and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, states' co-chair, wrote about a strategic plan to "strengthen and diversify the region's economy," "expand and strengthen community systems," "ensure that the residents and businesses of Appalachia have access to reliable, affordable, resilient, and energy-efficient utilities and infrastructure," strengthen Appalachia's community and economic development potential" and "invest in the capacity of local leaders, organizations, and communities to address local challenges."
For that year, the pair wrote, "The achievements reported here contribute significantly toward ARC's mission of helping the Appalachian Region attain socioeconomic parity with the nation."
According to the map in that report (it has 95 pages), only four counties had met attainment that year, too.
So where's the disconnect? Surely most of the more-than 100 people working for the ARC have their hearts in the right place and believe they are working toward a goal that is older than most of them are. Why aren't we getting there? Who's researching THAT?
Since its inception, the program says it has funded more than 34,000 economic development projects and invested more than $6 billion in the region, with that being matched by more than $12 billion in federal, state and local funding. What's missing? And what has the generational pattern of the loss of large employers and perpetual economic development challenges meant to the communities -- distressed, at-risk or otherwise -- in our region?
Year after year, decade after decade the ARC and other government entities assure us, we're almost there -- we're headed in the right direction. It's time those of us living in Appalachia took the wheel and figured out how to keep "MOVing Forward."
Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com