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Center to hold major
conference on setting Agenda for Better South
More than three dozen thinkers to
meet over weekend at Davidson College
NOV.
4, 2009 - More than three dozen thinkers from across the South will
gather Saturday for a two-day conference to develop an "Agenda
for a Better South" that seeks to inspire Southern leaders
to move the region forward.
"In
our increasingly partisan and media-saturated world of small soundbites
for big problems, it's often hard for elected and appointed officials,
and other leaders to make serious inquiries and give thoughtful
consideration to big problems facing the South," said Andy
Brack, president of the Center for a Better South. "Instead,
they often have to put out the fires of immediate problems rather
than finding solutions for decades-old challenges.
"By
crafting this new Agenda for a Better South, we will highlight for
our leaders that public policy matters … and that they can
make significant progress for the future by focusing on the big
picture for each state."
To
help the invited participants get better prepared for the conference,
which opens Friday with a reception and begins Saturday morning
on the campus of Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., the Center
has published a 70-page Briefing Book filled with data on 55 indicators
of information about each Southern state. Former Louisiana Gov.
Kathleen Blanco used the Briefing Book as a foundation for an Oct.
24 commentary in HoumaToday.com.
Brack
said the reason for developing a written agenda was to inspire legislators
and thinkers in Southern states to move forward in new ways that
would help people who lived in the region - much like President
John Kennedy motivated the nation to put a man on the moon in the
1960s.
"Rather
than continuing to debate worn proposals, we believe Southern leaders
should take a broader view to work on the real problems that ensure
progress across the region - getting better jobs, improving education,
bettering health care, protecting the environment and curbing multiple
conditions created by generational poverty," Brack said.
The
Center is expected to release proposals from the conference next
week.
The Center for a Better South is a pragmatic, nonpartisan
think tank dedicated to developing progressive ideas, policies and
information for thinking leaders who want to make a difference in
the American South.
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