I'm Wayne White with the Ohio Appalachian Center for Higher Education, often referred to as OACHE. OACHE is a consortium of ten public colleges and universities serving the Ohio Appalachian region with a mission to increase the college-going rate.
This mission closely correlates with the first listed goal of ARC's Strategic Plan "Appalachian residents will have the skills and knowledge necessary to compete in the world economy in the 21st Century." The catalyst for the formation of OACHE was a comment from famous restaurateur and then-member of the Ohio Board of Regents Bob Evans. In 1990 he commented to Dr. Clive Veri, President of Shawnee State University that the college presidents in the 29 county Ohio Appalachian region needed to do something about our children not participating in college.
Acting on that comment, the college presidents, Ohio legislators, the Chancellor of the Board of Regents and Bob Evans met to discuss the problem. From these discussions came funding for a study that would accurately determine the college-going rate and, importantly, identify the barriers to participation in post secondary education. The results of that research have become known as the Access and Success study.
As we all know, Appalachians are proud, patriotic, hardworking, honest individuals. However, these attributes are not sufficient for Appalachians to fully participate in the current economic growth our country is experiencing. In today's fast-paced and technology-driven economy, advanced skills and a lifelong commitment to training are essential to secure and keep a meaningful, living-wage job. As Bob Evans so eloquently puts it, "The days are gone when hard work alone will get you there." To help our citizens free themselves from the vicious cycle of poverty, unemployment and underemployment, we must address the issue of educational attainment. To that end, the Access and Success study forces us to reflect on some disturbing facts:
The college-going rate in Ohio Appalachia was estimated at 30% compared to the state average of 41% and the national average of 62%. Barriers delineated in the study include:
1. Poverty
2. Lack of role models (only 8.8% of Ohio Appalachian adults over age 25 have a 4-year college degree compared to nearly 23% nationally).
3. Lack of knowledge about college, including cost. (When asked to estimate the cost of college the subjects responded with figures twice as high as the actual cost.)
4. Availability of living-wage blue-collar jobs in the past that did not require high educational attainment.
5. But the primary barrier to college participation by Appalachians and probably others living in impoverished areas in our country is low self-esteem. Our students have academic ability--they just don't know it! Only 29% of seniors rate themselves above average compared to 58% nationally. (These figures correspond closely to the college going rate of 30% for the region and 60% for the nation.)
The low levels of educational attainment in Ohio Appalachia are linked to the region's chronic and severe economic distress. The trend in living-wage employment over the last several decades has turned away from blue-collar jobs and toward higher-skill jobs, especially those involving technology. Unfortunately, a high percentage of those Ohio Appalachian students who are not college-bound lack the advanced skills required by today's increasingly technology-oriented employers.
Not surprisingly, unemployment in Ohio Appalachia is higher than for the state as a whole. Virtually the entire area suffers from unemployment rates well above the state (4.1 percent) and national averages (4.0 percent for both, as of June 2000). All nine Ohio counties with the highest unemployment in June 2000 were Appalachian counties, and four reported unemployment rates at or over 10 percent.
Unemployment figures along under-represent the extent of economic hardship truly experienced in the region. Virtually all the region's net job growth over the last two decades has occurred in the services and retail-trade sectors of the economy; these jobs typically pay low wages and/or are part-time positions offering few or no benefits. Therefore, major declines in unemployment during economic recovery periods of the 1980s and 1990s have not led to comparable reductions in economic distress. Instead they have merely increased the number of working poor. According to 1995 poverty estimates, Ohio Appalachia is now poorer than it was two decades ago.
For Ohio Appalachia, which lags behind the rest of the state in all economic and educational indices, it is clear that increased access to affordable higher education is a critical precondition to breaking the cycle of poverty, unemployment and underemployment that plagues the region.
The socioeconomic picture is no better in other parts of the 13-state Appalachian region. A recent New York Times article run on July 27, 2000 noted that, "with the national economy bubbling along, soaking up workers and spreading wealth, much of Appalachia live not only with poverty and unemployment but also with the humiliation of being taken for ignorant." This article notes that low educational attainment not only impacts the individual but also represents a huge reservoir of potential workforce talent that is tragically going to waste.
The article also points out that social programs born in the 1960s focused on supporting the needy at subsistence levels, making laudable efforts to feed, clothe, nurse and shelter the destitute and disenfranchised in what is otherwise the richest nation on earth. But critics say these programs have also, in many cases, institutionalized illiteracy, dependency on welfare and a low standard of living.
Bob Evans would be quick to tell you that in his 82 years he has seen many different development and social initiatives come and go. Yet the fact is, few have ever really worked. When things don't work, Bob would say, you pull out the directions. And the directions say we need to provide people with education, and to help them take advantage of that education we need to help them overcome the barriers they face in getting that education.
In an effort to address such challenges the OACHE was established by the Ohio General Assembly in 1993 with just that approach in mind. The OACHE immediately began addressing the Access and Success barriers through programs in member institutions and, on a competitive basis, in partner public schools. The results have been better than perhaps anyone envisioned.
Using the Access and Success study as the guide, schools were invited to submit to the OACHE Board of Directors a proposal of how they could best address the barriers with a $10,000 project. To date, 79 projects have been sponsored and they have averaged increasing the rate 20% the first year and 34% the first two years combined. Let me mention the impact of a few partner school projects, all of which are administered by unpaid coordinators at the local level (an "*" indicates a funded year).
Newcomerstown High School was one of the first partner school projects funded by the OACHE. Before the grant Newcomerstown's college-going rate was 28%.
Newcomerstown 28% - 45%* - 56%* - 72%* - 56%* - 58% - 80%
Vocational schools have historically had an even lower college participation rate. Swiss Hills, in distressed Monroe County, has proven such does not need to be case.
Swiss Hills Vocational 21% - 17% - 31% - 28% - 51%* - 57%*
And Southern Local along the Ohio River in distressed Meigs County is now exceeding the state and national average.
Southern (Meigs) 61% - 59% - 58% - 73% - 84%* - 82%*- 89%*
Portsmouth East is a good example of a partner school achieving immediate results.
Portsmouth East 35% - 39% - 33% - 29% - 55%* - 70%*
Perhaps Bob Evans, in an article published by ARC in its Appalachia magazine, best summed up the results of these projects. Bob said, "I can't believe all this has happened. I never thought that just a few years we could encourage so many Ohio Appalachians to go to college."
In addition to sponsoring very successful partner school projects, OACHE has parlayed its state funds into additional dollars to address low educational attainment in the region. The ARC has been one of many public, private and not-for-profit partners in the OACHE's efforts:
1. With two ARC grants totaling $126,400, the OACHE leveraged additional grant funds from Ameritech, the Honeywell Foundation, GTE and the Ohio Board of Regents to plan and pursue implementation of a compressed-video network linking OACHE member institutions across the 29-county region. These additional grants total nearly $582,000, more than 4.5 times the original ARC investment. I am pleased to report that, with ARC as the catalyst and with the efforts of the presidents of the member institutions and OACHE staff, this project has come to fruition; this unique multi-institutional network will be operational in the fall 2000 academic year to increase access to higher education across the region.
2. In 1994 OACHE successfully competed for an Educational Opportunity Center. (A U.S. Department of Education TRIO program) This program provides assistance to low-income first generation adults in their desire to enter or reenter college.
3. With support from the Thomas L. Conlan Educational Foundation, Ameritech, and other partners, OACHE recently won a five-year, $2,060,000 federal GEAR UP grant.
4. Something that is very exciting is the decision of the Community Colleges of Appalachia to promote OACHE-like centers. The first such center, the North Central Appalachian Center for Higher Education (NCACHE) at Bluefield State College, opened in fall 1998. And yes, the ARC financially supports these projects.
5. Following the success of the NCACHE, the ARC again stepped up to create more OACHE-like centers throughout the rest of the 13-state region. In February 2000, the governors of the 13 states, led by Governors Taft and Underwood, voted to replicate the OACHE model with the use of challenge grants. The OACHE and NCACHE have worked closely with the ARC to establish the new program and choose the first grantees, which will open their doors in fall 2000.
The ARC has demonstrated its commitment to Ohio Appalachia in other ways besides its two grants to the OACHE. ARC Federal Co-Chairman Jesse White addressed the OACHE's Second Annual Conference in 1995, and subsequently informed us that the OACHE had inspired him to stress the importance of education in the ARC Strategic Plan; as you may know, education is the #1-listed goal in the plan.
Since that time we've also been honored to have Cari Morningstar and Jack Russell address our OACHE Conferences. And the Governor's Office of Appalachia, Ohio's liaison between the ARC and the Governor of Ohio, has been an integral partner with the OACHE in conferences and other initiatives for many years.
I would like to add that the highest-ranking educator in the free world, U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, traveled to Portsmouth to address the fifth annual conference. His personal participation was so uplifting to educators, and more importantly, to students of the region. It brought a loud and clear message, that children who happen to live in property poor areas are important too!
In closing, the OACHE strongly supports the ARC as a vital player in the socioeconomic development of Ohio Appalachia. Like the OACHE, the ARC's efforts go beyond providing for subsistence needs to building capacity that will enable our citizens to help themselves. As you have seen from my testimony and that of my fine colleagues who are here before you today, the needs in Ohio Appalachia are numerous and daunting. As a region and state, we certainly could not have accomplished what we have without the resources that the ARC has invested in our people and infrastructure.
But much more remains to be done. As the ARC Federal Co-Chairman himself has said, we look forward to the day when the ARC will no longer be needed, but that day is not yet in sight. Until then, we have a challenging and important job ahead of us. The continued partnership of the ARC will be instrumental in helping us reach that point.
Senator Voinovich, I would like to thank you, your staff, and your colleagues for conducting this hearing and for providing me an opportunity to inform you of the OACHE, on behalf of the presidents of the ten colleges that comprise the OACHE consortium, the many educators who work so diligently to assist students along a path that will lead them from poverty, but I want to thank you especially for the children of the region.