2001 Annual Report Executive Summary
Pemiscot County Champion Community
The Pemiscot County 21st Century Community Learning Centers Project started June 1, 2001. Caruthersville 18, Hayti R-2, North Pemiscot R-1 and South Pemiscot R-5 offered summer school enrichment activities, credit recovery, and remediation classes for students Kindergarten through the 12th grade. After school tutoring and enrichment classes began at Caruthersville 18, Cooter R-4, Delta C-7, Hayti R-2, North Pemiscot R-1, Pemiscot County R-3, and South Pemiscot R-5 School Districts. The Southeast Missouri Technical Center offered vocational, enrichment, and community education for the adult population. The Technical Center also hosted and provided various training seminars for the 21st Century Community Learning Center staff. A county coordinator was hired in October 2001. Each school site hired a site coordinator to coordinate the activities at each site and work with the county coordinator. In January, the CCLC staff and community volunteers were trained on My Skills Tutor, which is an internet based tutoring program which offers pre-post testing and tutorials in Math, Reading, English, Social Studies, Science and Career Development. Students can log on at home or at school to complete the tutorials at their own pace. Adults can log on and brush up on adult basic skills or career development. In February, an additional School resource Officer was hired to assist with the Dare program and help school sites with violence prevention. In March, the 21CCLC Program began to set up a computerized database system to collect data and track student progress. Also in March, the 21CCLC staff and community volunteers participated in a training regarding the “In My House” curriculum, which is a self-discovery and personal journaling program that covers drug/alcohol prevention, violence prevention, and parent interaction and involvement. We hope to implement the program at the school sites during the summer and fall sessions. In June, we are planning to hire a Parents As Teachers staff person to operate the Family Mobile Resource Van, which will collaborate with the public libraries in Caruthersville, Hayti, and Steele to make books and resources available to students and their parents throughout Pemiscot County. We are currently in the process of establishing a County Advisory Board, consisting of five members from each school site to help us guide the project. Each school site will select an advisory board consisting of a student, parent, teacher, school administrator, and community person. The County Advisory Board will help with each community’s needs assessment, visioning, goal setting, sustainability, and evaluation. Benchmark #10 (First State Bank & Trust) – First State Bancorp Community Development Corporation (CDC) is a subsidiary of the First State Bancorp, Inc. The CDC’s main objective is to purchase, rehabilitate, and sell affordable owner-occupied housing for low and moderate-income people of Pemiscot County allowed under Section 225.25 (b)(6) of Regulation Y of the Federal Reserve Bank. The process of restoring substandard housing to acceptable standards should improve the quality of housing for low and moderate-income residents of Pemiscot County in addition to improving the appearance of our community. To purchase a house under the CDC program, the applicant must be considered low to moderate-income as defined by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has defined low to moderate-income to be eighty percent of the county’s median income. The county median income data is published by the Federal Housing Finance Board. The CDC uses this publication to determine of the applicant’s income is low to moderate. If an applicant qualifies for the program, they may obtain financing (loan) from any source. Financing may be obtained through First State Bank and Trust Company, Inc., Bank of Hayti, Farmers Bank of Portageville or any other financial institution. The CDC is currently seeking alternative financing methods, which would provide low interest rates or down payment assistance for qualifying applicants. However, at the present time only conventional loans are available. These loans normally require a 10% down payment and charge current market interest rates. The CDC has rehabilitated and sold two houses during the last year. The most recent house completed and sold was located at 213 Poplar Avenue in Caruthersville. The house was purchased for $17,500 and approximately $34,500 in improvements was made to the house. In November of 2001, the CDC completed rehabilitation of a house located at 306 East 14th Street in Caruthersville. This house was purchased for $3,048 and approximately $28,000 in improvements was made to the house. The house was sold in November shortly after completion. Benchmark #11 (Kids Count/Health Center) – Pemiscot County improved low birth weight infants from 12.5% to 11.9% (Kids County 2000). Infant mortality rates decreased from 13.5 to 10.3 per 1,000. Benchmark #18 (Caruthersville Water & Sewer) – Department of Natural Resources inspections of the Caruthersville Water & Sewer Systems indicate no areas requiring corrective action. Benchmark #22 (Southern TCRC, UMC Delta Center) – The University of Missouri, Southern TCRC has a two-fold mission. One mission is the education of citizens in the Bootheel Region. The second mission is preparation for disaster with special emphasis on earthquake or flood. Educational opportunity in the Bootheel region is limited. This is evident in the average annual salary, which is little more than ½ the average for the state of Missouri. Income and education level is highly coordinated. The University of Missouri, Southern TCRC is an appropriate way to address the problem of socio-economic inequality existing between urban – rural residence or majority – minority race. Southern TCRC at MU Delta Research Center is devoted primarily to providing computer access and training, degree programs, and meeting places to the surrounding area. Community and civic groups service organizations and scientists meet and teleconference in the TCRC meeting rooms, equipped with state-of-the-art computer and telecommunications equipment. Programs can be categorized in several ways. Credit programs refer to college credit as opposed to non-credit programs. Non-credit programs can be further broken down into continuing education for certification (CEU), meetings, workshops, and training. Students attend programs leading to a certificate or diploma. Telecenters provide focused technical programs including master’s degrees and technology training. Potential audience candidates for programs at the Southern Telecenter have been identified through surveys to determine local needs. Benchmark #23 (Pemiscot County Sheriff Department) – The Pemiscot County Sheriff’s Office in an effort to decrease the crime rate in Pemiscot County has Deputies working twenty-four hours a day. To help educate our children, the Pemiscot County Sheriff’s Office now has two full time School Resource/Dare Officers and they are in every school in Pemiscot County. The crime rate in Pemiscot County, like every other county, is directly related to the drug problem. To reduce our drug problem the Pemiscot County Sheriff’s Office, along with Dunklin County Sheriff’s Office, Caruthersville Police and Kennett Police oversees the Bootheel Task Force, which has six full time drug agents. In addition to this, the Pemiscot County Sheriff’s Office has two deputies, which are assigned to criminal investigation, along with the other members of the department. It is our goal to continue to provide full time coverage of Pemiscot County in each of the areas mentioned. It is our goal to reduce the crime rate in Pemiscot County by continued drug investigation, both covert and overt. It is our goal to continue to educate our children of the dangers involved with drug use. Since February 2002, 1200 people have been arrested and incarcerated in the Pemiscot County Jail; of these arrests 468 were for felony charges. In this same time period, $51,195 in stolen property has been recovered by the Pemiscot County Sheriff’s Office. These figures are only those of the Pemiscot County Sheriff’s Office, it does not include the value of property recovered by other local or state agency in Pemiscot County. Benchmark #25 (Pemiscot County Port Authority) – Business retention and industrial employment throughout the county has been relatively stable despite the state’s economic slump. For example, the loss of 45 jobs with the closing of American Drillbox in Caruthersville has been eased by its confirmed replacement with start-up American Casual Furniture, expanding employment to 60 in 2003. The Port has successfully applied for several grants to improve its infrastructure in the areas of lighting, landscaping, and railroad signals. The Port is contracting with a consultant to seek funding to meet other needs, including marketing, site development planning, and sewer systems. The Port is working with the County to acquire funding to hire an economic developer to write grant applications and to seek businesses and industries to locate in the county and its municipalities. Benchmark #27 (Division of Workforce Development) – We occasionally have employers to tell us that there is a shortage of skilled workers in the area but the primary problem seems to be finding people who will work for the low wages that employers wants to pay. Employers are always saying that no one wants to work anymore. It is hard to get people who are on assistance through Family Services to drop their assistance to take a job paying low wages and some employers cannot afford to offer their employees reasonable medical insurance rates. Benchmark #28 (Kids Count/Juvenile Law) – Juvenile law violation referrals increased from 61.1 to 91.8 per 1,000 (Kids Count 2000). Benchmark #32 (Kids Count//TANF) – Children receiving food stamps increased from 55.9% to 59.9% (Kids Count 2000). Children receiving AFDC/TANF increased from 17.8% to 19.6%.
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