West Alabama: What’s Next?
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From the West Alabama Newsroom– Selma and West Alabama captured the world spotlight last month with the 50th anniversary of the historic Voting Rights marches of 1965.
But now that attention is over and all the crowds are gone leaving the area with all the same old issues to deal with.
High poverty and high unemployment are two of the biggest problems many residents there are facing. So what’s being done to help improve the quality of life for people in who live in West Alabama?
John Clyde Riggs is the executive director of the Alabama Tombigbee Regional Commission.
“Its an interesting area to work in, an area that is rich in resources but has chronic and systemic unemployment issues that have beleaguered us for the last number of years and its a lot of hard work going on trying to alleviate some of the social ills of the poor people in this region,” said Riggs.
We examine the challenges the area faces — as well as the efforts, ideas and projects needed to move the region forward towards a brighter future.
