A list of Georgia counties eligible to receive benefits from Senate bill (there may be others, now) are as follows: Project Progress was conceived as a means of determining what steps need to be taken to stimulate economic development in the many counties in Georgia which have suffered population, employment and other losses. In effect, the project's product was intended to be a blueprint for the development of these areas. Initiated in July 1960 by this committee under the sponsorship of the Georgia Municipal Association in cooperation with the Senate Government Operations Committee the project was designed to eventually put economically hard pressed counties back on a sound footing, if possible. Project Progress was made public on July 28, 1960, by Lt. Gov. Garland T. Byrd in an address to the annual convention of the Georgia Municipal Association. Since that time the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia accepted a general invitation to cosponsor the program. ACTION TAKEN At the very beginning agencies concerned with industrial and economic development were called in and became an integral part of Project Progress. Rep resentatives from the State department of commerce, Georgia Tech's Industrial Development Branch, the State chamber of commerce, the department of education, the Georgia Power Co. Area Development Division, and various units of the University of Georgia worked with the committee throughout the more than 4 months the study was being carried out. Six counties were selected as typical of the many which need new payrolls: Washington, Hancock, and Greene, in the east-central part of the State, and Dooly, Macon, and Taylor in the west-central part. Representatives of the participating agencies conferred with business and political leaders in each county to secure information about economic conditions and existing development programs. Each county was given suggestions or recommendations by each participating agency as it saw fit as to specific steps which might be taken to put them in a better position to develop their known potentials. Representatives of the participating agencies held as many as six planning and programing meetings with local leaders to follow up the initial conference. In e cases action programs were quickly initiated on problems of major im there portance. For example, in Macon County, Montezuma took steps to add waste As this report is being drafted, each participating agency is proceeding independently to provide whatever assistance it can toward the solution of existing problems and toward the more effective development of each county's resources. An example is the contract which Washington County has signed with Georgia Tech for research and technical assistance in industrial development. Through the contracted work, Sandersville and Tennille will be made "model" or "demonstration" towns in a project which is designed to carry both communities step by step through an industrial development program over the 3- to 5-year period. The entire area is expected to benefit from the new economic growth which is the project's aim. COMMITTEE FINDINGS The following findings stand out from the many conferences and factfinding sessions: (1) The changing nature and increasing efficiency of agriculture has released large numbers of farmworkers in the six counties, as is generally true throughout the State. Unfortunately, new jobs have not been created rapidly enough to keep either these farmworkers or high school and college graduates in their home counties. As a result, hundreds of persons have been forced to migrate to large cities or out of the State to find suitable employment. (2) A primary reason for the participating counties' failure to attract new payrolls rapidly enough to stimulate healthy growth has been a lack of information about their resources. Until a thorough audit and analysis of the economic resources of each county has been completed, local development groups will continue to be forced to try to attract industrial prospects with a meagerly stocked "sales kit." With competition for new plants becoming keener year by year, this lack of information is becoming a steadily increasing handicap. (3) A second major handicap experienced by each of the counties is the lack of technical assistance needed to carry out an effective development program. Technical help is needed not only in the programing of local development efforts and in the auditing of industrial resources, but also in the promotion or selling of any advantages found to exist locally. An adequate technical assistance program exists at the present time only in agriculture. (4) Industrial arts and industrial vocational training are virtually nonexistent in the six counties, despite the fact that such training is often essential to attract new payrolls. Unless strong industrial training programs can be provided it is certain that some companies which might otherwise be attracted to the six counties and to others similarly deficient-will go to some other location where they can find labor which is better prepared to work in manufacturing plants. Since more Georgians are employed in manufacturing than in any other occupation, this need is much more acute than has generally been recognized. (5) Comprehensive agricultural programs, based on more than a quarter of a century's experience, are already in effect in each county. County farm and home program development committees, assisted by agricultural workers armed with research results and guidelines provided by a strong State extension service program, have assayed the situation and outlined agricultural goals and potentials over a 5-year period.), (6) The "model" or "demonstration" town project initiated in Washington County by Georgia Tech's Industrial Development Branch in November app to offer one excellent means of carrying the work of Project Progress forward in a practical and productive manner. It offers a means both of assessing local resources and of providing technical assistance needed for the design and implementation of action programs. By requiring 50 percent local financing it assures continuing local interest and support. It does not, however, provide a means for promoting the resources and potentials which may be found to exist in Washington County. (7) A strong promotional program will be required to enable Georgia counties to compete, once they know their assets and are fully prepared to pursue new payrolls. While this might be done to a limited extent with local resources, it appears more logical to have promotional efforts concentrated in a broadened program in the Department of Commerce. (8) A total of 68 counties actually lost manufacturing employment during the period 1947 through 1958-a finding which we found not only surprising but appalling. This single fact dramatizes the importance of vigorous action to implement our recommendations. The steadily increasing competition already referred to simply underscores the importance of taking early action to prevent even more counties from losing out in the race for new payrolls. It should be noted also that 19 additional counties each had a manufacturing employment gain of less than 100 workers-with the annual average ranging from less than 1 to less than 9 per year. These counties also must be considered to be in urgent need of technical assistance. Together they constitute 55 percent of the counties in the State. (9) Even more discouraging in some ways are these additional statistics on the State's industrial growth: (a) Only three counties-Cobb, DeKalb, and Fulton-had more than 35 percent of the total manufacturing employment gain during the 11-year period from 1947 through 1958; (b) More than 50 percent of the State's gain was concentrated in only seven counties; (c) Only 15 counties had over 66 percent of the total gain; and (d) Seventy-five percent of the total was shared by only 31 counties. To summarize briefly, most local development groups need as wide a range of technical services in the industrial field as Georgia's farmers are accustomed to receiving in the field of agriculture. Among the specific problems which require technical help are the identification and evaluation of industrial sites, the planning of industrial districts, the collection and analysis of resource data, the evaluation of each county's best industrial potentials, the analysis of manpower resources, and many others. In most cases local development groups find it impossible to do a good selling job on the rare occasion when they do encounter industrial prospects for the simple reason that they do not know what they have to offer that might be of value to the industrialist. In addition, they need instruction in the various techniques that can be used to make an effective presentation when they do have an opportunity to talk to a legitimate prospect. In those counties where good prospects exist for the development of the tourist industry, assistance is also needed. The planning of adequate accommodations is only one of several aspects of tourism which need attention. The committee selected the six counties in two groups of three counties each, in order that problems of economy, population loss, etc., might be considered on an areas basis. Considering the magnitude of the job of auditing the potential, blueprinting a program of development and carrying it through to a practical conclusion, the committee was limited in the number of counties to be brought into Project Progress at this time. However, experience in these six counties will benefit other counties. This experience will point out general problems, needs, and solutions which can be used to help other areas with their own problems and opportunities. This is true, especially, if funds and personnel permit expansion of needed economic development resources within the State. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS More than 4 months have been spent through Project Progress in studying means of putting the State's economically hard-pressed counties back on a sound footing. Six counties, Washington, Hancock, Greene, Dooly, Macon, and Taylor were selected as being typical of the many which badly need more and new payrolls. The State department of commerce, the State chamber of commerce, |