Glendora:  Living On Its Own
A town pulling itself up by the bootstraps    If he gets paid at all, "Johnny B" Thomas gets paid last when the money comes in at the end of the month.  But the director of the Glendora Economic and Community Development Corporation and mayor of Glendora, Mississippi, works as hard in the sweet potato fields as anybody else.  This fall's harvest has yielded a good first crop for Glendora, although it was planted late due to lack of funds.
   Since 1982 the Glendora CDC has worked to save this Delta community of 330 where 74.1% of the people live in poverty.  The typical resident has less than a ninth grade education and travels 60+ miles to work in a casino, chicken factory or catfish plant.
   The CDC has had some triumphs: improved housing, a library, a community center, a summer camp for 59 kids, a daycare for 35 children with a long waiting list, a food pantry, and grants for water, sewer, and street improvement projects.  However, local jobs remain scarce.  "We need to employ our people at home in Glendora," says Mayor Thomas.
   Alternative crops such as sweet potatoes and greens are well suited to Glendora, according to Jesse Harness of the Alcorn State University Cooperative Extension program.  And growing potatoes has already produced new jobs for the community.
   Ohio-based distributor, Glory Foods, will purchase Glendora's potato crop and market it to outlets such as Albertson's and Wal-Mart.   The CDC plans to harvest 65 acres this year and 150 acres in 2000.  "We are also looking at producing sweet potato chips, frozen patties, maybe even a new cereal," says Thomas, who despite his vision and determination directs all credit to hard-working staff and volunteers.
   Glendora CDC hopes to purchase 500 acres for new crops and related industries that will boost the town's economy.  Mayor Thomas sees the Glendora of the future as "a community that has pulled itself up by its bootstraps, that is living on its own, without having to beg all the time - a community that has created its own sustainability."
   But capital for rejuvenating a town left high and dry by the mechanization of agriculture has to come from somewhere.
   "I heard about ECD when I took Fast Trac," says Thomas.  ECD's Fast Trac entrepreneurial training program teaches business skills and makes loans available to its graduates.  ECD made a working capital loan to Glendora CDC to finance the sweet potato project, and, in addition to technical assistance, Alcorn provided funding for operating support.
   "In this case," says ECD's Ray Williams, who worked with the CDC, "ECD is helping an entire community, not just one business.  The people of Glendora are using their only resources, abundant land and labor, to develop a better economy."
   "We can succeed with ECD's help," says Mayor Thomas, as he hurries back to the fields to help with the last of the sweet potato harvest. Back