A UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PUBLICATION HELPING THEM THEMSELVES i A J. ''%J 2&v* J/ 1 ffs^g ',>*. i - • m£L^ % . t Cover photographs show how the Economic Development Administration helps citizens create new jobs in their home communities. A publication of the Office of Public Affairs, Economic Development Administration 1972 /EDA 72-59478 HELPING THEM TO HELP THEMSELVES IAY 1972 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Peter G. Peterson, Secretary Robert A. Podesta, Assistant Secretary for Economic Development FOREWORD Each day that a man or woman is out of a job represents a separate defeat for family and community. And so President Nixon has pledged the full powers of the Federal Government to help communities develop all their available resources to stimulate the growth of jobs and incomes. The stories in this booklet detail, in small part, the efforts of a Federal-local partnership to help people in communities of all sizes — from crossroads hamlets and villages to towns and large urban centers. They explain the programs of the Economic Development Administration, which are tailored to uncover the potential for developing jobs which every community must have to stay alive. In some cases, they tell how a professional survey has produced new em- ployment, or how a major new business installation has helped to provide the needed source of work. In others it has been the simple extension of sewer and water facilities that has attracted new industry and jobs. Common to all of the stories is the partnership role played by EDA, which is to help communities to serve their people by creating jobs and raising family incomes locally, which is where the job must be done — "Helping Them To Help Themselves." «. Sj^o-^^7^ ROBERT A. PODESTA Assistant Secretary for Economic Development CONTENTS Page Riceboro, Georgia Producing Paper and Conserving Timber 6 Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington Investing in Diversification 10 Wilson County, North Carolina Long-Term Industrialization 13 Lummi Indian Reservation — Washington Jobs Through Aquaculture 20 Gila River Indian Reservation — Arizona Arts and Crafts Center : 24 Indian Reservations — Alaska, Arizona, Minnesota, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Washington Business Development 25 Crow Indian Reservation — Montana Tourism Boosting Economy 28 Gila River Indian Reservation — Arizona Incomes Up, Welfare Down 30 Indian Intern Program Interns in Industrial Planning 31 Northern Wisconsin Development Center Counseling an Indian Entrepreneur 33 Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation — New Mexico Balanced Tribal Development 34 Reservation Enterprise — Arizona, California, Minnesota, South Dakota Indian Owned and Managed Businesses 37 Indians and Chinese Minority Cultures Creating Jobs 38 Washington County, Maine Regional High School 39 Williamsburg County, South Carolina Regional Manpower Training Center 40 Brooklyn, New York Coffee Company Reusing Incinerator 44 Savoonga, St. Lawrence Island, Alaska Freezer Preserving Walrus Meat 46 Economic Development Council of Northeastern Pennsylvania Reversing Outmigration 48 Minority Contractors — Atlanta, Georgia; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; New Orleans, Louisiana Expanding Minority Construction Operations 51 Pittsburg, Kansas Site Attracts Industrial Plant 52 South Delta Economic Development District, Mississippi Low-Income Housing Aids Storm Victims 53 Anchorage, Alaska Expanding Port and New Business 54 Interracial Council for Business Opportunity Guidance for Minority Businessmen 56 Page Toa Vaca Dam, Puerto Rico Conserving Water for Area Growth 60 West Virginia State Parks Recreation and Job Development 64 Big Sandy River, Virginia and Kentucky Venture in Interstate Travel 66 Hawaii County, Hawaii Water System Boosting Tourism 68 Kinston, North Carolina Opportunities in Rural-Based Industry 69 Ski Resorts and Skiers Building a Growth Industry 70 Crescent City, Del Norte County, California After a Tidal Wave, New Hope 74 Illinois State Regional Crime Laboratory State and Community Cooperation 76 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Retraining Displaced Workers 77 Gallaway, Tennessee Development Corporation's Push for Progress 78 Lake Barkley State Park, Kentucky Attracting Visitors and Revenue 80 Oakland, California Container Shipping Terminal 82 Campton, Wolfe County, Kentucky Jobs in Electronics 84 Breaux Bridge, St. Martin Parish, Louisiana Public Facilities Helping Firms To Grow 85 Washington, D.C. Building a Hotel 85 Homer, Alaska A Community Diversifies 86 Visalia, Tulare County, California New Acres for Industry 90 Nez Perce Indian Reservation — Idaho Skill Counseling and Work-Study Program 90 Washington, D.C. Training Handicapped Children 91 Newark, New Jersey Jobs for Inner-City Unemployed 92 Norwich, Connecticut From Idle Land to Industrial Park 94 Lawton, Carter County, Kentucky Growing Mushrooms in Abandoned Mines 96 Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana Housing for Displaced Farm Workers 97 Placerville, El Dorado County, California Fire-Fighting Role of an Airport 97 Page Big Sandy Economic Development District, Kentucky Implementing High-Priority Projects 98 Catfish Farming Industry Research Ups the Yield 101 Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas A Community Helps Itself 102 Louisa, Lawrence County, Kentucky Mill Employs, Trains Farmers for Industry 103 Coastal Area Economic Development District, Georgia Program for Disadvantaged Youth 103 Arkansas River — Arkansas and Oklahoma Waterway Doubling Regional Growth 104 Minority Business Enterprises Fried Chicken and Trucks 106 New York City, New York Puerto Rican Forum Loans 106 Suring, Oconto County, Wisconsin Advice for a Small Firm 107 Marlin, Texas Reviving a Health Spa 108 Clarksdale, Mississippi; Central Savannah River Area, Georgia Public Service Careers 110 Gloucester, Massachusetts Old Industry, New Jobs Ill Chicago, Illinois Midwest Impact Area 112 Elk River — West Virginia Improving a Town's Water System 112 Puerto Rican Progress Flourishing Commonwealth Industries 113 Sudden-Rise-in-Unemployed Areas Conversion Creating New Jobs 114 Washington County, Maine Rescuing Clam Diggers' Livelihood 118 Harrison, Arkansas Industrial Park and Tourism — Partners in Development 120 Georgia Papermill Makes Economic Growth A Partner in Protecting the Environment -1 in *!>'• . 1 Is <1fc\-7t1S 1 F/SAV /WD FOWL— Many spec/es of waterfowl live on the 650-acre waste- treatment lake maintained by Interstate Paper Corporation at Riceboro, Georgia. Migrating birds use the lake as a stop- over. Stocked with bass and sunfish, the lake provides a popular source of recre- ation for plant employees. Clean Water The late morning sun was hot and bright, casting an intense glare over the green, pinewoods countryside of coastal Georgia. Through the tall grass trudged a burly, heavily tanned man, his back to the water. He held a fishing rod in one hand and a string of hefty bass in the other. "It took me less than an hour to catch these. Last week I came out and caught pretty near a washtubful in no time at all." He stopped and turned toward the water. "There's a lot of fish in there. It's the best piece of freshwater fishing round these parts." He was referring to a 650-acre man- made lake that serves as the third and final stage of a waste-treatment system for a papermill located off U.S. 17 near the little town of Riceboro. The "lake" has a mean depth of 4 feet and a shoreline of about 5 miles. It is the largest waste-treatment facility of its kind in the Southeast. The mill has been in operation for about 7>Vi years. During this time, more than 250 scientists, engineers, techni- cians, and members of the pulp and paper industry have come to inspect the site — particularly those facilities used in the treatment of industrial waste water. "I don't think we're up with the best of them when it comes to cleaning the water we use. We are the best," declares Edward L. Hart, Jr., utilities manager at the plant. He is speaking for the Interstate Paper Corporation, which began producing un- bleached kraft linerboard in March 1968 for use in the manufacture of corrugated containers. The first American papermill was es- tablished in 1690. Rags and linen were the chief materi- als from which paper was made. By the mid-20th century, however, more than 90 percent of paper making fibers were de- rived from wood pulp. The production of paper requires wa- ter — many million gallons of it each day at each plant. The papermaking process pollutes rivers and streams severely if mill effluent is not properly treated. Scientists and environmentalists rank paper manufacturers among leading in- dustrial polluters. However, the trade publication, Pulp & Paper, reports that "expenditures for en- vironmental controls are climbing rapidly and constitute a major, unprecedented fin- ancial and engineering effort." A major innovator in the effective treatment of waste water has been the Interstate Paper Corporation, which op- erates a mill in rural coastal Georgia. Paper isn't the only product at Inter- state. The company has come up with some new answers to longstanding envi- ronmental and conservation problems . . . problems that extend well beyond the boundaries of the pulp and paper industry. Interstate's $27-million plant has been in production for fewer than 4 years. But during this period, the company's concern for economic progress has moved in tandem with its concern for environmental protection — demonstrating that "growth" need not be anathema to a naturalist and that "environment" need not be a stoplight to an industrialist. The Interstate facilities were con- structed and equipped with the aid of a S6-million business loan from the Eco- nomic Development Administration. 1, ■' I ."?..«. ' I'rt I a* .*a* : Interstate Paper is a subsidiary of the Interstate Container Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City and is the largest producer of corrugated con- tainers in the Northeast. Most of the lin- erboard produced at Riceboro is shipped to the parent firm's container plants. Riceboro, located in rural Liberty County, is about 35 miles south of Sa- vannah and 50 miles north of Brunswick — Georgia's major coastal cities and cen- ters for industry, trade, and shipping. The total cost of preparing the site and constructing and equipping the Interstate mill was $27 million. The project was financed in part with a $6-million busi- ness loan approved by the Economic De- velopment Administration in mid-1966. Various phases in the treatment of waste water at the Riceboro plant have been viewed as a prototype, a research and development center, and an example to industry. Interstate Paper was the first in the industry to develop and apply color-re- moval techniques to waste water. These color-removal facilities serve as a demon- stration model in water-pollution control for the Environmental Protection Agency. The Interstate color-removal process represents a significant technological ad- vance. Some scientists believe that when color in paper mill effluent is allowed to enter a stream, it hinders the natural process of photosynthesis — a process es- sential to plant and animal life. There is also a suspicion that the color bodies themselves can cause direct harm to aquatic life. What is certain, however, is that the color-removal process also preconditions the effluent for more efficient application of the later stages of the Interstate waste- treatment process. The waste-treatment process at Inter- state consists basically of three steps: ( 1 ) Color removal — Waste from the mill is mixed with hydrated lime (lime chemically combined with water). The lime interacts with the color in the waste water or effluent; coagulation results, forming minute particles of color. (2) Primary treatment — After coagu- lation takes place in the color-removal process, the effluent flows into a settling tank called a clarifier, where the color WASTE TO WATER — Charles L. Davis, director of environmental protection at Interstate Paper, looks over part of the extensive equipment used to treat mill effluent. particles and sludge (consisting of other waste solids) settle. At this stage, the solid wastes are removed and pumped into two 20-acre lagoons for drying and storage. (3) Secondary treatment — Clear over- flow from the primary clarifier is chan- neled into the 650-acre stabilization lake. This is also referred to as an oxidation lake, because sufficient oxygen must reen- ter the effluent to transform it and make biological stabilization possible, that is, to make the water "whole" or biologically complete again, the way it was before it was used for the manufacture of paper. (Waste is an oxygen-demanding sub- stance, and when it is uncontrolled it takes from the water the oxygen needed to sustain fish and other forms of aquatic life. But if the proper amount of oxygen is returned to the water, two things hap- pen: The waste is literally consumed by certain types of bacteria, and a natural life-supporting cycle is restored to the water.) The effluent is stored in the lake for at least 90 days to allow for complete reox- ygenization and biological stabilization before release into the receiving stream. Interstate's waste-treatment process has proved so effective that treated effluent from the mill appears clearer to the eye than the water of the receiving stream — Riceboro Creek — a narrow tributary that flows into the North Newport River less than a mile from the stabilization lake. The North Newport empties into St. Catherine's Sound off the Georgia coast below the millsite, a distance of less than 25 miles. The Georgia Water Quality Control Board placed unprecedentedly high standards on the company when it granted a permit in 1966 to construct the mill. The action was taken to protect the marine life in the tidal waters of the North Newport River and St. Catherine's Sound. Howard D. Epstein, president of Inter- state Paper, assured the Water Board that year: "Our performance and history will in- dicate to you that when we locate in a community we are there for the long haul. . . . We expect to remain in Rice- boro for our lifetime. Our company is entirely in sympathy with the aims of your board. . . . "At the beginning of this project, I instructed our own employees, our engi- neering firm, and our consultants that when designing the system for the treat- ment of our wastes, they observe not only the letter of the laws of Georgia and the community, but the spirit of the law as well." The University of Georgia Marine In- stitute at Sapelo Island recently con- cluded a study that indicates that Inter- i i . ., . , — . ntr i t . »;)i< ! w»»r i. »iliyro