Lake City, Tenn. (Monday, March 15) – Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM) – Tennessee’s only member-run social justice organization - is proud to announce that member David Beaty, Fentress County, Tenn., will represent SOCM during the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and USDA Rural Development’s Listening Sessions, delivering a message shaped by public comment. The sessions are designed to gather opinions from local stakeholders on economic and community development challenges and opportunities.

Beaty was one of only 300 people chosen to attend the four listening sessions scheduled for 2010 by the Appalachian Regional Development Initiative. He will take part in the event tomorrow (Tuesday, March 16) in Marion, N.C.
 
 “The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) was created to bring Appalachia out of poverty,” said Beaty, Chair of SOCM’s Green-Collar Jobs Committee. “They must now focus on the most distressed rural areas. Now is the time for ARC to do their job, and put our nation’s stimulus money where it’s needed most. I won’t be taking this event lightly, as it’s an opportunity for the Commission to hear from Tennesseans and their message will be delivered loud and clear.”
 
Beaty will act as a resource during the March 16 listening session, offering ideas for challenges and solutions that are facing Appalachia, and specifically Tennessee. Although Beaty has been dissatisfied with the ARC’s work in the past, largely leaving many of the in-need Appalachian counties it was created to serve with unmet needs, he is pleased with this new opportunity to influence progress. He will ask for an increase in federal stimulus funds to encourage green-collar jobs, which provide a living wage for residents. SOCM is currently accepting public comment to help shape Beaty’s message. Comments can be sent to .
 
“Never before in my lifetime have I seen an opportunity so great for us as a nation to improve our lives and secure our future as we have now,” said Beaty. “The stimulus money that is available creates opportunity to grow alternative energy use and much-needed jobs.”SOCM defines green-collar jobs as “family-supporting jobs with workers’ rights, which strengthen communities and provide pathways out of poverty and an equitable, sustainable clean energy economy.” The group will host a tour of green-collar jobs in each region of Tennessee in April 2010.
 
The Appalachian Regional Development Initiative is an interagency effort launched to diversify and strengthen the Appalachian regional economy. The Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and USDA Rural Development are leading this initiative, in cooperation with the White House Council on Environmental Quality and many other federal agencies. Find a list of counties served by the ARC here, http://www.arc.gov/counties.
 
For additional information about the listening sessions, contact Paula Lovett, Director of Community Development Grants and Loans for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development at 615.741.6201, 615-253-1895 or email . For a schedule of the listening sessions and additional information, visit http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=95c5037b-6c88-488a-9cab-dea2c24594c4.
 
 
###