Robeson's assets.

• Author: Yost, Steve
• Position: Readers Write - Letter to the editor

In my two-plus decades as an economic-development professional, I've seen much. But never have I read an analysis of a county's job-growth strategies distilled to an appeal to Santa Claus (cover story, September). A more useful take on how to advance Robeson County's economy might be based on tapping its best but most underutilized asset: its people. The county's diversity should be celebrated as a rare opportunity, not lamented as an obstacle. In spanning demographic differences, there are synergies to be gained that can bring a collaborative and creative dimension to a business community that more-homogenous locations cannot match. Highly diverse states like California and Texas demonstrate this every day, as do dynamic cities such as Denver and Miami. What partially holds Robeson County back right now is the same challenge that holds other communities back--many of its residents are under-deployed (i.e., 10.1% unemployment rate), under-prepared (as many as 20% functionally illiterate) and un-empowered (three in 10 children growing up in poverty). We have worked with Robeson County and witnessed its vision, planning and hard work in building back from the massive textile job losses triggered by globalization. In recent years, Robeson's leadership has recruited more than a thousand new jobs and nearly $100 million in private investment through proactive economic-development strategies. It has made strong improvements to the county's inventory of "hard" assets: industry-ready properties, interstate highways, natural-gas pipelines, high-speed fiber, etc. Now there must be equal...