Recently we have inaugurated a series of conversations in the greater Allegany County locale of the Empire State with various organizations and institutions that comprise central elements of the private sector and governmental components of this rural locale of New York state’s “western tier.”

It is this region of the state that more so than any other, is imprisoned in a state of impoverishment that continues to deepen and intensify and is thus the primary cause of enormous suffering and despair in which so many residents are ensnared.

The initial response among so many of these individuals has been uniformly positive and encouraging in support of the establishment within this segment of the state among these destitute rural areas, of a strategic initiative/paradigm/process to eradicate poverty in these geographical precincts.

It is our intent  utilizing the primary vehicle of  creating for-profit community-based commercial enterprises in these vicinities, that are both managed by and employ those residents of these districts, that shall provide the products and services to such nonprofit anchor institutions as universities, health-care centers, county, regional and state governments, philanthropic entities, as well as significant members of the private sector in this region, required to sustain their annual operations.

As the annual stream of revenue/profits expands as these enterprises augment their capabilities to provide ever-increasing magnitudes of those products and services to these nonprofit and private sector organizations, the strategic plan which the residents in these sovereignties have formulated shall guide the deployment of the funds received to embark upon and sustain the comprehensive, systematic, and maximally feasible cost-effective dynamic, of converting these areas in the anticipated ten year term into vibrant middle-class communities, with all which that economic reality presupposes regarding the quality of life.

It is my hope that various activities which are currently transpiring under the aegis of Alfred State College shall succeed in their efforts to enhance the attractiveness of this area to commercial enterprises, that as a result may choose to either locate or expand their current operations in this vicinity. The agenda which Craig Clark is administering in the implementation of his economic development plan will be of substantial benefit to those who both live and are employed in this region.

It is our intention vis a vis our strategic exertions to complement and broaden these endeavors, and more fully integrate and involve the participation of those residents whose lives are composed of great despair and idleness, and who as a result of the absence of employment opportunities have been deprived of the capability to be self-supporting.

Commencing in this time frame i.e. the spring of 2017 it is our intent between this date and the autumn of 2017, when I shall begin a brief period of residency on the campus of my alma mater, Alfred University, as that institution’s initial “Activist in Residence”, to formally create a coalition of those individuals and institutions who shall commit to allocate their energy and expertise in the service of eradicating poverty in these rural areas of the Empire state.

This entity shall remain engaged in this involvement throughout the decade which we anticipate shall be required utilizing the modus operandi I have delineated, to accomplish this noble and imperative moral undertaking.

This audacious experiment in social and economic innovation shall also serve another purpose beyond the benefits it confers upon those who reside in these towns and enclaves. it shall simultaneously demonstrate to those rural areas throughout this nation that a paradigm/process which has succeeded here in the western tier of this state can serve as a national model which with various minor modifications can provide to all who currently suffer in these abject circumstances with a pathway, and thus a permanent exit from poverty and the entrance to a life of contentment, material adequacy, and social relevance.

Deploying the broadest possible spectrum of human, technical, and financial resources, we shall continue this activity until we have succeeded in achieving our goal, and the scourge of impoverishment in the Western Tier of this state has been consigned to the musty archives of New York’s historical record.