It stands to reason that new jobs, paying decent wages and benefits, are necessary to help a region battle poverty. Some factors that contribute to poverty here may also hinder economic development. It?s a conundrum with which officials at the Galesburg Regional Economic Development Agency are familiar.
Population Loss
GREDA President Tom Schmidt said population loss has to be taken into consideration. Knox County?s population peaked at more than 61,000 people in the 1960s. Today, it stands at about 51,000.
?We seem to be at a level consistent with what it was in the 1930s,? Schmidt said.
That means 10,000 fewer people buying food, clothes and other merchandise, eating at local restaurants, shopping at stores here, etc.
?The sheer magnitude of the drain of human resources has an impact on the economic health of a community,? he said.
Using figures from the Healthy Communities study commissioned by the Knox County Health Department, Oliver Ferguson, director of the Knox County Development Corp., said in 2008, 57 percent of the population in Knox County had only a high school education or slightly more.
Part of the problem is area young people who leave for college often do not return after completing their studies.
?We?re not retaining those who have the higher skill sets. It makes it more difficult to attract the high-tech jobs,? Schmidt said.
Citing additional figures from the Healthy Communities study, Ferguson said the demographics of the area tell an interesting story. Twenty percent of the population in Knox County is younger than 18, while 20 percent is 65 and older. He said the most productive earning years are 45-54. He said people between the ages of 35 and 44 ?are really kind of building their careers.? Fourteen percent of Knox County?s population is in the 45-54 age range, with 11.9 percent 35 to 44.
?It?s not just the education level, there?s a key demographic of workers we are lacking,? Ferguson said.
A Tipping Point
Manufacturing, along with the railroads, was the area?s economic engine for many years. The last factories employing large numbers of workers left in 2004 and 2005, when Maytag and Butler pulled up stakes. Those companies were the end of a trend.. Ferguson said the report commissioned by the Health Department revealed that the population loss was greater in the 1990s than from 2000-2010.
?Whatever problems that emerged from the Maytag and Butler closings were already here,? he said. ?That was more of a tipping point.?
Schmidt said the departure of the factories after all those years left another void.
?We?re dealing now with the consequences of several generations of people living in this area who didn?t have to be entrepreneurs,? Schmidt said. ?They were working for others, rather than for themselves.?
They were trained specifically for the jobs at the factories, which, for the most part, didn?t translate well into the jobs of today. Retraining thus became necessary.
From 2000-2008, Knox County had a net loss of about 5,000 jobs, with 4,139 of those in manufacturing. Some job categories, such as information technology and education-health, added jobs.
?The actual form of employment available in this area, the bones have been broken and are being reset,? Schmidt said of the changing job picture in the area.
Schmidt said there needs to be more discussion of the reasons for the area?s economic/poverty problems.
?I?m bothered by the fact we don?t talk about this enough,? he said.
Ferguson said the Healthy Communities study is a good place to start.
?Every elected official and people who care about these questions should try to get a hold of that? report, he said.
Schmidt said the Healthy Communities study identified strengths that can help with job attraction, such as affordable housing. He said there are many other factors needed to bring in more jobs, such as better broadband connection.
Help Wanted: Entrepreneurs
A year ago, GREDA pledged to help improve education here.
?We believe the improvement to Galesburg and Knoxville schools leads the framework to economic revival,? Schmidt said.
He said GREDA is trying to work more with the city, as well.
?The time is right for us to move in that direction,? Schmidt said. ?The city is on the right track. There?s now a re-emphasis on entrepreneurs, encouraging people to go back into the arena of taking risks themselves.?
The former president of Carl Sandburg College said the school can be a valuable resource.
?Sandburg has been rated among the top tech-savvy community colleges in the nations the last five to seven years,? he said. ?We have capital to produce young men and women and retrained adults to work in the area of IT.?
While jobs that pay more money are needed, the conclusion was there are many diverse issues to be addressed if poverty is to be reduced.
?Clearly our role is limited,? Ferguson added. ?None of us here (at GREDA) are social workers. It?s our obligation to try to convince owners of capital to risk it here.?
?
ashton kutcher twitter sandusky barbados raiders chargers latin grammys latin grammys ogopogo
Keeping track of your insurance payouts can be difficult as it is, but Reddit user SpazMcMan points out an interesting facet of dental insurance you might not have considered: you may have unused credit from your insurance company if you pay part of your bill up front.
intifada 
After Jason "Mayhem" Miller lost to Michael Bisping at "The Ultimate Fighter" season 14 finale earlier this month, 
Conventional wisdom dictates that the best time to take a vacation is after you've finished a project, and you can relax with a clear head. Stepcase Lifehack explains that this isn't always best: in fact, you're better off taking vacations in the middle of that big project, when you're feeling discouraged. 
See the diagram to the right for an example of what they say this would look like. It's obviously a bit more complicated than that, but it's a fairly interesting philosophy. Hit the link to read more, and if you've had any experience with this, let us know about your optimal vacation time in the comments.