State Treasurer Kay Ivey said a better quality of life and improved education could become a reality in the Black Belt within the next few years through the efforts of Gov. Bob Riley’s Black Belt Action Commission.

“We have the knowledge, ability, and skills to make life successful here in the Black Belt,” Ivey said.

Ivey, speaking Tuesday at the West Alabama Learning Coalition conference at the St. James Hotel, discussed how she and Action Commission co-Chair Sen. Hank Sanders have been working steadily to set both long-term and short-term goals for this region of the state since the commission was established in August.

“This commission doesn’t just go around asking for grant money,” Ivey said. “Our job is to define the need, how it can be fixed and what can be done to justify it, then go ask for money.”

Ivey said one of the biggest challenges facing the commission is just bringing about awareness of the conditions in the Black Belt.

“If you don’t live in the Black Belt, then you don’t know where it is or what to do when you get there,” Ivey said. “We have a state-wide problem that few have a clue about.”

Unlike the many other studies and reports done on the Black Belt in the past, Ivey says the 179-member Action Commission is going to focus on implementation.

“Some say the people of the Black Belt lack capacity,” Ivey said. “But you and I know that they are creative, God-fearing and faith-based. There are a lot of good folks who live here and a lot of people dedicated to seeing this part of the state grow.”

She added that some ideas currently being discussed include using existing Black Belt resources before creating new ones.

“We are going to encourage the establishment of cottage businesses and using home-grown food products,” Ivey said. “We even found out that bird-watching is a bigger industry than hunting. The Black Belt as birds, so this could be something to look into.”

At the end of her speech, Ivey was asked by a member of the West Alabama Learning Coalition if the commission would continue into the next administration.

“I would hope that whoever is in the next administration will continue on with this work, that it will be handed down,” Ivey said. “This is a 40-year problem. It can’t be fixed in two years, but we’re making a good start.”

The West Alabama Learning Coalition-comprised of preK-12 schools, community and technical colleges universities, social service agencies and community and business leaders across nine counties-spent the past two days in Selma discussing how they could connect education with economic development.

The coalition is funded through the Jessie Ball duPont Foundation and administered through the Truman Pierce Institute in the College of Education at Auburn University.

“This conference provides these counties to network and discuss issues and concerns,” said Dr. Marshall Winters, program director of the Instructional Improvements Institute at Auburn University. “We have been working as a team to develop potential solutions, professional development, and work with grand writing to obtain funding.