* If you/your student previously attended a trip
Small, friendly towns dot the terrain of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a section of the Appalachians stretching from Georgia to Pennsylvania. Nestled within the foothills of this scenic territory lies Taylorsville, North Carolina. Driving into town, one notices old white wooden white buildings and churches, beautiful trees and rolling hills, farms, and a very historic downtown -- it's a town with a story and a lot of character. But what is not immediately apparent is that the town faces a 21% poverty rate with an average household income of around $25,000 per year. Like many small towns, there are some residents in Taylorsville who struggle to provide for their families and maintain basic upkeep on their homes.
The Blue Ridge Mountains are scattered across southwestern Virginia and western North Carolina. Characterized by its charming small towns, scenic parkway and hiking trails, Blue Ridge has much to offer any tourist with a sense of adventure. However, beneath the natural beauty and wonder of this mountain range, small towns are struggling to provide the necessary resources for its community to survive. Rutherford County, where the Blue Ridge site is located, is one of those communities. Based on a measure of income, unemployment rate and population growth, Rutherford County is one of North Carolina’s tier 1 economically distressed counties. Small towns such as Forest City, Rutherfordton and Bostic make up Rutherford county. In Blue Ridge, Youthworks partners with local non-profits to assist the elderly through small home repair projects and beautification projects throughout the community. We will mainly be working in the town of Spindale, where our housing site is also located.