Just how deep in poverty is Grapeland, Texas?

 Poverty in Grapeland, Texas

Growing up in Grapeland I had big dreams to make a great life for me and my children. I dreamed of owning one of Cutshaw Chevrolet's cars. I dreamed of building or buying a home somewhere in the country.  I dreamed that my family would flourish growing in Grapeland, Texas but that has not been the case.

My life actually began with learning that Cutshaw's didn't want to finance to me, no car! I learned that I needed a 650 credit score, minimum to purchase a home and yet my mother was living in Grapeland raising me and so stricken with poverty she opened lines of credit up in my name before I turned 18 and those credit accounts were left delinquent.  This caused me to have a very bad credit score.  People say "don't worry they will disappear in 7 years", but my credit took a beating being used before I was 18.  Once I realized what my mother had done it was to late.  Credit repair was tough and it wasn't enough to bounce back from all the accounts unpaid that my mom had left by stealing my identity.  I also found myself fighting the new Palestine CPS office for custody of my children not only that but I was dealing with unlawful arrested by the HCSO all at the same time.  I thought wow I can't do this! 

I moved away from Grapeland for 10 or more years because there was just nothing for me in Grapeland. No jobs, no way to meet people, nothing.  Life wasn't any better in Grapeland, being a country girl, I was stupid to the way fast paced city life was so I relocated back to my hometown and I had to move in with my mom.  My mom unfortunately passed and left 1000's of dollars worth of debt in her way. 

I have been living in Grapeland for about 2 years now and I have been trying to rent a home for me and my adult daughters to live in and to locate a job and nothing! Nobody is renting here other than the Grapeland Apartments.  There are no jobs here other than maybe a opening at the Dollar General that literally no one gets! Im asking the question what can I do? Sure I can move away once again and leave Grapeland like it is or I can stay and try to fix the rural economy that Grapeland is suffering with.

I have made a decision to try and help pull Grapeland out of the slump that it is in.  How can anyone live in Grapeland and prosper?  I am so proud of being from Grapeland and you should be too!

The poverty that Grapeland is experiencing is a complex issue and there are multiple contributing factors as to why we are battling with poverty.  The economic decline in most rural towns face are due to factors like industrialization, globalization and automation.  Automation is only going to get worst which means nobody will have a job.  In Grapeland there are fewer job opportunities compared to urban areas.  This is because rural towns may not have the infrastructure or resources to attract outside industries. So we are going to bring up the rural development of Grapeland and ask why hasn't the city council strived to attract more industries to the area? We have so much land to develop on Hwy 287 N while we can still keep the town of Grapeland internally rural.  Just driving out of town can be challenging and not to mention expensive with the rising costs of gas prices.  It's a wonder that anybody is able to make a honest wage after paying to drive to a more urban like area to work.  In the city of Grapeland, there are limited education and limited training skill shops for employers. Sure we have the Texas Workforce Center in Crockett and Palestine but what about the people who have no transportation? How will they drive to Crockett or Palestine to the skill workshops that they hold. We have no transportation transit either.  Making it difficult for the people and elderly and poor that live way out in the country with no transportation.  Our small town also faces infrastructure challenges that can hinder economic development like poor transportation service, lack of free broadband and our aging infrastructure is cool to preserve but it's bad for our future economic development.  My question is why hasn't the city council been acting to change the poverty that we face in Grapeland?  My organization is going to find out and investigate.  I love our aging population, our elderly are my first priority.  Thank god that they are able to live in a safe place like Grapeland where there is little to no crime. Grapeland faces social isolation as well, our residents experience social isolation due to limited access to cultural and recreation activities.  We have got to work with the city council to keep up on cultural and recreational trends for our community.  Of course, we celebrate the annual Peanut Festival but we need to do more! Our town surprisingly suffered from a large substance abuse population and they are our citizens too! We have a duty to help these people recover.  I am glad that the First Baptist Church of Grapeland is hosting the Celebrate Recovery meetings for the citizens who are trying to recover from substance abuse but we can do more. The Grapeland area also faces disparities in public services compared to those of urban communities. Why can't we operate our community like an urban community but in a rural way. Grapeland has fewer resources and a lower education attainment rate.  Access to quality healthcare is limited, the Crockett ER and the Palestine ER offers little to no help with the health of our community and I know from first hand that the Urgent Care Clinic doesn't even accept my insurance.  We also do not have access to government programs like urban communities have. As citizens of the Grapeland area it is important to note that these factors can interact and reinforce each other, making it difficult for rural communities to over come poverty. If we can address the root causes of poverty in rural areas we can tackle the economic decline of our community. This will require a comprehensive approach from all Grapeland citizens that involves economic development, infrastructure improvement's, social support and educational opportunities

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Thanks,

Tabitha Charanza, Director

The Legal Eagle of East Texas