Rowan County commissioners may have unknowingly started a community-wide conversation about poverty with recent comments at a planning retreat.

For months, local students have spoken about poverty during public comment periods. During Tuesday’s meeting, two more speakers joined the students.

East Rowan High students Faith Faller and Caylynn Westberg asked county commissioners to seriously discuss poverty as part of a regularly scheduled meeting. GeoRene Jones, a trainer for Bridges out of Poverty and minister, talked about the Bridges out of Poverty model and passed out books on the topic. Local business owner Alan Champion also spoke, and told commissioners he supported previous statements made during the planning retreat.

Commissioner Craig Pierce’s comments during the retreat have drawn the most attention. He mentioned impoverished residents of Rowan as a potential problem for Rowan County’s economy. He said Salisbury contributes to Rowan ranking as the lowest-revenue-per-capita county in the region.

The latest U.S. Census statistics show Rowan’s poverty rate at 18.8 percent, slightly above North Carolina’s 17.5 percent rate.

Champion said he supports Pierce and commissioners Chairman Greg Edds’ comments during the retreat, and likes that county leaders are searching for answers. He said looking into finding solutions for a high poverty rate is “in everybody’s best interest.”

He elaborated and agreed with a point made by Pierce — that people who rent property don’t pay taxes. Champion said he doesn’t pay, and isn’t responsible for, taxes as a result of renting his business location.

“If someone says that a renter pays taxes on property, that’s just using feel-good math,” He said.

In their comments, Faller and Westberg, who spoke together, focused on the scope of poverty in Rowan County. The pair, who attend St. John’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, said their youth group identified poverty among Rowan County’s youth as significant and “staggering.”

“We must initiate a change starting now that will bridge the gap between haves and have nots,” Faller said during the meeting. “We would like you to take a glance at this community to realize its potential and to have a conversation about how we can better support each other and begin to close the gap.”

The pair said members of their youth group have continued speaking during public comment periods for months. Faller said the youth group’s goal is for commissioners to specifically place poverty on an agenda of a regularly scheduled meeting.

When asked after Tuesday’s meeting about the statements, Edds said commissioners are already addressing the issue. The community has been discussing poverty “for a number of years,” Edds said. He said commissioners’ efforts are focused on adding more jobs to Rowan’s economy.

Jones pointed to the Bridges Out of Poverty model as a possible solution for Rowan County’s poverty. She said the Bridges Out of Poverty model is one that’s worked in a number of communities across the U.S.

The model is a holistic approach that brings all stakeholders together — “the whole community” — to see what poverty is, she said. It then aims to use existing resources to make transformational change in the community.

Jones said the books she passed out Tuesday — Bridges to Sustainable Communities — were paid with her own money, not by another entity.

She specifically asked commissioners to focus on Bartlesville, Okla. She said the town is similar to Salisbury and Rowan County.

Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246.