WilCo summit explores county growth and challenges

"The county is growing by about 16,000 people per year and you're gaining about 30 residents every day," Kelsey said. "Like it or not, Williamson County is starting to resemble Travis County in a lot of important ways."

Housing in Williamson costs less than in Travis County, but not for long, he said.

"Yes, you're still more affordable, but the gap is closing," Kelsey said.

One difference is that most Williamson newcomers earn less than existing county residents, unlike high-tech jobholders in the Austin area who earn a median annual household income of $240,000, he said.

"Living wage job growth—I cannot emphasize this [topic] enough," Kelsey said. "This by far has to be the number one economic development priority, in this county, in Travis County, and every other county that's experiencing the rapid, rapid rise in cost of living."

Most working adults in Williamson County do not have college degrees and will have difficulty finding local jobs that pay at least $17 an hour—a living wage for one adult with one child, he said.

Such underemployment contributes to the growing nationwide problem of poverty in suburban areas, said Elizabeth Kneebone, fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution and co-author of Confronting Suburban Poverty in America. Williamson County will need better jobs, and must improve residents' access to public transportation and nonprofit resources, she said.

LeAnn Powers, chief professional officer for the United Way of Williamson County, said that half a million new neighbors with transportation and job needs are a concern for all county residents.

"We cannot neglect this reality," Powers said.

During a panel discussion, local nonprofit representatives shared their own challenges and what the community can do to advocate solutions for residents.

Stable jobs can improve families' lives, said Allyson Jervey, director of Intervention Services, which provides school-based mental health services in East Williamson County. She also operates a counseling practice, Jervey and Associates Psychotherapy.

"If I could do anything, if I could wave my wand, I would bring a major corporation to the east side [of Williamson County]," Jervey said. "I'd like to raise the taxbase and I'd like to infuse the districts, the school districts, with money."

Local cooperation has helped Hutto volunteers consolidate duplicate efforts such as school backpack programs, said the Rev. Alan McGrath, pastor of Discovery United Methodist Church and volunteer with Hutto Has Heart. Organizations in the growing town work together to share resources, information and the burdens of a growing population's needs, McGrath said.

"We are heading out into a torrential downpour storm with a three-dollar umbrella," he said.

Kneebone said numerous community-wide programs such as Neighborhood Center Inc. in Houston are positive examples of cooperation that can bridge gaps between fragmented areas.

"If we don't adapt to the changing geography of poverty and opportunity, we run the risk of creating a lot more entrenched problems and generational problems that cities have been dealing with for decades," she said. "It really is an urgent call to action."

To view the presentations from Kelsey and Kneebone, visit the United Way of Williamson Conuty's summit webpage.