Riding the Southern Circuit

Ben Coe's description of circuit riders in upstate New York has its counterparts in the Southeast. Daniel Wanamaker, in a 1977 paper about circuit riders in the U.S. which was presented at the National Association of Regional Councils Conference, noted that the idea of using roving local government experts has been attempted in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia. An informal survey of North Carolina public agencies indicates that technical assistance to local governments is not often provided by circuit riders. However, examples of persons who as Coe describes, "build the capacity" of local government officials to solve their communities' problems, are found within the state Office of Coastal Management and the Community Assistance Division of the Department of Natural Resources and Community Development (NRCD), and among North Carolina's Councils of Government. Undoubtedly there are other examples