The executive director of the Alabama Rural Action Commission, Gerald Dial, announced the addition of the Tombigbee region, consisting of Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Dallas, Marengo, Perry, Sumter, Washington and Wilcox counties, to the ARAC Monday.

The ARAC is based on the BBAC, in which several counties in the newly created Tombigbee region for the ARAC are participants. The ARAC was created to bring the benefits and results seen by the work of the BBAC to all rural areas of the state, and the counties enveloped in the new region participating in the BBAC will retain the benefits of the original organization while working with the newer ARAC.

To continue the trends exhibited by the work of the BBAC, Riley has named Margaret Bentley, who previously served as the co-chairman of the BBAC, as a state co-chairman of the ARAC. Bentley said the new group, which will serve all rural areas of the state, will enable all communities facing similar hardships to help one another to succeed.

Washington, Clarke, Monroe and Conecuh counties are the only counties in the newly created region that were not previously associated with the BBAC, though, according to a press release from the governor&8217;s office, the counties face a great deal of the same adversities.