Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

Building power to advance racial equity across the American South

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Introducing our Impact Investment Officer

The board and staff of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation are pleased to announce Julius E. Kimbrough Jr. will serve as the Foundation’s first impact investment officer.  

Kimbrough comes to MRBF from Stonehenge Capital, where he managed the federal New Markets Tax Credit program and helped source other economic development finance opportunities. Before joining Stonehenge, Kimbrough served as executive director of a community land trust, pioneering affordable residential and commercial real estate solutions across New Orleans. He also headed Liberty Bank and Trust Company’s community development unit, which helped families finance affordable homes, and provided capital to small businesses and agencies nationally. Kimbrough also has served as a foundation program officer, urban planner, economic analyst and investment banker. 

“I am super excited to serve as the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation’s first impact investment officer. Given their faith in me, together we will explore the intersection of American democracy and economic opportunity to leverage more equitable and bountiful outcomes on behalf of all Southerners, especially Black and brown families and communities seeking to overcome underinvestment.”        

The creation of this position is the latest step in MRBF’s evolution in investing in ways that advance its mission, vision and values. Since 2014, MRBF has implemented environmental, social and governance best practices across its portfolio. In 2020, the Foundation embarked on a process to center racial equity in every aspect of its work, including investment strategies. Kimbrough will work with the Foundation’s investment committee, board and staff colleagues to continue to reimagine, develop and drive innovative strategies to use capital and markets to build power and advance racial justice across the South. 

Kimbrough holds a degree in history from Hampton University and master’s degrees in both business administration and public policy from the University of Chicago. 

Toward a New Democracy

“Democracy is not a state. It is an act, and each generation must do its part.”
John Lewis

It’s often said we don’t realize when we’re living through history. The events of this week are unmistakably historic, for better and for worse. 

Georgians elected their first Black senator and first Jewish senator, a culmination of the diligent, aligned work of organizers building power in communities of color, particularly Black communities, through year-round engagement, voter registration and education, leadership development, and support of people experiencing hardships such as COVID and racial violence. These groups include many of our grantee partners: ProGeorgia, GALEO, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, Latino Community Fund, GLAHR, New American Pathways, Georgia STAND-UP, Partnership for Southern Equity and Women’s Watch Afrika. 

We had only begun to celebrate the historic events in Georgia when domestic terrorists refocused our attention to Washington DC, where, in recent months, protesters of police brutality, white supremacy and systemic racism had been tear gassed for an unnecessary photo opportunity. It is impossible to reconcile the contrasting police response to yesterday’s heavily armed white rioters and the peaceful demonstrators calling for racial justice. Capitol police failed to hold back the angry mobs as they attacked the sacred process of transfer of power, wreaking injury and death, and forcing our elected representatives to hide under their desks in terror. 

 “The juxtaposition of these groundbreaking events paints a stark picture of America’s dueling realities,” said Jerry Gonzalez, GALEO’s CEO and MRBF’s board president. “Here in Georgia, we’ve worked for many years to advance our vision of an empowered, multiracial, cross-class coalition, while in our nation’s capital, America’s shameful legacy of white supremacy – emboldened by incendiary rhetoric from the very top of our government – was on disgraceful display.”

Yesterday’s domestic terrorism exposes the painful truth that our democracy was founded on centuries of white supremacy. We see the reverberating damage not only in this insurrection, but also in the rise of fascism, ongoing police violence, COVID’s outsized harms to communities of color, voter suppression, wealth inequality, disparate health outcomes, education funding and more.

While the coup ultimately did not succeed, the brazen breach of the Capitol for the first time in more than 200 years broadcasts the urgent need for racial equity and pro-democracy, transformational work happening across the South to create truly representative government. Our partners are undaunted, and so are we. As Georgia shows, with sustained investment in communities, diligence, trust and love, we can begin to envision a stronger, more inclusive democracy that works for everyone.

Written by Susanna Hegner · Categorized: NEWS, STORIES

Ford Foundation Invest $10M to Support Southern Organizing via Mary Reynolds Babcock foundation

Today the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation announced it will invest an additional $10 million from the Ford Foundation to support organizing and advocacy in the American South. Over the next five years, Ford’s investment will augment the Babcock Foundation’s ongoing primary grantmaking strategy, which is to help strengthen the growing organizations and networks working together to advance racial equity. 

The Babcock Foundation sees how sustained investment in grassroots organizations and networks strengthens Southerners’ lives in significant ways. In most of these states, there are growing networks of grassroots organizations with state-level alignment that are advancing voting rights and access to the ballot box, making constituents’ voices are heard on the issues important to them. These organizations are engaged in census outreach and redistricting processes to ensure fair maps, adequate federal funding and accurate representation in state legislatures and Congress. Across the region, these groups also leapt into action when COVID-19 hit, creating mutual aid funds for people who were not eligible for federal assistance.  

The unique collaboration between the Babcock and Ford Foundations highlights how trusting relationships yield lasting social benefits. The two foundations have worked together previously to target millions of dollars to areas that have suffered from a dearth of public and philanthropic investment. When the Babcock Foundation shared its revised strategic directions, with deepened commitments to power building and racial equity, Ford saw an opportunity to invest in the success of a shared vision for the region.

“The Babcock Foundation envisions a South where everyone can influence the decisions that affect quality of life, with responsive and representative leadership, people-centered policies, and abundant economic opportunities,” said MRBF Chief Strategy Officer Elena Conley. “Ford’s investment in the power building infrastructure will galvanize the work it will take to realize this vision.” 

“There is an urgent need to support the communities and people long excluded from the decisions affecting their lives, particularly in the American South,” said Sarita Gupta, vice president of US programs for the Ford Foundation. “We are thrilled to partner with the Babcock Foundation to bolster the innovative advocacy that has always existed in the South and cannot wait to see what these organizations accomplish in the months and years to come.”

Historically, philanthropic and public sector support for the South has been sporadic and fallen far short of national averages, undermining organizations’ efforts to grow their capacity, organize, base-build and bring people into the fold by meeting basic needs and addressing real-life challenges. The Babcock and Ford partnership aims to offer support in ways that bolster the Southern power building infrastructure more responsibly and sustainably. The foundations will capture and share lessons to sharpen their own grantmaking and inform and influence other funders’ understanding about effective ways to support Southern organizations.

Both foundations are eager to identify and fund advocacy work in the South with multiyear, general operating support. Organizations who see themselves in MRBF’s program description are welcome to submit an organizational summary to determine whether they are a good fit for this funding. 

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ABOUT THE MARY REYNOLDS BABCOCK FOUNDATION

The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation’s mission is to help people and places move out of poverty and achieve greater social and economic justice. The Foundation supports organizations and networks in 11 Southern states pursuing change along three connected pathways: democracy and civic engagement, supportive policies and institutions, and economic opportunity. 

ABOUT THE FORD FOUNDATION

The Ford Foundation is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Contacts:

Susanna Hegner, Communications Director, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation: shegner@mrbf.org (336) 726-1467

Tolu Onafowokan, Ford Foundation, pressline@fordfoundation.org

Written by Susanna Hegner · Categorized: NEWS, STORIES

Revoking Reproductive Justice is Only the Beginning

As the nation begins a long weekend commemorating Independence Day, Americans who champion democracy, social justice, a clean environment, and racial and gender equity are not in a particularly celebratory mindset. A series of regressive rulings from the Supreme Court has halted and reversed progress, and more harmful decisions await on the polluted horizon. The court has agreed to take up a case from North Carolina called Moore v. Harper which could diminish already fragile checks and balances on extreme gerrymandering. This week the high court also severely restricted the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate pollution from power plants. 

Especially alarming, of course, is the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Nearly 50 years after Roe v. Wade granted the constitutional right to an abortion, the fight for reproductive justice begins anew. This ruling will greatly exacerbate racial and geographic disparities in poverty, social justice, as well as health and educational outcomes. The Babcock Foundation’s mission is to help people and places move out of poverty and achieve greater social and economic justice. We support organizations and networks building power to advance racial equity. Overturning Roe runs aggressively contrary to our mission and values, and hampers the work of our partners across our 11-state region. 

This decision most acutely harms Southern people of color, as many of the 22 states banning or severely restricting abortion are in the South, home to nearly half of America’s Black population and booming immigrant populations. Many states that already had the most severe restrictions on abortion also have the highest rates of maternal mortality. Banning abortion in these places will kill countless more women due to unsafe procedures and lack of access to critical care in life-threatening situations. What’s more, states criminalizing abortion are also likely to prosecute people for making the anguishing decision to end their pregnancies, which could result in felony charges and a permanent loss of voting rights. 

In their statement, our partners at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities point out, “By creating new legal and financial barriers to health care based on where people live and their resources to seek care elsewhere, the Court’s decision will further worsen health disparities. … Black women die at significantly higher rates than other groups and are twice as likely to experience serious health conditions resulting from labor or delivery. And births involving unintended pregnancies are more likely to result in adverse health outcomes for women, including death; this risk is higher for women of color than for white women.” 

Our partners at State Voices remind us we are not powerless. They have curated a list of ways to translate our rage into action, including learning about the work happening in each state, a guide to making voting plans, ways to advocate for reproductive justice and organizations that could use donations to sustain this fight. 

The toppling of Roe, however, did not happen in isolation. It is the culmination of a decades-long lurch toward authoritarianism and series of attacks on the pillars of democracy. We have seen this manifested in voter suppression efforts, gerrymandering and rising white supremacy, and the January sixth insurrection at the Capitol. The board and staff of the Foundation are wrestling with the weight of this disastrous decision and the trajectory it portends: a likely domino effect that would reverse hard-fought gains for the LGBTQ community, contraception, in-vitro fertilization and other rights. 

The Babcock Foundation stands in solidarity with our partners and allies across the country fighting for basic human rights. We are also considering the best ways to show up for our grantee partners and the Southern communities they serve. While we are crestfallen about what’s happened and terrified for what’s to come, we commit to learning and doing alongside our partners and allies with respect, dignity and hope.

Written by Susanna Hegner · Categorized: NEWS, STORIES

Celebrating 2020 (Yes, Really)

We are in an era of transition, opportunity and hope. A new federal administration is beginning to address the atrocities and negligence of the previous one. Two new senators – one Black, one Jewish – are making history by representing Georgia. COVID vaccine distributions are allowing a glimpse out of a dark tunnel. 

The Babcock Foundation also is in transition. As we announced last week, CEO Justin Maxson has accepted a position in the Biden-Harris Administration – as Deputy Undersecretary for Rural Development. While Justin’s departure is a loss for the Foundation, it is a gain for rural America, and our board and staff are strong and well positioned to move forward in service of our mission. 

Even with all the moving parts as we dig into the work to create a better South in 2021, we believe it is worthwhile to look back on the achievements of the last year. In many regards, 2020’s dubious reputation is well deserved. COVID began its onslaught, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and plunging millions into joblessness, economic distress and poverty. Well documented police and vigilante violence against Black Americans prompted uprisings across the country. Voter suppression was rampant, and bad actors tested our democracy. 

Our grantee partners exhibited remarkable adaptability, redirecting their energies to supporting people harmed by the pandemic, distributing cash, food and personal protective equipment, creatively rethinking how they engaged with communities, and capitalizing on opportunities to advance criminal justice reform. They did all this as they helped generate record voter turnout, particularly among voters of color.

Democracy

First and foremost, we take a deep bow to the hardworking folks in Georgia who have been organizing and base building for many years to realize a more representative democracy. These groups include many of our grantee partners: ProGeorgia, GALEO, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta, Latino Community Fund, GLAHR, New American Pathways, Georgia STAND-UP, Partnership for Southern Equity and Women Watch Afrika. They registered tens of thousands of voters ahead of the presidential election, took a breath, then registered tens of thousands more voters leading up to the Senate runoff elections this month. In eight short weeks, ProGeorgia and its member organizations held nearly 18 million conversations in several languages. That’s more than half of Georgia’s voting population. Voters of color turned out in record-breaking numbers. “This is our home, and it’s our right to participate and to define our future,” Gigi Pedraza, Executive Director of the Latino Community Fund, told NBC News. 

Unfortunately, these organizations can’t take a well-deserved break. With the state legislative session underway, they’re working to protect voting rights as lawmakers seek strict limits on absentee voting, and to ensure the redistricting process is fair and transparent. “We often see legislation that is destructive to working-class people, everyday people, Black and brown people, immigrants, and undocumented folks,” Tamieka Atkins, Executive Director of ProGeorgia, told Prism. “So our fight continues.”

In Louisiana, voters rejected two amendments that would have restricted funding for public goods. “Fiscal fairness is about not balancing Louisiana’s budget on the backs of low- and moderate-income earners,” wrote the Power Coalition, the statewide network of civic engagement organizations. “Amendment 4 would have put an artificial cap on state spending, while Amendment 5 would have opened the door for more tax breaks that would have primarily gone to oil and gas companies. Fortunately, voters overwhelmingly rejected both amendments, providing a decisive victory for our schools, health care, roads, and other important public goods.”

In Arkansas, voters rejected Issue 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have weakened citizens’ ability to initiate ballot initiatives. Arkansas Public Policy Panel was among the organizations opposed to the measure. Despite a regressive policy environment, advocacy groups have used ballot initiatives to advance supportive policies, including a minimum wage increase, education reforms and legalized medical marijuana.

Alabama voters approved an amendment to remove racist language from its 120-year-old constitution, which includes sections condoning school segregation, poll taxes and mixed-race marriage bans. Voters had rejected similar proposals twice since 2000, but the measure passed last year with 67 percent support. “This change will address one of the constitution’s original sins: its authors’ explicit intent to establish white supremacy in Alabama,” wrote Jim Carnes, Policy Director at Alabama Arise, which supported the amendment. 

This month, Mississippi hoisted its new flag at the state capitol for the first time, six months after lawmakers retired one featuring the Confederate battle emblem. Last year Mississippians voted to replace the flag amid a national reckoning over the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and other Black Americans. The new flag features a magnolia, the state flower, circled by stars that signify Choctaw culture. Several organizations, including Mississippi One Voice, had long advocated for replacing the flag. “This was a long time coming,” One Voice Executive Director Nsombi Lambright told the New York Times. “I’m glad to see this happen in my lifetime, in my son’s lifetime — in my grandmother’s lifetime.” 

COVID: Pivoting to Care for Communities

Local and regional philanthropies and immigrant-serving organizations stepped up to the plate in meaningful ways to protect people from the health and economic harms of the pandemic. Many created mutual aid funds to support their communities through the crisis. While too numerous to list in this article, MRBF contributed to several of these funds, and you can read about them here and here. 

Community Farm Alliance began the year aiming to celebrate its 35th anniversary with a new strategic plan, but COVID prompted CFA to focus instead on supporting families. The organization distributed nearly $200,000 through multiple funds, with emphasis on small-scale farmers unable to access USDA assistance, Black farmers, farmers markets, and families dealing with food insecurity.

Coalfield Development Corporation halted its normal operations, then adapted to serve its West Virginia community. Its sustainable agriculture company shifted to fresh-food mobile pick-ups to provide healthful foods. Coalfield’s woodshop designed emergency beds in case of overflow needs at local hospitals. Its t-shirt company donated its inventory of clothing to hospitals and shifted from making shirts to making masks for health-care workers. “These are but small measures to help, but they signal the kinds of resilient businesses our modern crisis-ridden world will need if it is to thrive in these uncertain times,” CEO Brandon Dennison told the Herald-Dispatch.

COVID: Policy Advocacy

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has been advocating for more robust federal relief measures, and its partner groups have pushed for policy shifts to better support Southerners through the crisis. 

Thanks in part to analysis, advocacy and recommendations by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Georgia extended its unemployment insurance benefits from 14 to 26 weeks. More than a third of the state’s workforce is employed in retail, food service, and administrative support positions. 

Similarly, Kentucky Center for Economic Policy played a critical role in Kentucky’s decision to expand unemployment insurance by identifying needed reforms, helping get them introduced in a bill and making the case in the media. 

MRBF partners in Georgia and North Carolina signed onto letters urging state leaders to halt utility shutoffs during the economic crisis. These organizations include Partnership for Southern Equity, Appalachian Voices, North Carolina Justice Center and Down Home North Carolina. 

COVID: Community Development Financial Institutions 

One of the most critical lifelines during the economic downturn has been the work of community development financial institutions. The federal government’s COVID assistance was difficult to access, so CDFIs stepped in to provide much-needed capital, keep businesses afloat and save jobs. Some examples: 

  • Mountain Association offered three months of interest-only or deferred payments and created a new “Immediate Response Loan,” disbursing more than $110,000 to 24 businesses and organizations. It also offered technical assistance to help businesses plan for uncertainty. 
  • The closure of farmers markets, school districts and restaurants put many small-scale farmers across the Delta region at risk of losing an entire growing season. Communities Unlimited, an Arkansas-based CDFI, launched the Farm to Pantry program, which buys fruit and vegetables from Black farmers and delivers it to 23 food pantries in a seven-state region. This is a lifeline for the low-wealth families who rely on the pantries, which were running low on fresh produce, and for the farmers, who were at risk of losing their land. CU also is helping to keep childcare centers from closing.
  • CommunityWorks Carolina created a COVID-related emergency consumer loan product with a savings component. CWC also is working to help South Carolina nonprofits stay afloat.
  • Hope Enterprise Corporation also launched a consumer loan product tied to savings, aimed at meeting borrowers’ basic needs in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. 
  • The Latino Community Development Center in North Carolina, working with the Latino Community Credit Union, created “emergency solidarity loans” for immigrants who have lost jobs and may be ineligible for federal assistance programs. Its membership is 93 percent Latino and 80 percent low wealth.
  • Self-Help is working with CWC on its loan product and has launched a separate fund to help struggling borrowers stay in their homes in North and South Carolina. 

Other Encouraging Developments of 2020

Down Home North Carolina and other organizations were able to effect bail reform in Alamance County, where a person’s freedom depended on whether they could afford bail, which advocates argue is a violation of due process and equal protection. Now, people in the county jail receive an individual determination of their ability to pay bail, an opportunity to be heard by a judge, and representation by an attorney at their first court appearance. “This change will have a positive impact for Alamance County residents, especially poor, Black and brown communities who have borne the weight of these unfair practices for so long,” said Sugelema Lynch, Down Home’s Alamance County organizer. 

Appalachian Voices helped advance reforms during the legislative session to expand access to rooftop solar energy on businesses, nonprofits, schools and other government buildings in the coalfield region of Virginia. In April, the General Assembly voted to allow independent solar providers to offer third-party power purchase agreements to commercial-scale customers of two major utility companies. “Given the current economic crisis facing our local governments, allowing these solar projects to move forward so that they can begin saving money on their electricity bills as soon as possible is a gamechanger,” said Chelsea Barnes, AV’s New Economy Program Manager in a news release.  

After years of work by the  Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, the state is modernizing its sales tax by collecting sales tax from online retailers and services like Uber and Airbnb. This was one of GBPI’s top four recommendations for improving Georgia’s tax code in its agenda, People-Powered Prosperity.    

Thanks in large part to West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy’s efforts, the state reversed course on a corporate tax cut. WVCBP educated lawmakers and the public to persuade the legislature to vote against it. Its digital advocacy campaign generated nearly 700 constituent letters about the bill, which would have cost the state $300 million a year in tax revenue. WVCBP was also instrumental in convincing the governor to commit $1 million toward a complete and accurate 2020 Census count.

The end-of-year economic stimulus bill passed in late December included a one-year extension of the excise tax that funds the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund, thanks in part to the advocacy of the Appalachian Citizens Law Center. “We will continue to push for a ten-year extension next year, but this is a critical win for miners and families affected by black lung disease,” wrote ACLC. The Center also won millions of dollars in benefits and medical care for sick coal miners.

A music video produced by the Latino Community Fund of Georgia won the runner-up award in the national Get Out the Count Census Challenge. There were more than 700 submissions, and the award brought a $10,000 prize. The song is catchy, even if you don’t speak Spanish! Scroll down to watch “Me Toca a Mí, Te Toca a Tí!”

While 2020 had its bleak days – okay, months – our hindsight includes gratitude and awe of our partners, who adapted to harsh new realities to protect and empower people, and achieve significant wins despite considerable difficulty. We are excited to see how they carry forward into 2021 and beyond, and understand how we can best support them.

If you have a success story you’d like to share, please send it our way.

Written by Susanna Hegner · Categorized: NEWS, STORIES

People Want to Vote: Georgia’s Power Building Network

Georgia has a robust network of more than 40 civic engagement organizations sharing resources, strategies and expertise to strengthen their collective pursuit of a more equitable future. A member of the State Voices Network, ProGeorgia is the “state table,” the hub that knits this infrastructure together. 

“We really provide the tools, the data, the resources for our partners to go out and have really efficient, effective and strategic voter registration and voter engagement for our shared communities,” said ProGeorgia Executive Director Tamieka Atkins.

Despite a largely regressive state policy environment, this network is optimistic about Georgia’s potential. Advocates are protecting and expanding access to the ballot. The state’s population is rapidly growing and diversifying. Organizers are building power with an explicit focus on racial equity. Georgians are shifting the narrative about who they are and what is possible. And ProGeorgia is putting wind in the movement’s sails.

Raising Voices and Building Power: Southeast Immigrant Rights Network

Ver este video en español

Immigrant communities across the South are living in fear. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is pursuing aggressive detention and deportation tactics. The future of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program is uncertain. Elected officials are openly espousing bigoted views and inciting fear of migrants and refugees. 

Fortunately, there are organizations and networks deploying a range of strategies to build power in immigrant communities. The Southeast Immigrant Rights Network lifts those voices by uniting grassroots groups, promoting collaboration and shared strategy, and training members to advocate on behalf of their communities. 

“Our strategies are to develop grassroots leaders through popular education and to help these leaders develop the organizing skills to be able to organize their communities so that they can fight for their rights and, primarily, their dignity,” said SEIRN Co-Director Mónica Hernández. 

“When we unite with other groups and organizations, we can increase our power and capacity, said SEIRN Co-Director Nayely Pérez-Huerta. “It is because of networks like SEIRN that we are able to truly elevate our power and elevate our voices together. We believe the people who are directly affected are the people who should be at the forefront of the work.”

One of the ways SEIRN advances community leadership is by inviting people to join its board of directors. “Who the board members are speaks volumes about who the organization is and what kind of values we embody,” board member Leng Leng Chancey said. “We are very cognizant about who is on our board and what the makeup of the board is, that we try to bring in diversity so we can look at things from an intersectional lens.”

SEIRN also provides spaces for healing and celebrations of the cultures represented in its membership. “We’ve reached a time when our communities are tired,” said Pérez-Huerta. “Centering our dignity is one of the driving forces of our movement.” 

Solidarity, Power and Change: North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations

These are challenging times for immigrant communities. Increased deportations and detentions by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, uncertainty about the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, harmful political rhetoric and outright racism are putting families on the defensive. But there are so many reasons for optimism. Across the South, there are people, organizations and networks deploying a range of strategies to improve immigrants’ quality of life. 

The North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations is a statewide civic engagement network that helps ensure fair treatment and equal opportunities for immigrants. It gets results by employing a proven cycle of relational organizing: 

  • Identifying and training leaders from diverse member institutions, including congregations, community centers, unions and nonprofits
  • Building relationships among leaders and groups across race, religion and national origin
  • Discerning, researching and negotiating issues affecting communities to develop a common agenda
  • Developing solutions and engaging in strategic actions, frequently through public negotiations with decisionmakers 
  • Reflecting and evaluating throughout the cycle to sharpen leaders’ understanding and skills

Working this way, the Latino Congress has effected systemic change at the local, state and federal level, from health and education policy to workers’ rights and police-community relations. This video illustrates the cycle of organizing and highlights a few of the victories members of the Latino Congress have been able to achieve by building power and working together.

Stephanie Tyree: Community Empowerment

Now Deputy Director of the West Virginia Community Development Hub, Stephanie Tyree served as its Director of Community Engagement and Policy for three years. The statewide non-profit organization’s mission is to engage communities and providers in an intentional, aligned and continuous system of community development. Before joining the Hub, Tyree worked as a community organizer and state policy coordinator in the southern West Virginia coalfields. At an environmental justice non-profit in New York City, Tyree worked closely with federal, state and local agencies to craft environmental policy, participating in the White House Forum on Environmental Justice as a top national environmental justice leader and graduating from the New York City Environmental Law Leadership Institute.

A native of Charleston, West Virginia, Tyree earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh and a J.D. at New York University School of Law. She has served as a steering committee member for the Stay Together Appalachian Youth Project, which promotes leadership, engagement and investment in the region by leaders ages 14-30. 

In this video, Tyree shares the story of a citizen who became empowered to approach a lawmaker about a policy issue.

Stephanie Tyree: WV Hub Overview

Now Deputy Director of the West Virginia Community Development Hub, Stephanie Tyree served as its Director of Community Engagement and Policy for three years. The statewide non-profit organization’s mission is to engage communities and providers in an intentional, aligned and continuous system of community development. Before joining the Hub, Tyree worked as a community organizer and state policy coordinator in the southern West Virginia coalfields. At an environmental justice non-profit in New York City, Tyree worked closely with federal, state and local agencies to craft environmental policy, participating in the White House Forum on Environmental Justice as a top national environmental justice leader and graduating from the New York City Environmental Law Leadership Institute. 

A native of Charleston, West Virginia, Tyree earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh and a J.D. at New York University School of Law. She has served as a steering committee member for the Stay Together Appalachian Youth Project, which promotes leadership, engagement and investment in the region by leaders ages 14-30.

In this video, Tyree gives an overview of the Hub’s work.

Stephanie Tyree: Framing the Environment

Now Deputy Director of the West Virginia Community Development Hub, Stephanie Tyree has served as its Director of Community Engagement and Policy since November 2012. The statewide non-profit organization’s mission is to engage communities and providers in an intentional, aligned and continuous system of community development. Before joining the Hub, Tyree worked as a community organizer and state policy coordinator in the southern West Virginia coalfields. At an environmental justice non-profit in New York City, Tyree worked closely with federal, state and local agencies to craft environmental policy, participating in the White House Forum on Environmental Justice as a top national environmental justice leader and graduating from the New York City Environmental Law Leadership Institute.

A native of Charleston, West Virginia, Tyree earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh and a J.D. at New York University School of Law. She has served as a steering committee member for the Stay Together Appalachian Youth Project, which promotes leadership, engagement and investment in the region by leaders ages 14-30. 

In this video, Tyree highlights the importance of reframing environmental issues to include more stakeholders. 

Maureen O’Connell: SOCM’s Evolving structure

Maureen O’Connell worked at SOCM for 35 years, 16 as Executive Director. During her tenure, SOCM expanded from a five-county grassroots community organization focused on coal (Save Our Cumberland Mountains) to a statewide organization working on a host of local, statewide, regional, and national issues of environmental, social and economic justice (Statewide Organizing for Community Empowerment).

Before joining SOCM, O’Connell taught high school history and social studies in Louisville, Kentucky. She has served on many boards, including the Tennessee Valley Energy Coalition, Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, Tennessee Partnership on Organizing and Public Policy, Southern Organizing Cooperative, Community Media Organizing Project, Southern Empowerment Project, Grassroots Leadership, Forest Organizing Project, the Alliance for Appalachia, Rural Coalition Natural Resources Task Force, Citizens Coal Council, Campaign for Human Development, Youth Project and Citizens Lead for Energy Action Now. Beyond her board service, O’Connell has volunteered extensively for a broad range of organizations and causes.

O’Connell studied at Webster College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

In this video, O’Connell describes the ways SOCM has changed since its inception.