There’s no denying the past year brought formidable challenges for the organizations and networks working tirelessly to increase social and economic justice across the South. As our grantee partners embark on another year striving to shape a more equitable future, it seems especially important to reflect on a few of the victories they achieved.
Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice...
The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation strongly opposes plans to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which enables 800,000 young people to study and work in the United States without fear of deportation.
Often called “dreamers,” the youth enrolled in DACA were brought here as children; for many, America is the only country they’ve ever known. Rescinding...
The board and staff of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation denounce, in the strongest terms, the racism and anti-Semitism surfacing across the country. While the violence in Charlottesville has rightly drawn the world’s attention and scorn, subtle, socially acceptable forms of everyday bigotry are also nefarious in their hobbling effects on opportunity, dignity and humanity.
We grieve...
Like much of the South, Georgia is a racially diverse state rapidly growing even more so. Thanks in part to booming immigrant and refugee populations, it is projected to become majority-minority by 2025. And like its neighbors, Georgia has more than its share of challenges, including political representation that is not truly representative and persistent poverty, which is most acute in rural...
As any map will tell you, Australia is a long way from Appalachia. Despite the distance and differences, their coalfield communities share striking similarities: the fossil fuel industry’s problematic political power, economic challenges, and mining-related environmental and health concerns. As in Appalachia, there is a growing dedication to a just transition from a single extractive industry...
