Stories

Democracy/Civic Engagement

  • Envisioning a New Appalachia

    Once a year, the Babcock Foundation travels to a location within our funding footprint to learn from our grantee partners where they work. I always look forward to these trips because they afford us the opportunity to engage with our partners on the ground and meet with some of their constituents and other local residents. To be in their communities, to hear their stories, to see the lay of...

    Coalfield Development Corporation, WV
  • 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...

  • Celebrating a Year of Successes

    As we begin a New Year, we’d like to toast all of our grantee partners across the South for a very successful 2015. Here are a few of the year’s achievements:

    Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice’s policy expertise and research helped boost awareness of predatory lending practices to the national level. The White House asked Legal Director Shay Farley to convene a roundtable of...
  • Ivan Parra: Early Orientation

    An experienced community organizer and trainer, Ivan Kohar Parra cofounded three organizations that engage hundreds of grassroots leaders in social change. He is cofounder of the Latino Credit Union, a member-owned non-profit financial institution offering a full package of ethical, bilingual financial services, affordable credit options and financial education to thousands of immigrants....

  • Hollis Watkins: Music as an Organizing Tool

    A veteran of the civil rights movement, Hollis Watkins founded Southern Echo, a leadership development, education and training organization working to develop effective, accountable grassroots leadership in rural Mississippi and the surrounding region.

    Watkins and Southern Echo have been instrumental in challenging redistricting in Mississippi, protecting communities from landfills and...