Stories

Environment/Energy

  • Daa'iyah Salaam: Opportunity in the South

    For five years, Daa’iyah Salaam served as Business Development Specialist for the Southwest Georgia Project, an organization founded in 1961 to educate, engage and empower through advocacy and community organizing. The organization has successfully addressed school segregation, welfare rights, voter rights and education, housing, land loss, economic development and unfair policies affecting...

  • Powering Appalachia’s Brighter Future

    Coalfield communities are getting a much-needed jolt.

    On October 15, the Partnerships for Opportunity and Workforce and Economic Revitalization (POWER) Initiative announced its first round of grants for communities in 12 states and tribal regions affected by changes in the coal industry and energy sector. The $14.5 million is aimed at helping diversify economies, create jobs, attract...

  • Feeding a New Economy: Local Food Systems in the South

    The local foods movement has become much more than a short-lived dietary or environmental trend. Can it actually fuel the new Southern economy?

    The term “locavore” has become ubiquitous since appearing in the American vernacular about ten years ago. It represents a rapidly growing movement of people choosing locally produced food rather than packaged goods that traveled hundreds of...

    Ralph Paige
  • Jackie Jones: New Orleans Post-Katrina

    Jacqueline Carroll Jones has more than 20 years of organizing experience with the Jeremiah Group and the Industrial Areas Foundation. Before becoming an organizer, Jones taught regular and special education classes in the Jefferson Parish public school system for 23 years. She also served as Intervention Coordinator for the parish’s only special education alternative high school program....

  • Shirley Sherrod: Focus Areas

    Shirley and Charles Sherrod founded the Southwest Georgia Project for Community Education in 1961 to educate, engage and empower through advocacy and community organizing. SWGAP has successfully addressed school segregation, welfare rights, voter rights and education, housing, land loss, economic development and unfair policies affecting school children and families.

    After decades of...