Stories

Alabama

  • Ralph Paige: Critical Juncture

    Ralph Paige served the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund for more than 30 years, 16 as Executive Director. The Federation improves the quality of rural life through housing, community credit unions, cooperatives and training programs. It helps small farmers access the full range of USDA programs and keeps thousands of landowners informed of their rights and...

  • Faith's Social Mandate

    Pope Francis is making his first-ever visit to the United States this week, greeted by screaming crowds in Washington, New York City and Philadelphia. Unlike most dignitaries, he’s not only visiting the White House, Capitol Hill and the United Nations, but also a mostly immigrant school in a low-wealth neighborhood, a homeless shelter and a prison.

    Dubbed “the People’s Pope,” Francis...

    Perry Perkins
  • 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
  • Sophia Bracy Harris: Southern Rural Black Women's Initiative

    Sophia Bracy Harris is Executive Director of the Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama (FOCAL) and Alabama Director of the Southern Rural Black Women’s Initiative for Economic and Social Justice (SRBWI). Her lifelong dedication to improving educational opportunities for children and their families has been recognized with the Rockefeller Public Service Award, Gleitsman Foundation “People...