Rural America lost one of its most tenacious champions with the death of Sandy Rosenblith last month. She was one of the most effective, difficult people I have ever known.
She understood how important place-based change is to low-wealth communities, and that strong, resident-led organizations are key to creating jobs, housing, financial services and the other things people...
Ralph Paige has served the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund for 30 years, 15 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 responsibilities to...
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...
A new survey is shining a harsh spotlight on the urgent need for non-predatory financial services in the South. A recent Gallup poll found minority-owned businesses face tougher challenges obtaining loans. The study, commissioned by Wells Fargo, found that 77 percent of black business owners use their own personal cash to finance their businesses, and 47 percent of black-owned businesses are...
HBO debuted a documentary this month that set out to tell the story of a Georgia high school’s first integrated prom but uncovered a hornet’s nest of racial conflict. “ Southern Rites ” focused on Montgomery County as students merged their “white prom” and “black prom,” sparking bitter backlash from many residents who didn’t take kindly to the disruption of the status quo. A New York Times...
