Stories
Sharing Just Transition Lessons Half a World Away
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...
MRBF Joins Divest Invest Movement
In addition to making grants to organizations across the South, the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation achieves positive impact by aligning our financial investments with our mission of moving people and places out of poverty. The Foundation recognizes that climate change has...
…So Goes the Nation
The South’s population is booming, increasing its influence on the rest of the country. The region holds a third of the Electoral College votes needed to take the White House, and it’s expected to gain five more after the 2020 Census. Thanks to immigration and reversal of the Great Migration,...
Sharing Just Transition Lessons Half a World Away
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...
Introducing our New Network Officers
The board and staff of the Babcock Foundation are excited to welcome two new network officers, Melanie Allen and Meisha McDaniel. In their new roles, Allen and McDaniel will manage grant portfolios, develop the Foundation’s relationships, identify investment opportunities, co-learn and consult with grantee partners, and help build strong, effective partnerships among people and organizations...
Meet our new Program Associate
The Babcock Foundation is pleased to welcome Katie Sonnen-Lee as our new program associate. Sonnen-Lee will provide programmatic and administrative support for MRBF’s network officers, and guidance to current and potential grantee partners.
With a background in a broad range of nonprofit and educational environments, Sonnen-Lee brings a wealth of administrative and program-management...
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 2016. Here are a few of the year’s achievements:
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute led the successful opposition to a tax-cut plan that would have damaged the state budget and eroded funding for schools and other services. Late in the legislative session, lawmakers...
Staffing Changes and a Shifting Terrain
In the aftermath of a terribly disorienting week, I have spent some time thinking about the things that give me strength. I keep returning to a set of values held by the committed board and staff at the Foundation: equity and inclusion, democracy, justice and respect for all voices, to name a few.
I believe today it is even more important that we work from these values, live by these...