The Struggle for the Land in America's Black Belt

In an NPR (Nonprofit Quarterly) essay based on a talk delivered to the 2018 fellowship class of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) at Penn Center in St. Helena Island, South Carolina last month, Dr. Shirley Sherrod discusses the struggle in the South for civil rights and the ups, downs, and rebirth of New Communities.

Dr. Sherrod is the cofounder of the New Communities Inc., the nation's first community land trust. She shared her stories as a civil rights activist, her experience as a a former USDA Rural Development director for the state of Georgia, and her founding of New Communities.

In 1999, Shirley and her husband, Charles Sherrod, joined the class action plaintiffs in the lawsuit Pigford v. Glickman. In 2010, Sherrod was wrongfully dismissed from USDA. In 2012, in collaboration with Catherine Whitney, she authored a biography of her life, The Courage to Hope: How I Stood Up to the Politics of Fear.

To date, Sherrod and New Communities are still organizing farmers and doing training, with a focus on women. They have developed a worker-owned sewing co-op and developed other organizations with a commercial kitchen.

Read the Entire Article


Selected Foundation News

A customized collection of news from foundations from around the Web.

Accelerating Government Efficiency through Advanced Technologies and Innovation

When it comes to getting a driver's license in the US, there's a lot of red tape. In fact, more than half of the country's DMV offices are still manual, according to a new report from the...more

7.4 Representative Jennifer Mcclellan Talks Climate Resilience and Environmental Justice ...

Virginia Rep. Jennifer McClellan is the first black woman elected to Congress from her home state, and she's also the first black woman to represent it in the House of Representatives. But...more

Ulster Receives State Grant to Reduce Lead Exposure in Rental Housing

A pilot program in New York's Ulster County to help low- and moderate-income tenants deal with lead poisoning has been awarded $326,000, the Times Herald-Record reports. The county's Department...more

Editorial: Regional Projects Show Benefits of State Grant Money
Foundation: Lilly Endowment

Indiana is adding $500 million to its coffers and the Lilly Endowment is throwing in $250 million for community and economic development programs designed by communities themselves, the Columbus...more

Sandburg Nursing Program Receives State Grant for $96K

Carl Sandburg College in Monmouth, Ill., has been named one of 12 schools in the state to receive a $1.4 million grant from the Illinois Board of Higher Education to help increase the number of...more

Texas Apparel Company and Digital Asset Advocacy Nonprofit File Suit Against the ...

When Beba, a startup based in Waco, Texas, offered customers a chance to buy exclusive products at a reduced price with its digital token, BEBA, it didn't think much about the Securities and...more

Nonprofit Mission Statements: 30 Examples of Brands Who Are Crushing It [Infographic]

If you're in the market for a new website, you might want to check out this list of 30 nonprofit mission statements, rounded up by Nonprofit World. They're great if you're in the market for a new...more

How Reading The Morning Paper Inspired an Alumnus' Mission to Shape Ethical Leadership

"One day, he decided to do something about it." That's how Steve Bachand describes his $5 million donation to the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, which will create the Stephen...more

Senior Director, Global Communications

One of the world's most prominent anti-poverty groups is looking for a senior director of global communications to help it "catch the moment" and "lift up the diversity of IPA's voices," Fortune...more

Women'S Fund of Greater Milwaukee

"We are part of a global women's movement, and our effort is really directed towards the barriers that stand in the way for women in every aspect of their lives," Lisa Attonito, executive director...more






Here are the star companies that have succeeded in their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. The companies were gathered by Civic 50, a national initiative to survey and rank S&P 500 corporations on how they engage with the communities they serve and utilize best practices in their corporate cultures.




Human Services Jobs in Kansas

  Substance Abuse Jobs
  Executive Director Jobs
  Education Jobs
  Social Services Jobs
  Fundraising & Development Jobs



Federal Government Grant and Assistance Programs



Edited by: Michael Saunders

© 2008-2024 Copyright Michael Saunders