The Struggle for the Land in America's Black Belt


credit: Free Foto

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 Grant News Headlines

A customized collection of grant news from foundations and the federal government from around the Web.

Rediscovering The Pella Community Art Center

If you've ever dreamed of owning your own business, you'll want to check out Pella, Iowa. The city is home to the Pella Art Center, which bills itself as "a valuable resource for all participants...more

Invest in Climate-Smart Agriculture to Combat Malnutrition in Uganda

The people of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Bunyoro region are among the world's most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, especially when it comes to food security and nutrition, the...more

Thomas Anderson to Receive 2024 Award in Philanthropy

"Countless lives have been touched by Tom and the lakes area communities are a better place because of his generous nature, and we are honored to have him as the recipient of the 2024 Award in...more

Haiti Humanitarian Crisis

"Haiti is seeing growing rates of hunger and malnutrition amid an unprecedented descent into violence and growing insecurity." That's the UN's latest report on the country, which has been rocked...more

Mackenzie Scott Is Radically Reshaping Philanthropy

MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated more than $2 billion to groups working on everything from climate change and affordable housing to early learning and women's...more

Carnegie Hall Creative Youth Art Exhibit Winners Announced

A West Virginia teenager has won the top prize in her high school's annual art competition. Abigail Fedukovich of Lewisburg took the top prize in the drawing division at the Creative Youth art...more

In Dallas, 'Yellow' Installation by Dsgn For Us Gives People a Place to Draw, Be Happy

"A lot has been said about coloring, it helps with stress and depression, [mental health] is a huge component of it," Natalia Padilla tells the Dallas Morning News. That's why the founder of Dsgn...more

Foundation Offers Grants To Serve Lgbtq Communities
Foundation: Rhode Island Foundation

The Rhode Island Foundation is offering up to $10,000 in grants to organizations that help the state's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community, the Providence Journal reports. The...more

Proampac and Sammi Join Forces for Sustainable Fiber-Based Packaging Innovation

The days of the plastic clam shell are over. A company called Sammi has replaced the shell on its sandwiches with fiber-based packaging made from forest products, and the result is what ProAmpac...more

President Office €” Press Release

"These new Floridians are not bringing their health care providers with them," Florida Senate President Kathleen Passidomo said as she signed into law a "Live Healthy" agenda aimed at increasing the...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 New Hampshire

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


Federal Government Grant and Assistance Programs


James Madison Memorial Fellowship Program | Basic Scientific Research | Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, Recovery Act | Recovery Act - Violence Against Women Discretionary Grants For Indian Tribal Governments | Telehealth Network Grants | Homeland Security_Agricultural | Hydrologic Research | Lamb Meat Adjustment Assistance Program | | Site Style by YAML | Grants.gov | Grants | Grants News | Sitemap | Privacy Policy

Edited by: Michael Saunders

© 2008-2024 Copyright Michael Saunders