A Thursday panel conversation featuring executives, prominent Jackson leaders and members of a leadership community shared insights on their organizations’ efforts to receive grant funding to turn neighborhood-based civic action projects into reality.
Last year, former President Barack Obama selected Jackson as one of the three cities nationally to participate in the leadership community called Change Collective aimed at connecting, elevating and training local changemakers. Chicago and Detroit are the other two cities involved in the program.
The Change Collective is a national leadership network for aspiring local leaders who are interested in solving issues in their communities and “combating social isolation, political polarization, and civic disengagement.”
Dexter Mason, executive director of Change Collective, told the Clarion Ledger the Change Collective’s vision is to reinvent civic life for the 21st century by investing in and supporting the next generation of emerging leaders who are “bridging divides and driving change in their communities.” Mason said members of the Change Collective will have access to training opportunities, leadership development and a wide network of mentors both locally and nationally.
Mason confirmed Thursday marked the first panel discussion in Jackson since the initiative launched.
“For us we really believe in investing in the South investing in this work in Jackson, and so for us we want to continue to invest in leaders here,” Mason said.
Below are what each speaker discussed:
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Melanie Powell
Melanie Powell, a native of Crystal Springs, is the executive director of Women’s Foundation of Mississippi. Powell said she is the third executive director in the Foundation’s 25-year history. Powell is leading the foundation’s programming, advocacy, fundraising, and grant allocation initiatives to improve economic security for Mississippi’s women and girls.
Powell said the foundation has funded organizations such as the Magnolia Medical Foundation, which is a Jackson community-based organization founded in 2009 to provide preventative health services to high-risk and underserved individuals and communities. Powell said the organization has done some work focused on maternal health in the Mississippi Delta.
Powell said since 2008, the organization has invested more than $6 million toward their mission.
“We fund across the state. We fund those organizations working toward and helping women and young girls become economically sound,” Powell said.
Rhea C. Williams-Bishop
Rhea Williams-Bishop is director of Mississippi and New Orleans programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where she leads efforts to promote thriving children, working families and equitable communities. Bishop is a lifelong Mississippian raised in Carthage who received her education at Jackson State University.
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Bishop said the foundation is funded in both New Orleans and Mississippi since the 1940s, “specially funding historically Black colleges and universities.”
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Bishop said the foundation focuses its grantmaking in Jackson, East Biloxi and Sunflower County, while also making state-level investments that can impact all Mississippi children. Bishop said the foundation focuses on three pillars: racial equity, community engagement and leadership.
“Half the nation’s people of color live in the South,” Bishop said. “There is a lot of greatness and possibility here in the South … So, we are focused here to make sure we can have our children thriving and our communities thriving as we move forward and continue our support here in Mississippi and in Jackson.”
Jared Davis
Jared Davis is a plastic surgeon at the University of Mississippi Medical Center but is also a Jackson cohort alumnus of Change Collective. Davis said he joined the initiative because he wanted to be a part of “change and evolution.”
Davis mentioned the push for funding at the Margaret Walker Alexander Library in Jackson as one of the projects he has been a part of. The library houses the Margaret Walker African American Literature Center, which contains a wide variety of literature and books about the African American cultural experience.
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Davis said the drive to sustain libraries in a community came after he read various news articles discussing how libraries had HVAC issues, were closing and some even being demolished. Last year, he worked alongside the Jackson Friends of the Library, a group that supports the city’s libraries, and local artists to help write and apply for a grant proposal from the Mississippi Arts Commission. The proposal was granted. Since then, three art installations were completed in early August.
“We’ve managed to do a lot of things through a variety of different funding sources, but it all started with finding community and people that are interested,” Davis said.