Training for Sustainable Community Development: Phase III

Project Overview

CS07-060
Project Type: Sustainable Community Innovation
Funds awarded in 2007: $10,000.00
Projected End Date: 12/31/2008
Region: Southern
State: Alabama
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Robert Zabawa
Tuskegee University

Commodities

Not commodity specific

Practices

  • Education and Training: workshop
  • Farm Business Management: business planning
  • Sustainable Communities: community development, community services

    Proposal abstract:

    The proposed project is centered on sustainable development activities for a set of Southern Black agricultural communities that were created during the Great Depression, initially under the direction of the Resettlement Administration and subsequently under the Farm Security Administration. These and related agencies provided an opportunity for landless sharecroppers and tenants to own land. This opportunity allowed the "settlers" to become small independent farmers (a Jeffersonian ideal) and form independent agricultural communities (a Booker T. Washington ideal). Thirteen such all-Black communities were established, about half of which remain as viable communities--although they are "at risk." The others have faded, although both archival records and original residents remain to tell their story. Using eight of these communities (Tillery, NC; Prairie Farms, AL, Mound Farms, LA; Mileston, MS; Flint River Farms; GA; Allendale Farms, SC; Gee’s Bend Farms, AL; and Aberdeen Gardens, VA) a sustainable economic development strategy and training meeting will be convened at the host Resettlement Community of Mound Farms in Mound, LA. Community participation will ensure that this training will lead to site-specific community development plans and activities. Results of the training will be based on the activities initiated by the participating communities. Planned activities include submission of grant applications, community meetings, organizing and community-based activities. In addition, results may be presented at professional meetings and symposia and published in local media and professional journals. The principal cooperators are selected representatives of the participating communities and the George Washington Carver Agricultural Experiment Station at Tuskegee University. The proposed project will take approximately one year.

    Project objectives from proposal:

    The objectives of this project will carry forward work already begun in the Resettlement Community development activities of August 2007. The objectives are:

    1. To provide sustainable economic and community development skills to selected African American communities created during the New Deal Era.

    2. To provide these communities with strategies so that they can best utilize the resources (natural, social/cultural and economic) inherent in their communities.

    3. To provide these communities with strategies to access resources (local, regional and national) to address issues critical to sustainable development.

    Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or SARE.