by Barbara Amerson, Office Manager and Reporter
Through this annual grant cycle, BBCF will award Arts Grants ranging from $500 to $3,500 and Community Grants ranging from $500 to $5,000 to support com- munity-led projects across the foundation’s 12-county service area: Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, and Wilcox coun- ties in Alabama’s Black Belt region.
The Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF) awarded $358,883.81 to 148 community grants and arts projects across its 12 county service area in the Alabama Black Belt Region, including Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter and Wilcox. The presentations were made at its 2025 Arts and Community Grant Ceremony held Saturday, May 3, 2025, at Wallace Community College Selma. “As we continue to celebrate BBCF’s 20th anniversary through May, the Black Belt Community Foundation is proud to award these funds in 148 different grants to community and arts organizations across the 12 counties we serve,” said BBCF President Chris Spencer.
Greene County received 13 grants for community and arts projects, in the amount of $40,500.00 awarded to the following organizations:
- 4realtho Foundation Greene County Human
- Rights Commission “Justice” the Beaver (Criminal Justice Reform and Intervention)
- Mount Pleasant Home Protection Society
- First Responders Committee of Green County
- Freedom Rock Church
- Boligee Senior Center Boss Ties, LLC
- Operations Taking Back Our Community (TBOC)
- Release the Earth United Purpose Inc
- Lower Gainesville Road Volunteer Fire Department
- Illogic Red Clay Collective
- GCF & APA Imagine Me
- Woman to Woman, Inc
The 2026 arts grants, including the Black Belt Folk Roots Festival and GCF & APA Imagine Me, totaled $14,000.
Ms. Darlene Robinson,The BBCF board member representing Greene County, stated that each of the 12 counties has a group of volunteers, known as Community Associates, who raise funds for the Foundation, and these resources, which receive a percentage match from BBCF, are allocated in grants to the respective county. “We hold a lot of fundraising activities in Greene County, but that money can only be spent in Greene County through grants,” she said.
These grants support projects that strengthen, uplift, and empower communities across Alabama’s Black Belt. “These grants are a key part of how we support community-led work across the Black Belt,” said Chris Spencer, President and CEO of the Black Belt Community Foundation. The 2026 grant cycle will conclude with an Arts and Community Grants Awards Ceremony on April 25, 2026, in Selma.