Board of Directors and Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director,
By John Zippert, Co-Publisher
In last week’s issue of the Greene County Democrat, we reported on the first two days of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund’s 57th Annual Meeting. This is a report on the third day, Saturday, August 17, 2024, which featured a prayer breakfast and business meeting.
The Mattie Mack Pretty Hat Prayer Breakfast was in honor of past board member from Kentucky, who used to fix the breakfast on the Saturday morning. Ms. Mack, a tobacco and cattle farmer, always wore a hat to the Board and Annual Meetings, hence the challenge and tribute to the Federation’s female membership, to wear their best hat.
Rev. Wendell H. Paris, who was the first Federation staff member on the grounds at the Federation’s Rural Training and Research Center and is now a minister in Jackson, Mississippi gave the prayer breakfast sermon. His address stressed the importance of voting in the upcoming November 5th election.
At the Federation Business meeting, the Board of Directors and Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director, reviewed the progress of the past year and discussed potential future developments for the organization in the coming year.
Shirley Blakeley, from Shuqualak, (Noxubee County) Mississippi, who is the Board Chair, gave a report highlighting the work of the Federation, as a ‘cooperating agency’ with the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), especially with the DFAP – Discrimination Farmers Assistance Program, and conservation, forestry, climate, and agricultural marketing projects. Carrie Fulghum, Federation Board Treasurer, from Gainesville, Alabama, reported that the organization had current assets of $10 million, including grants and contracts payable, land, buildings, housing and other assets. Current liabilities were $300,000, placing the organization in its strongest financial position in its 57-year history.
Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director, congratulated the Federation’s membership on ‘our 57th anniversary’ saying, “the Federation is a testament to grassroots community leadership, and the extraordinary things that ordinary people can do when they work together.” He repeated the figures from the Treasurers report indicating a historic net worth of the organization at $10 million.
Blanding cited the collective impact of the Federation’s membership, cooperatives and affiliated organizations in increasing the staff from 50 to 75 in the past year. The staff works from seven (7) offices in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, South Carolina, and Florida. Most of these offices are owned by the Federation. Our RTRC site has been recognized and designated a demonstration forestry and agroforestry site, by the U. S. Forest Service, to serve and train Black and underserved rural people with small forestry acreages.
“Our staff is committed and charged with assisting farmers to get a USDA farm identification number, needed to access USDA programs. We will assist members in applying for USDA credit, conservation, climate, and marketing resources to build their farms. We will help our members to have a business plan for their farm operations and an estate plan for the disposition of their land and assets at death. We also offer technical assistance, training and business management assistance to our member cooperatives,” said Blanding.
“We have directly assisted 2,000 of our members to participate in the DFAP process. We estimate that $160 million in benefits were delivered by this one USDA program to our farmer members. We plan to help those who are continuing to farm to invest these resources wisely in their farm operations, said Blanding.
He continued, “With the help of the Southern Black Farmer Community Led Fund, we have helped five agricultural co-ops in Alabama to acquire $500,000 each, in new infrastructure, to strengthen their ability to market and generate income from basic crop production. We are developing a Black Farmers Financial Institution, in collaboration with other groups to be funded from the Pigford lawsuit – ‘ci pres’ left over funds. We are also working to implement the Heirs Property Re-lending Fund, to assist families in clearing titles and fully utilizing their inherited land resources.”
Blanding also cited work on the Federation’s Memorial Legacy Project, which will be a “living memorial to the grassroots leaders and organizations that help to create and implement the self-help strategies of the Federation. The Memorial Legacy Project will be built on the RTRC land between Epes and Gainesville, Alabama, consisting of a memorial wall, walking trails, gardens, orchards, gazebos, fountains, benches, cabins and other structures to recognize these pioneering leaders and help tell their story. During the past year the Federation’s RTRC was recognized by the Alabama Historical Commission and the National Parks Service, as a National Historical Site.
Blanding indicated that the Federation was working on a new five-year strategic plan for the organization, which includes the following elements:
Board, Membership and Staff Development
Strengthen Cooperative Infrastructure
Rural Training and Research Center Upgrade
Renovations
New Construction
Memorial Legacy Project
Farm and Forestry Demonstration sites, increase
membership usages and training
After the reports, members from each state met in state caucuses to elect Board members and discuss issues, ideas and program services to be added to the five-year strategic plan discussions.