BBCF holds listening sessions in Black Belt counties

Participants at Greene County Listening Session and L to R: Darlene Robinson, Carol Zippert, Rev. Chris Spencer, Miriam Leftwich and Johnnie Morning.

The Black Belt Community Foundation (BBCF) conducted a series of county-wide listening sessions across its 12-county service area in Alabama’s Black Belt Region, including Bullock, Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, Wilcox.
The Greene County listening session, chaired by BBCF staff Rev. Christopher Spencer, was held Tuesday evening, June 24, 2025 at the Greene County Baptist Association facility on Finches Ferry Road in Eutaw. Approximately 40 persons participated, including local groups who are recipients of BBCF grants.
Greetings were brought by Miriam Leftwich, Greene County Community Associates Coordinator and Co-Coordinator and BBCF Greene County Board Member Darlene Robinson.
These gatherings were designed to provide a vital platform for residents, community leaders, grassroots organizations, and local stakeholders to come together and share their voices on the pressing issues, opportunities, and needs facing their communities.
The listening sessions created a welcoming, inclusive space where participants could openly discuss challenges related to education, healthcare access, economic development, infrastructure, cultural preservation and much more.
In each county the gathering separated into small discussion groups to address the following topics: What are our greatest strengths as a community; What would our ideal community look like if we had no limitations; Based on your answer, what is needed to create your ideal community; What are the most important things we need to focus on in the next 1-2 years to grow our community into the place we would like it to be. The small group responses were listed on charts and shared when the larger group re-assembled.
Feedback gathered from these sessions will directly inform BBCF’s strategic priorities, investments, grant-making initiatives, and collaborative partnerships moving forward.
These listening sessions were patterned after the initial community gatherings 20 years ago which were the cornerstones giving birth to BBCF. During that organizing period, a volunteer coordinating committee visited each county to hear from the people what they saw as their community assets. This committee envisioned that the best way for the Alabama Black Belt to capitalize on Taking what we have to make what we need was to determine what we really had. These community sessions led to the formation of BBCF.
The Black Belt Community Foundation reaffirms its commitment to working alongside the people of the Black Belt — amplifying their voices, honoring their experiences, and investing in the dreams and solutions that emerge from within. Since its incorporation, BBCF has deployed nearly $100 million into the Black Belt through partnerships with more that 200 regional nonprofit organizations throughout the Black Belt.
From 2005 to 2025, Greene County has received a total of $880,803 in BBCF community and arts grants and in support of other projects relating to healthy food provisions, health care information, storm damage assistance and more.
Ms. Felecia Lucky, who was a member of the organizing committee for BBCF will leave her position as CEO/President in September to assume a similar leadership role with the F.B. Heron Foundation. Rev. Christopher Spencer, who was engaged in the organizing sessions in Sumter County and worked on the BBCF staff since the early years, has been selected by the BBCF board to serve as CEO/President.
The session adjourned with the participants enthusiastic with the prospects of new approaches for working together to grow Greene County. Refreshments were shared with all in attendance.