Rachel Mayes, Southern Echo & Winsome Waite, The Opportunity Institute
Over the last 12 months, our communities have lived through a series of contrasting occurrences: Economic devastation among low-income households and yet record surpluses in the state budget; a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to prevent the transfer of presidential power versus a return to competency in presidential leadership; the benefits of scientific education and process made real in the middle of a deadly pandemic even as would-be naysayers continue to flout science, reason, and the demands of equity in many of our states.
Mississippi remains, as much as ever, a place where spirited new community leaders continue to rise in the image of freedom fighters like Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker while the state remains locked in battle with the grown children of Jim Crow. For example, Mississippi replaced a key symbol of the Confederacy by adopting a new state flag in 2021, yet white nationalists have given up “dog whistles” for outright howling. Mississippians have gained historic and beneficial federal investments in public education, public infrastructure, and healthcare, but continue to face multi-front battles against entrenched white supremacy. The battles are manifested in many ways, such as the manufactured “outrage” over critical race theory, abortion rights, ongoing attacks on the integrity of the election system, and governmental disregard for the health of all.
As we stop for a moment of reflection, our next push forward for equity begins with a timely look back on the past.
Southern Echo was founded in 1989 to empower African American and low-wealth communities in Mississippi and the Southern Region with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to demand accountability and to take action to secure political, education, economic, and environmental justice. Southern Echo uses an Intergenerational Model to empower communities, increase their understanding of important issues, and take action to improve their quality of life and wellbeing. This includes learning about the historical roots of inequity, getting civically engaged and becoming the architects of public policy and not the objects of public policy.
More than 1,500 miles from Mississippi, and 25 years after Southern Echo’s founding, the Opportunity Institute sprung to life. National leaders then were seeking new ways to support the advancement of equity in states through more strategic sharing of information, staffing and resources. Like Southern Echo, the Opportunity Institute supports practices and policies to advance equity for underserved communities – by integrating supports and services for the “whole child”. This is accomplished by aggressively pursuing greater transparency and equity in the allocation of funding and resources, and by highlighting evidence-based approaches to serve communities. Southern Echo, a statewide organization, and the Opportunity Institute, a national organization – work together to effectuate impactful changes and to support policies and practices in specific school districts and their communities. Stakeholders in our targeted communities (Indianola, Greenville, and Moss Point) are knowledgeable of their needs and can impact policy by advancing effective strategies to meet their own needs.
The work of Southern Echo and the Opportunity Institute’s Whole Child Equity Adolescent Learning and Development Project is to put young people - with the help of all the adults around them - at the center of problem-solving and decision-making. Schools are the most pivotal and accessible locations for advancing equity in education and life within communities. We value the work of educators and recognize fully the enormous responsibility they carry. And we know that it takes more than the schoolhouse acting alone to advance academic learning and community wellbeing. This is why we build our efforts around the essential principles for learning and development: 1) strong and supportive developmental relationships; 2) environments that are safe and help people feel that they are valued and belong; 3) robust academic learning experiences grounded in social and emotional wellbeing; 4) culturally affirming development of habits, skills, and mindsets; and 5) integrated systems of support that attend to the holistic development of children and young people.
The beauty of this work is that there is room for all of us– community organizers, lawmakers, parents, youth, educators, attorneys, stakeholders, marchers, protestors, and all others. The collective charge is to help all of us find the key roles we need to play in advancing equity, justice, and shared prosperity. These roles are deeply intertwined, and the strategy must include people of different ages and abilities. The recent passing of Congressman John Lewis is cause to remember that the Voting Rights Act finally passed Congress mere days after the march from Selma to Birmingham. Recall also that the historic march was only successful on its third attempt -- two previous efforts were thwarted, including the infamous “Bloody Sunday” attempt where a young John Lewis was brutally beaten.
After a late December respite, the lights are on in the statehouse in Jackson, and doors are open in the County seats and City Halls across Mississippi. We can take pride in the things that have undoubtedly changed for the better in the last year, as we acknowledge that there are tough fights ahead. Perhaps some of our victories may ultimately prove to be more superficial than structural, but we the people keep fighting.
The basic elements of the change we need are the same now as they were 60 years ago. As Southern Echo and the Opportunity Institute collaborate with voices on the ground, we seek to ensure a common phrase often used in our work - “community must become the architects of public policy and not the objects of public policy.”