Organizing in the Rural South: Digital Stories, Actual Legacies
This site is a project of the Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation (BAMM), a family foundation committed to supporting rural communities and community organizing in the Southeastern United States (BAMM’S FINAL Report. What deserves special attention about BAMM is how it supported the growth of its grantees. Indeed, BAMM grew a community-based foundation from its grantees, board and members. In most cases a foundation is perceived as the only leader in the grantmaking process, but BAMM also learned how to be a follower, and as a result, transformed itself and established a huge network of communities and organizers based on trust and a shared vision.
After 20 years of funding grassroots organization in the rural south, The Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation (BAMM), struck by the wealth of knowledge and tenacity of the communities which it served, seized the opportunity to celebrate not only its own work but that of the communities with which it had worked over the years.
What followed was a series of Four Regional Workshops which were coordinated and documented by the Foundation’s Grantee Evaluation and Documentation team. In these are personal and Community stories, exchanges of ideas and strategies, examples of successes and “learnings” made along the way. The material accumulated during these sessions and subsequently include, written documents, video recordings, digital stories, audio recordings, photography, newspaper articles, and institutional documents.
After 20 years of funding grassroots organization in the rural south, The Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation (BAMM), struck by the wealth of knowledge and tenacity of the communities which it served, seized the opportunity to celebrate not only its own work but that of the communities with which it had worked over the years.
What followed was a series of Four Regional Workshops which were coordinated and documented by the Foundation’s Grantee Evaluation and Documentation team. In these are personal and Community stories, exchanges of ideas and strategies, examples of successes and “learnings” made along the way. The material accumulated during these sessions and subsequently include, written documents, video recordings, digital stories, audio recordings, photography, newspaper articles, and institutional documents.
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Facilitating the telling of, listening to, gathering, and sharing of these collective experiences has been a humbling and insightful experience. We are struck by the value and relevance of what has been shared with us.
Aware of the many implications of the work, we feel a responsibility to make these stories and information available, not only to the communities which generated them but to all who are engaged in or care to know more about organizing in the rural south. We invite you to celebrate with us this living example of our resilience and humanity, and to continue to share in and add to this conversation, this, our living legacy… |