Black Belt Community Foundation
Our vision is of a transformed Black Belt where all of our residents contribute to healthy communities and reap the benefits of our shared gifts and a productive regional economy.
We seek to consolidate many region-wide improvement efforts into a common effort with this mission: “To forge a collective stream of giving from the community and other sources so we the people of the Black Belt, can enhance our continuing efforts to lift ourselves by taking what we have to make what we need.”
Alabama’s Black Belt stretches across the middle of the state from Mississippi almost to the Georgia line. Rich in human, religious, geographic and political diversity, the Black Belt got its name from the region’s rich, dark soil. It is also home to the highest percentage of African Americans in Alabama.
Into this setting comes the Black Belt Community Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization supporting community efforts that contribute to the strength, innovation and success of the region.
The Foundation serves as a partner in philanthropy, making it possible for individuals, families and organizations to give back to the community in many ways, for example creating a personal fund, participating in a professionally managed fund, serving as a volunteer and in many other ways. The mission of the Black Belt Community Foundation is to forge a collective stream of giving that transforms our 12-county region and connects those interested in having an impact in this region with nonprofits that are making a difference today. Founded in 2004 with the idea that those living and working in the Black Belt best knew the area’s challenges and opportunities, the Black Belt Community Foundation actively puts needed resources into the region that make a lasting impact. The foundation operates in three main areas:
• Giving: BBCF awards community program and arts grants to over 100 nonprofits in the region each year.
• Receiving: BBCF actively works to raise the profile of philanthropy in the region, encouraging gifts from individuals of all sizes from across the state and around the world.
• Growing: BBCF offers leadership training, organizational capacity building, and community collaboration to grow the skills needed to transform our communities.
Through these three areas, our focus is to consolidate many region-wide improvement efforts into a common effort with a simple mission: “taking what we have to make what we need.” These three areas also move the region forward in attaining a vision of a transformed Black Belt where all residents contribute to healthy communities and reap the benefits of shared gifts and a productive regional economy.
Website: https://blackbeltfound.org/
BBCF’s work with The Harwood Institute
Introduced to the Institute by Reverend Lawrence Wofford, the President of Selma’s NAACP and Chairman of the Selma Housing Authority
BBCF, Lawrence, and the Institute are currently exploring opportunities to partner on a community initiative in Selma and across the Black Belt of Alabama.
FELECIA LUCKY
President
Working in Minneapolis, Chicago and Memphis, Felecia Lucky decided to leave her corporate background behind in returning to help improve her Alabama home region, the Black Belt. She serves as president of the Black Belt Community Foundation. BBCF works to address the poverty, oppression and hopelessness by attracting financial support to the region, then supporting and coordinating uplifting, grass-roots efforts to improve the lives of residents across 12 counties. Ms. Lucky has been recognized by the Alabama Media Group (AL.com) in its 2016 Women Who Shape the State, and in 2019, the Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and Tourism honored her with its “Game Changer Award.” Lucky serves as Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church in Livingston, Alabama and sits on the City Council of Livingston.