Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide
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Mission Statement
Project South is a 30-year-old organization working for racial and economic justice. We carry the legacy of the Black Freedom Movement into the 21st century with innovative programs, projects, and initiatives designed to reach those most affected by multiple forms of injustice and to address the root cause of their oppression. We believe in the power of social movements to generate new ideas, impact public policy, and change the material conditions of our members and partners. Our core strategies include: community organizing, popular education & leadership development; legal advocacy; and organizational development to support the constellation of small but powerful organizations working to create change in our region. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, we work with over 100 high school students every year; we anchor coordinated campaigns in 13 states; and we produce educational curriculum and workshops that address policy questions and promote civic engagement from a racial & economic justice perspective.
About This Cause
Project South is a nationally-recognized and trusted institute based in the U.S. South, just as necessary today as 30 years ago when it was founded in West Alabama to fight Reagan era rollbacks of civil rights gains. Project South is a Black-led multiracial organization and represents a multiracial social justice movement to transform the conditions of poverty, racism, and violence. Project South organizes young people, provides political education to a growing movement for economic and racial justice, coordinates year-round civic engagement that builds power from the ground up, and works to eliminate state violence and racist policies that undermine our communities. ORGANIZING YOUTH LEADERS: For over a decade Project South has been a leading example in the Southeast region for positive youth development and Black youth-led organizing. We operate afterschool and summer programs designed to create spaces for young people to learn about the history of Black-led movements and the current systems in a way that develops their leadership and ability to organize for positive changes in their community. The Youth Community Action Program (YCAP) takes place after school and the Septima Clark Community Power Institute (SCCPI) takes place in the summer. Both programs recruit new youth members, lead community organizing campaigns, and implement other youth-led initiatives such as our Youth Speak Truth (YST) radio program that airs on a local FM radio station bi-monthly. Currently, the youth campaign is focused on redirecting public funds from police in schools to resourcing student needs. BUILDING STRONG ECONOMIES: Project South works to develop sustainable community-driven economic engines for South Atlanta through long-time partnerships. Project South’s annual summer youth employment program has graduated 300 Black young people over the last eight years with workforce skills and leadership capacity. Graduates enter higher education and work within social justice non-profit sectors, internships, and other successful career pathways. The program provides viable and safe employment to the most marginalized in Atlanta while also connecting to the larger community-economic engine of the building, the functional urban farm, and the cooperative enterprises created by the partnership with the Georgia Citizens’ Coalition on Hunger. 36 Black young people graduated from the 9th annual Septima Clark Community Power Institute in July 2016. PRODUCING EDUCATION THAT TRANSFORMS: Project South develops popular education curriculum, materials and workshop trainings that reach thousands of activists, organizers and educators annually. During a time when confusion surrounds the economic and finance sectors, it is important for social justice movements to provide useful and accessible education materials that increase the capacity of community organizations and leaders to develop innovative strategies based in accurate analysis. Project South is known for publications and infographics that spark the imagination and ground people in movement, economic, and policy histories. Through participatory action research methods, internships, and the volunteer work of Project South members, we gather critical data and information that we utilize to design and produce popular education materials, historical timelines, analytical articles, and other educational products. Project South distributes these tools to our membership, online subscribers, and organizational partners. We also use this material to develop and redesign existing workshop curriculum that are used in our Building A Movement (BAM) workshops, Institutes, and other educational spaces. Building A Movement (BAM) 2-day retreats and year-long Institutes support organizers to develop their leadership, integrate movement history into contemporary strategies, and create new educational tools in a collective setting. BAM Institutes support generational cohorts to coordinate intervention strategies and identify movement opportunities to respond more collectively over the next 5-10 years to prepare for disasters, violence, crises, and opportunities. ELIMINATING STATE VIOLENCE & RACIST POLICIES: In 2016, Project South launched a legal and advocacy initiative to protect communities targeted by anti-immigrant legislation and law enforcement practices. Immigrant, refugee, and Muslim communities face profiling, surveillance, and detention at a disproportionate rate. As xenophobic tensions rise and migration patterns widen, Project South has launched a powerful initiative that connects immigrant, refugees, and Muslim communities to legal support, advocacy, and social movement spaces for organizing. In addition to Know Your Rights trainings, the initiative trains up attorneys and law students to address legal frameworks and policies that harm communities. The Legal & Advocacy Director represents on global human rights panels and recently served on an International Tribunal to investigate the recent coup in Brazil. YEAR-ROUND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT ON MULTIPLE ISSUES: Just as repressive policies are exported from the South, a strong, progressive South can shift the national climate. Project South works across the 13 states of the U.S. South to grow a constellation of strong, connected organizations that work together on multiple issues. Project South’s regional organizing connects efforts to build movement infrastructure on frontlines of climate change, public education, criminal justice reform, civic engagement, and racial justice. In order to confront both the policy and structural trends that lead to entrenched poverty as well as the hostile social climate that reinforces violence and displacement, power bases of community members need to be activated, informed, and connected to a strong network of other actors. The members and leaders of the Southern Movement Assembly reflect intersectional realities of Black leadership, LGBTQ leadership, immigrant and migrant community members, people with a variety of educational backgrounds, and multi-generational leadership. Community-based initiatives, organizations, and institutions create the infrastructure to amplify and attain constituency-driven agendas which cultivate and sustain a healthy civil society ecosystem. Since 2007, Project South has practiced and evolved a methodology informed by global movements to practice grassroots participatory democracy spaces called Peoples Movement Assemblies. During assemblies, community representatives assess the conditions they face and collectively develop shared initiatives and campaigns to shift and change policy at local and statewide levels. Since 2012, the Southern Movement Assembly (SMA), a growing regional alliance of organizations has convened over 3,000 community delegates from over a 100 participating organizations. Currently, Project South serves as the facilitative anchor of the Southern Movement Assembly. The SMA provides critical opportunities for young people, people of color, their communities and organizations to connect, learn from each other and build common strategies. These communities, which experience disproportionate voter suppression, come together in the SMA to practice democracy, develop leadership and sharpen their strategies to influence local, state, and federal policy. Southern leaders stay connected and practice rapid response to unexpected crises. The Governance Council represents predominantly Black-led organizations working on multiple issues including poverty, climate, education, cultural work, youth organizing, and collaborative work to end mass incarceration. The SMA connects and strengthens strategic campaigns on multiple frontlines and unifies communities of color to defend against coordinated attacks while also practicing active reinvestment in community-controlled infrastructure. GROWING MEMBERSHIP FOR FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE: Project South prioritizes resource development that is accountable to the communities where we work. In that spirit, Project South raises 50-60% of funds from membership and grassroots fundraising in order to decrease dependence on large foundations. Financial independence is critical to developing long-term multi-issue projects and programs that advance our vision of a just world.