The Rural Beacon Initiative

The Rural Beacon Initiative (RBI) is a BIPOC-led social enterprise that leverages deployed projects to increase community ownership in the emerging supply chains of clean energy and regenerative agriculture. RBI’s mission is to ensure that BIPOC communities—particularly BIPOC communities in the Southeast—are at the forefront of a just transition that deploys projects which not only lower emissions and electrify communities but create real economic opportunities for those that have too long been siloed from this conversation.

The EJOHP has worked with RBI founder, William Barber III, to collect oral histories and develop articles about their organizations first deployed project, the Free Union Farms Hub, and the legacy of the Piney Woods Free Union community in Jamesville, North Carolina.

The North Carolina Black Alliance

The North Carolina Black Alliance (NCBA) is working toward state-level systemic change by strengthening the network of elected officials representing communities of color throughout the state and collaborating with progressive, grassroots networks on intersecting issues.  These issues range from voting rights, gerrymandering, criminal justice reform, health and wellness, economic development to education. The North Carolina Black Alliance is committed to advocating for environmental justice, ensuring that water and air quality in Black communities is not contaminated, and eliminating inequalities in the location of environmentally hazardous facilities and enterprises.

The EJOHP is a recipient of NCBA’s 2022 Environmental Justice mini-grant and has worked with Environmental Justice programming team leaders La’Meshia Whittington and Jovita Lee to strategize on best engagement practices for our oral history, journalism, and podcast components.

The Warren County Environmental Action Team

The Warren County Environmental Action Team (WCEAT) is a network of organizations & individuals working together to record, celebrate, and share Warren County's environmental justice legacy, natural resources, and diverse culture.

The EAT engages with other community leaders on various initiatives, including:

• Offering environmental justice-focused tours of Warren County
• ​Supporting local farms and community gardens
• Connecting Warren County with ongoing environmental justice movements
• Building community among residents and grassroots organizers in Warren County

   

The EJOHP worked with WCEAT on the 40th anniversary of Environmental Justice celebrations and has connected with several network members for oral history guidance and direction.

The Great Dismal Swamp Stakeholder Collaborative

Vision:
We aim to create a series of linked conservation and cultural preservation projects in collaboration with federal, state, and municipal leaders, reflecting both the complex ecological history of the Swamp and the rich histories of its local communities.

Mission:
We strive to strengthen the relationship between cultural, tribal, environmental, and governmental organizations to advance equitable and inclusive activities that benefit all stakeholders, while respecting the Swamp as its own stakeholder.

Approach:
We host regular facilitated stakeholder meetings to foster trusting, mutually respectful relationships between tribal, federal, state, and municipal leaders and cultural community representatives in the Dismal Swamp region.

The EJOHP partnered with the Great Dismal Swamp Stakeholder Collaborative to build an oral history collection, mini-documentary, and process materials in connection to the rich history of the Great Dismal Swamp.

Friends of Buckingham

Friends of Buckingham is a group of of Buckingham County citizens united to work with county leaders to attract economic investment opportunities that benefit all residents, and that contribute to a sustainable healthy environment. They are dedicated to celebrating their county’s diverse cultural heritage, rural lifestyle, and to protecting natural resources and last, remaining, wild places.

Towards that end, they are committed to protecting the health and environment from any outside interests that seek to exploit their natural resources, such as the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP, formerly known as the Dominion Southeast Reliability Project).

The EJOHP partnered with Friends of Buckingham to collect a mini-collection of oral histories on the civil disobedience that took place in response to the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline from 2013-2020.

The Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice

The Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (former the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise) was created by Catherine Coleman Flowers to reduce health and economic disparities and improve access to clean air, water, and soil in marginalized rural communities by influencing policy, inspiring innovation, catalyzing relevant research, and amplifying the voices of community leaders, all within the context of a changing climate.

CREEJ, as a part of a longstanding partnership with Duke University, was one of the original project partners and grant applicants in 2021.