During the summer of 2002, the Foundation for the Mid South was invited to submit a planning proposal to the Walton Family Foundation to initiate a planning process for a major community change initiative that focused on targeted communities in the Delta of Arkansas and Mississippi. The planning process resulted in an implementation proposal and work plan for these communities to develop their potential. During the October meeting of the FMS Board of Directors, a request to include a Louisiana site was made by Board members, with the expectation that funds to support this site would have to be allocated from another source. Proposed Communities of Opportunity to be funded by the Walton Family Foundation included the following sites – St. Francis County in Arkansas and Leflore County in Mississippi. A planning grant proposal was approved by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to support Morehouse Parish in Louisiana; however, Kellogg did not approve an implementation grant for the Louisiana Site.

The Communities of Opportunity Initiative is an outgrowth of a long history of the Foundation for the Mid South's work to build communities in the region. This work has focused on, among other things, community change (Workforce Alliance), community services (Families and Children), community leadership (African American Faith-Based), community engagement in education (Middle Start), community economic development (Sectoral Employment), and asset building (IDAs).

In addition to the work that FMS has been doing in the past decade, there have been other infusions of resources to communities in the Mid South, particularly in the Delta. Some of these – both public and private – are as follows:

Until now, we have not had the structure or the resources to pursue a place-based strategy that can combine the Foundation's experience – and especially what has been accomplished in ten years of intensive work in the successful Workforce Alliance communities – into a long-term, focused, comprehensive, community-based effort to truly change the ways that communities can work together to improve themselves.

Over these last ten years, the Walton Family Foundation (WFF) has had a specific interest in the Delta. By way of its substantial funding of FMS and key partners (ECD, Southern, LISC, and others), the Walton Family Foundation has provided tens of millions of dollars to build the Delta. The recent interest of WFF in developing a comprehensive strategy to focus on a small number of Delta communities in an intensive manner resulted in their invitation to the Foundation for the Mid South and Southern Development Bancorporation to develop plans for a major, multi-year strategy – building on each others' strengths.

Additional Information:

>>> Goals
>>> COO Accomplishments
>>> 2006 Planned Activities

Download the entire document:
>>> Communities of Opportunity: Moving Forward in 2006