Kathleen Kirkpatrick listening to a community leader at AGU24
The Capacity Collaborative (TCC), a non-profit built around bolstering resilience in rural communities, is one of four AGU Thriving Earth Exchange Community Science Hubs. Now in its second year of community science projects, TCC’s Southeast Hub continues to make meaningful progress, yielding a growing number of successes and valuable lessons learned.
“The AGU TEX program allowed us to work with communities with a lot of needs and concerns,” said Kathleen Kirkpatrick, a senior associate at TCC and coordinator for the organization’s Community Science Hub activities. “Applying the Thriving Earth Exchange community science process has helped them get better organized and to focus in on things that can be done in a short time — about 16 to 18 months — with the assistance of scientists.”
Finding creative solutions
Kirkpatrick says that flexibility and patience have been key when working with the communities, many of which have been dealing with unexpected challenges like natural disasters and differences of opinion between neighbors. Some projects have had to be put on hold, while others have had to make major changes to their scope.
“Environmental issues can be big and sometimes a little scary and hard for people to come to grips with,” said Kirkpatrick. “Knowing that there are threats to your public health because of pollution can be complex. It brings up concerns about property values and disagreements among people in the same community about whether to even acknowledge those issues exist.”
However, challenges can also lead to creative solutions. Although efforts are made to match communities with local experts, TCC found that projects can be successful even when they tap into expertise and even project management remotely.
Collaborating for change
Several Southeast Hub projects have made important progress that could create real benefits for communities. For example, Jubilee House Community, together with the town of Parrish, Alabama, has moved forward its development of the Reclamation Garden. This project is transforming a former football field into a garden that can help address food insecurity and environmental challenges while supporting the revitalization of the community. Community Science Hub funding supported land clearing for the garden, which was key for assessing unexpected stormwater issues that were discovered during the project.
Thriving Earth Exchange also worked with William Richards of Team Three, LLC to film a documentary on the Reclamation Garden project, showcasing how local engagement and innovative green infrastructure practices can transform spaces.
More recently, Jubilee House Community and the Alabama Center for Rural Organizing and Systemic Solutions (ACROSS) in Camp Hill were selected for the Working Films Rural Cinema program. Jubilee House and ACROSS plan to use this support to host a series of film screenings where residents can discuss issues affecting their communities, learn, be inspired and brainstorm new solutions.
“The Rural Cinema grant is a partnership between two communities with active Thriving Earth Exchange Hub projects,” said Kirkpatrick. “While the Camp Hill project focuses on water and infrastructure, Jubilee House is developing a farm to address food scarcity—an issue shared by both communities. Together, they are building a peer network that is enabling new projects.”
Involving youth in community science
The Dynamite Hill – Smithfield Community Land Trust project in Birmingham, Alabama was identified and recruited by TCC for the TEX program to help develop environmentally sustainable projects and establish a community land trust that honors the area’s civil rights and environmental legacies. With funding from YLACES, they carried out a program in which nine youth community scientists, ages 15–18, assessed water, soil and air quality in Birmingham’s Historic Smithfield Community to evaluate its suitability for bat populations. The program produced findings that contributed to global and local bat conservation efforts while also helping local youth explore the broader ecological impacts on both wildlife and human communities.
Community Science Fellow Charlotte Bellerjeau, a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, also helped community leaders from the Dynamite Hill – Smithfield project attend the 2024 AGU Annual Meeting (AGU24). At the meeting, they gained valuable experience and connected with Thriving Earth Exchange staff and a broader network of those involved in community science.
Raymond Sweet, community lead for the Hollygrove Dixon project, also attended AGU24. This project is examining the urban heat island effect in the Hollygrove Dixon neighborhood of New Orleans. Community scientist Jocelyne Ponce from Tulane University together with Tulane students have created a compelling the key factors contributing to the urban heat island effect in this neighborhood and actionable solutions such as planting trees. This enhanced understanding will help this community make informed decisions and could potentially help with securing funding to implement solutions.
“This is a great example of the impact small-scale projects can have,” said Kirkpatrick. “Much of the support came from the local community, along with a community science fellow who contributed remotely, showing how collaboration can extend beyond geographic boundaries.”
Encouraging local food production
Community members in Willington, South Carolina, a rural area far from any urban centers, are leveraging the Community Science Hub support for a local initiative to transform a former school building into a resiliency hub and community center and make the surrounding land usable for farming. The farm would enable locally produced food and create a local economy that is greatly needed in this food desert.
Community lead ErNiko Brown, founder and CEO of Organized Uplifting Resources & Strategies (OURS), has helped drive the project’s success. So far, project fellow Agnes Pasco Conaty from the NASA GLOBE Observer Program has recruited a soil scientist to assess and recommend soil amendments for an agricultural program, which is the immediate focus of the project.
The project faced a temporary pause due to the community’s urgent needs after Hurricane Helene. “As a community-based organization, OURS was literally feeding the entire community while they were without power,” said Kirkpatrick. “But now they’re back at it, getting into the groove again, and ErNiko is hoping to start planting using recommendations from the project scientists later this spring.”
Read more about the Willington, SC project here.
Follow updates on these and other projects that are part of TCC’s Southeast Community Science Hub through the Thriving Earth Exchange project navigator: https://thrivingearthexchange.org/projects/?project_org=capacity-collaborative.
Learn more about The Capacity Collaborative.
