Morris Booker College, a Black Church-owned college in the Arkansas Delta
has fallen into hard times. Indeed, presently the only viable program is a
day care program for 80 low income families.
I am a volunteer development consultant proposing that Morris Booker focus
its program around sustainable agriculture and develop sustainable and
ecologically sound methods for bringing the Delta out its present problems
of high unemployment, deteriorating schools, drugs and crime. I am
proposing that Morris Booker College develop a MINI RAIC Rural
AgroIndustrial Center which would revive the old industry of making sweet
sorghum syrup, begin making dried tomatoes for the gourmet and mail order
market, grow kenaf and develop organic flower growing as a viable industry.
Additionally, we are attempting to obtain seeds of colored cottons to
develop a craft industry. I would also like to see the development of a
meat goat and hair sheep industry here.
There are few or no funds available for developing any programs. There are
a series of old dormitories that have fallen into disuse and need to be
rebuilt. Syllabuses and materials need to be written to develop this
project as a sustainable agriculture center for the Delta.
I am seeking volunteers who can come here and work to rebuild this program
into a sustainable agriculture program for people who would otherwise have
absolutely no opportunity for education or hope of development. The program
will begin June 1, 1996.
We can arrange for volunteers to be housed with local families.
Additionally, once the dormitories become somewhat renovated, volunteers
would be able to live there.
This is a unique opportunity to create a sustainable agriculture center in a
place where there are absolutely no resources available to these
populations. Dermott is typical of towns in the Delta. It is a town in the
Delta which is 73% Black, due to outmigration of White families as the
result of the falling off of the agricultural industries.
If you have skills at building, renovation, gardening, food drying, solar
power or any such skills, please consider giving one to two weeks of your
time. Because there are no funds at all for volunteers, volunteers will be
expected to pay $150 per week for room and board with a local family or at
the school while on the project.
Weekend activities include nature walks, environmental discussions saving
rain forests, making nonwood paper, and optional tree meditations. Optional
evening activities include discussions on environmental methods, life
sharing and ways to develop a career working with the environment.
Please contact Dr. Carol Cross at solync@cei.net if you are interested or
fax 501-367-8736 or write to PO Box 5208, Pine Bluff, AR 71611.
We appreciate all inquiries and will work with you to make this project be
meaningful.
Morris Booker is a non-profit IRS 501(C)(3) organization
Carol Cross, PhD EcoAgroForestry Founder (501) 367-6127 (Ph)
2801 Olive, #35A, Suite 113 (501) 367-8736(FAX)
Pine Bluff, AR 71611 Email: solync@cei.net
Together we Can Create A Sustainable World Through EcoAgroForestry
(Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Forestry and Rural AgroIndustrial
Development). Form Consortiums & Develop a EcoAgroForestry Village
Business Incubator (VBI) or Rural Agroindustrial Center (RAIC), NOW!
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