SPLC will open new state office in effort to build community ties in rural areas

The Southern Poverty Law Center later this year plans to open a state office focused on education and policy in rural Alabama. The Alabama State Office will be the second of its kind under the SPLC's new "state office model," joining the state office in Mississippi, which opened in May 2022.

Tafeni English, who served as director of the SPLC's Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery since 2019, has been selected to serve as director of the Alabama State Office.

While SPLC's current headquarters in Montgomery focuses on statewide policy recommendations and legal representation — among other things — the state office will have a more local focus, with priorities including eradicating poverty and strengthening voting rights, English said.

"The state office model is focused on and is informed by local concerns," English said. "We're looking to strategize and collaborate and be in partnership with community organizations that are doing this work on the local level."

The center hasn't decided where the state office will be, but English said they will be spending the next six-to-nine months in listening sessions across the state to inform their decision. But right now, they don't have a specific site in mind.

"I can tell you though that it won't be in Montgomery," English said. SPLC is looking to locate to the "outskirts" of an urban area where they can be more connected to rural communities, English said.

SPLC will officially introduce English as the director of the Alabama State Office at 10 a.m. Feb. 7 at the Talladega Family Life Center at Mt. Canaan Baptist Church in Talladega.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins.

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This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: New office planned to strengthen SPLC's ties to rural communities